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I've been flirting with the idea of brush painting a frame with coach enamel.. I quite fancy trying to do a crazy paint job. If it goes badly I'll get a professional powder coat at a later date. Wondering if anyone has had any success with brush painting?
I just tried an acrylic paint pen over 2k primer to create a cartoon look bike.. I'm no artist, it looked sh*t, IPA'd it all off, back to Montana Gold spray cans.
My recently departed next door neighbour brush painted many of his frames over the years. They all looked absolutely shit. And as they were vintage road bikes, probably knocked quite a bit of value off.
If you're determined, why not buy a BSO or frame off the 'bay and have a go? Then you're losing £20 rather than lots.
I use a piece of soft foam rather than a brush and dapple the paint on. You need to flatten it back a lot between coats if you want a smooth sprayed like finish. I've done bike frames, car bits etc.
I was hoping that sanding back between multiple coats of Primer, Topcoat and Clearcoat with plenty of curing time would produce a pretty good finish.. My limited research into coach enamel seems to suggest it is self levelling thus brush marks would be kept to a minimum.
I am aware of some folks in the US, roller painting entire cars with Rustoleum metal paint and get what looks ok in a pic.
could be a looks ok from 30 foot finish, who knows?
Previous owner of my Inspired had brush painted it. I got it powdercoated.
Coach enamel can be pretty self-levelling especially if you can get the hang of quick wet coats and not repainting (which personally, I suck at, but it's an aquirable skill) But the thing is, it's also not very tough. Well, that's complicated. It's very hard, so it resists some damage really well but it#s also fairly thin and doesn't have amazing adhesion, which means it chips like a mofo on bikes. And clearcoat doesn't really help much with that. It's a wee bit like glass- glass is super tough and resists damage and scratches until you hit it with the exact right thing to break it, and then it shatters. But for enamel paint the exact right thing is every rock.
(btw Most times roller or brush painting cars is mostly about the sanding step, the idea is that if you're going to knock the whole thing back anyway with a machine sander, it doesn't matter that much if you start with a gun or with a roller. But sanding bike frames back is a bloody nightmare, so many curves and edges and shapes and inaccessible bits. For a bike, I'd want the best possible finish straight from the application, and as little post-work as possible. But then I've only ever painted one frame myself and the whole process sucked, I will stick to cars and motorbikes in future)
I don't understand why brush painting is less durable than spraying a frame.? Maybe enamel isn't a good choice?
As far as I know it shouldn't be. It's harder to get good thicknesses/films etc with brush than gun and I'd be shooting it thinner which tends to give better layer adhesion/coherence but I reckon with enamel most of the strength comes down to the material itself.
I am aware of some folks in the US, roller painting entire cars with Rustoleum metal paint and get what looks ok in a pic.
could be a looks ok from 30 foot finish, who knows
Early cars were brush painted and some of them had absolutely immaculate finished. There lots of build up, sanding and polished required with significant waiting between layers to makes sure its fully hard and stuff.
I've seen videos of people using brushes and rollers to get a good finish - brush it on then roller it flat, or the other way round I can't remember.
As a kid, sure. Wouldn’t do it today.
I did a bmx with Hammerite in my youth. Looked crap. Predictably.
I painted a bmx, including the mag wheels as a teenager. Looked shit.
When powder coating is about the same price as a round of drinks in the pub, I don't see why you'd bother these days
Similar to Davey. Wanted to mind to look shit. Used outdoor emulsion left over from the front door. Wanted things to grow in the brush marks. 100% successful.
I wrapped my bike in inner tubes to go stealth so I could leave it at gym. Zip tied at c10cm intervals, innerbtubes laid along frame. Looks really good...not been nicked yet. However, any cyclist knows its a decent bike underneath, been asked loads what it is.
I once used hammered green hammerite on an old cruiser a long long time ago, looked alright tbf. Because it was a burly as hell frame the hammered finish suited it - and of course it was self smoothing so it looks right, I wouldn’t do it with “smooth” rather than hammered finish.
That said, enamel and hammerite type paint can be a real bitch to remove so if you’re anticipating a bad job which means redoing it, just do it the better way the first time.