Has somone some expierience with frame paintjobs?
I’m gonna order a new costum uni and i was thinking about painting the frame with Hammerite metal paint, grey and a smashed hammer effect
is there someone who did this before, does it go easy ?
thanx
Consider it a very temporary paint job. I used “hammered” spray paint on my MUni and once it was badly chipped I had a local body shop redo the frame with automotive paint. That is holding up much better but still powder coating seems to be the only common permanent paint job, other then stock.
Re: someone has expierience with hammerite paintjob?
On Thu, 14 Sep 2006, UNIquelyCanadian <> wrote:
>
> bailingmarne wrote:
> > Has somone some expierience with frame paintjobs?
> > I’m gonna order a new costum uni and i was thinking about painting the
> > frame with Hammerite metal paint, grey and a smashed hammer effect
> > is there someone who did this before, does it go easy ?
>
> Consider it a very temporary paint job. I used “hammered” spray paint
> on my MUni and once it was badly chipped I had a local body shop redo
Hammerite is a very tough glass-flake enamel. I find it at least as
durable as powder coat, and it’s certainly much more tolerant of the
underlying surface - it will even cope with light rust remaining (as
long as you shift any loose material). If you have bad rust there’s a
specific undercoat which tolerates almost anything short of lumps
falling off.
It’s relatively easy to apply, but beware - it doesn’t like overcoats
outside the specified time limits - read the tin, and believe what it
says. Either you need to do a second coat fairly fast (soon after
touch dry), or you should leave it weeks.
It wants to go on a little thicker than most paint, and normally one
coat is sufficient. Obviously, you need to ensure it doesn’t go on so
thick it slumps.
You normally can see the joints between coats, so it’s best to arrange
supports so you do the entire job in one go, start painting at one
extremity and do a continuous coat all the way to another extremity,
avoiding putting wet paint alongside dry at any point. On a unicycle
frame, this probably means stripping it and hanging it from something
slotted through the seat-clamp bolt-hole.
It skins quite quick, so even like this you need to work quite fast to
avoid the visible joins, and it’s really annoying if you miss a spot -
when you try and go back and touch it up, it’s easy to make more of a
mess.
Best thing is work out exactly the sequence you’re going to paint,
then do it fast-but-thorough first time, one go, one coat.
Don’t try and bake it - I tried accelerating it in an oven once (only
very slightly warm) and it discoloured. Let it dry at ambient
temperature.
The genuine hammerite solvent makes brush cleaning much easier. Both
that and the paint are very fumey - make sure you have good
ventilation and don’t smoke / practice your fire-clubs / otherwise
play with naked flames at the same time.
In most cases I prefer the smooth to the hammered finish, and I’ve
only ever used smooth on bike or unicycle frames. Generally, it’s a
good, very durable, surface-tolerant, easier-than-most paint.
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thanx for the usefull info:)
but does the paint need a varnish ?
Re: someone has expierience with hammerite paintjob?
On Thu, 14 Sep 2006, bailingmarne <> wrote:
>
> thanx for the usefull info:)
> but does the paint need a varnish ?
I have never put a varnish or lacquer on top of hammerite.
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Years ago I would have agreed with the above statement, hammerite seemed really durable. I painted things that would get heavily abused e.g. an anchor and it would look reasonable most of the summer.
However when I painted my first frame with it (no grease, rust etc) it chipped and scratched really quickly. Possibly my tin came from a bad batch? All I know it was very easy to remove with a wire brush before re-painting.
If other people have been successful I might try it once more.
Keith
Re: someone has expierience with hammerite paintjob?
On Thu, 14 Sep, keg <> wrote:
> Ian Smith wrote:
> >
> > Hammerite is a very tough glass-flake enamel. I find it at least as
> > durable as powder coat, and it’s certainly much more tolerant of the
> > underlying surface - it will even cope with light rust remaining (as
>
> However when I painted my first frame with it (no grease, rust etc) it
> chipped and scratched really quickly. Possibly my tin came from a bad
> batch? All I know it was *very *easy to remove with a wire brush before
> re-painting.
I currently have one unicycle and one tricycle with large quantities
of hammerite. It hasn’t chipped that I’ve noticed (and the tricycle
was painted because the original powder-coat was failing), but I’m not
going to set to with a wire brush to test it.
Are you in a jurisdiction that has had to change the formulation to
meet statutory VOC limits? I’ve bought Hammerite in the UK in the
last year that seems as good as it ever was (and smells the same, so I
expect has similar solvent content). I don’t know whether Hammerite
have different formulations, but it’s possible.
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…Sounds like I misread the question, I was commenting on a different paint.
My apologies.
Yes I had assumed the formulation had changed to reduce the VOC. However as we are both in the UK I have to assume I just bought a tin from a bad batch, around 3 years ago.
I might try it again on the next frame, it’s fairly easy to apply & hopefully it won’t be so easy to remove with a wire brush next time 
Hammerite is pretty strong but you need to prepare the surface first if its very smooth (like a chrome frame) - it needs roughening up or the paint will chip off really easily.
BTW - hammerite thinner is pretty much just acetone. Much cheaper.
Rob
Make sure you really do shake/mix the paint thoroughly before applying else the colour doesnt come out right and the paint seems to stick less well. Particularly if you lay several layers of hammerite it does take several days to harden properly (infact 6 weeks to reach full hardness, but it’s pretty good within a few days), I would leave it a good while before reassembling as seat post clamp or bearing bolts will damage the surface of freshly dried hammerite easily. Really do heed the notices about when you can recoat, spraying a new coat on one which is more than an hour old, or less than 6 weeks old will cause a ‘silicon-eye’ type effect where the paint will not cover the surface properly, which is unsightly and doesn’t stick well.