Rattle can primer

[rosstheboss]

At some point soon, I need to strip my Chopper down, back through the lovely emulsion paint job some joker applied before I bought it. I'm planning on nitromorsing it and then applying some primer to keep rust away until I have the funds/inclination/time for a proper respray. My question is this - is any rattle can primer any good for this? I'm thinking halfords or similar.... Also is there anything I should know/do or don't do with the whole nitromors thing? My only experience of it before is on window frames you see....

 

[drystonepaul]

If you do go down the rattle can route, be aware that it isn't very good way of saving any money or time.

I fancied the challenge again recently and I'm nearly finished respraying a Dyna Tech frame.

This one was already stripped, but previously I've spent up to about 8 hours with Nitromors and a fine brass brush mounted in a dremel to clean up the welds and nooks and crannies. Preparation is everything.
So with this one I still spent about 6 hours dressing some welds and really cleaning up the bare metal surface.
For the past three weeks I've been patiently applying several layers of paint, averaging a coat every couple of days when I get the time.

In total it's had 2 coats of acid etching primer, 2 coats of high build filler primer, and then 4 or 5 coats of pearlescant paint.
I'm on the third coat of acrylic clearcoat lacquer at the moment so it's nearly done.
So that's about 12 coats at about half an hour to apply each time with plenty of drying time and occasional flatting back with 1000 grit paper.

It'll be left for at least two weeks so the paint can harden properly before I build it up.

Paint has cost about £70 in total, probably more. It would have been much less hassle and about the same price perhaps if I'd sent it away for wet spraying.
Doing it myself has been very satisfying though so I'm hoping it'll all be worth it.
Next time I may invest in a compressor and spray gun though.

In the meantime with yours though, a couple of coats of acid etch primer should give it some protection from rust, but not much.

Have you considered getting it powdercoated?

 

[hamster]

Primer isn't waterproof, so it will rust through the paint.

Personally, for £20 I'd run it down to my local powdercoater and ask them to put it through with the next batch of gates or whatever. For them, much of the cost is setting up a new colour, cleaning the sprayer down etc, so just adding one one more workpiece to an existing job is cheap.

You will spend more than £10 just on primer cans and sandpaper.

 

[rosstheboss]

Cheers for the advice guys, I had a feeling it was going to be a false economy!

 

[forcutty]

I've had frames powder coated from £20
I striped and prepped them myself. The finish was still spot on though. Find a local powder coater and go visit and chat. The bloke I've been too prefers to do gloss black as he does it all day and had the powder He has done other colours for me though too the same great standard but it costs more as I have too buy a whole tin of powder/paint. Me and my riding buddys from are local club got three bikes all in white for £20 each Now that they've got there individual decals you would never know!
See what colours they have kicking around as they often have bits left over from other jobs and get it done :roll:
The finish is better and stronger than the original. Rattle tins you'll be getting a poor finish for more money!!!

 

[David B]

+1 for powder coating. I had a road frame done for £30 including shot blasting and a top coat of lacquer after coating; I was pretty lucky though in choosing one that does a fair bit of work with bikes - they do all the necessary prep before coating to make sure that threaded parts and cable guides don't clog.

David

 

[drystonepaul]

Normally I would also highly recommend powder coating as a cheap, tough and reliable way to protect a frame from the elements.

Most 'industrial' coaters will have gloss black, cream, white and 'garden green' regularly on the go, but a huge range of other colours are available nowadays. Expect to pay a premium for the time and effort required by the coater to switch from whatever colour they are most commonly using though.
Also if you want to order in a colour not already stocked, then you can expect to be be charged about ~£70 to cover the cost of a full tin of powder.
This only works out as cost effective if you have several items to get coated yourself or between a few people.

So price wise in the past, based on several frames and components I've had coated for myself and others over the past couple of years, here is a rough idea:

- Frame only in a common colour (white or black): £20-25
- Frame and fork (as above): £25-30
- Colour change (to existing stock): plus £5-10
- Ordered in colour (quote only): £70 including coating one frame.

These prices have normally included stripping and frame prep, however you can expect to pay a bit more for that service.
Make sure that either you mask off the threads, or that the coater is very clear as to what needs masking.
A good question to ask initially is whether they have done bike frames before...

The frame I mentioned in my earlier post is a bonded Dyna Tech frame which would not be very happy if subjected to the curing oven. Typically the curing part of the process subjects the frame to between 180 and 200oC, which would potentially damage a bonded frame, hence why I chose to go with a sprayed wet coat.
I could have found a good frame sprayer, but wanted to have a go myself again this time.