Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Motorcycle And Chopper Painting Tutorial

PAINT AND PREP SUPPLIES

Reducer

Plastic Filler

Finishing Putty

Primer and hardeners

Epoxy Sealer

Paint for Base Color

Clear Coat/Hardener

80,120,400,600,1500,2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper

EASY SPRAY BOOTH

If you're like me, you don't have the luxury of a down-draft spray booth in your garage. Here's what I did. I cleaned out a storage area that's attached to the rear of my garage. I covered the walls with white poly, and installed a multi speed fan in the window. I then went around with a roll of insulation tape and sealed the edge of the fan to the surrounding poly on the walls. Now onto lighting. After the first time you attempt to paint anything, you'll quickly realize just how important a well lit paint area is. In fact when it comes to lighting, the brighter your booth the better. A friend of mine gave me two four-tube florescent light fixtures, which I hung on opposite sides of my new spray booth. It's good to have reflective walls. Lining the walls with white poly not only saves your walls, but it's also quite reflective....


SAFETY

Before I go any further, I want to stress safety. It's a very bad I idea to paint in a room that's attached to your home. In fact, it may not be legal in some municipalities. Also, paint fumes are not only super toxic, they're highly flammable. Make sure your lights are wired properly, and that your fixtures are fully encased with lens covers attached. Last but not least, make sure you have a good quality respirator with the correct filters for the type of paint you're using.

PAINT EQUIPMENT

For tools you'll need at least two spray guns, an air regulator with a water filter, a compressor, and of course some air hose. As fore mentioned, you'll need 2 paint guns... one for painting primer, and another for painting base and clear coats.

PREP FOR PAINT

Make certain your fuel and oil tanks are pressure tested and leak free before you start. Ideally, it's good to sandblast your metal parts, especially if they have old paint on them. If you decide not to sandblast, make sure to sand them really thoroughly and wipe them down with a non oil-based degreaser prior to starting the job.

The next step is to add filler to the low spots and any trouble areas. It's a matter of personal preference, but I like to apply a coat of epoxy primer prior to spraying on the base coat. This provides a nice base for the filler to adhere to. prepare your filler in small amounts (it hardens fast) and apply it smoothly and evenly onto your work piece.

After the filler has stiffened, sand it smooth with 80 grit and look it over for any low spots or nicks, then fill and sand again. After the necessary rounds of filler and sanding are finished, it's time to spray on the primer.

Lay down a couple of coats of epoxy primer. After the primer has dried, get a spray can of black paint and very lightly spray it over your work piece. This is the guide coat. The thin black spray will show any waves, low spots or defects in your prep work. To fix the trouble areas that the guide coat exposed, you'll want to use flowable putty instead of filler. Apply the putty in thin even coats, then smooth it down with 80 grit sandpaper (wrapped around a rubber sanding pad). Once you get the high spots sanded down, smooth it down even further with 120 grit, then finishing it with 400 grit. You are now ready for a final round of primer. Once the primer is dry, sand it thoroughly with 400 grit to provide a toothy surface for the base coat to adhere to. I like to spray on a coat of epoxy sealer just prior to applying the base colour coat. In addition to providing a really nice surface for applying the base color, it also prevents any solvents from popping through and forming bubbles in your clear coat. Make sure to follow the paint manufacturers specification sheets with regards to mixing times, mixing ratios and painting temperature. Not following the instructions will cause you much grief...trust me.

BASE COAT/CLEAR COAT

Time for the color coat. Spray on the color coats as per your paint manufacturer's spec sheet. Now comes the clear. After the first round of clear is dry, wet sand it down with 600 grit. You'll notice rows of ridges appear in the clear as you sand. Continue until the clear is even and the ridges are gone. If you are painting graphics on, now is the time to do it. After applying your graphics, cover them with another round of clear. It may take two or more rounds of clear to completely bury the graphics. Be sure to wet sand flat with 600 grit between rounds of clear. After the last round of clear has been sprayed, sand it down flat with 600 grit as before. When it's nice and smooth, finish it off with 1500 grit. If you want to get it crazy smooth, go for a final session of 2000 grit.

POLISHING

Now for the gratifying part. The final step is to polish it to a mirror finish. You'll need a multi speed polisher, a buffing pad, and some buffing compound. There are lots of different brands of buffing compound on the market. Your local auto body supply store will be able to recommend something.

Sponsored by: http://www.balootisme.com



This little tutorial is meant to give you a basic idea of the paint process.
For more in depth guide visit the link below.
http://www.torkypig.com/paint/


Motorcycle And Chopper Painting Tutorial



Monday, February 4, 2008

Truck Service Body - Designed To Cater To Your Individual Needs

Truck service body must come with all the accessories or fittings that make it easy for you to move comfortably and keep everything safe and organized. The companies manufacturing vehicle service bodies are now aware of the varied requirements and are striving to meet these demands that make work easy for the driver. Vehicle service bodies are now specially manufactured with truck toolboxes so as to provide additional truck storage and safety of the belongings.

A truck toolbox is an important part of a truck service body that allows to keep all belongings safe and also provides ample truck storage. The truck toolboxes make an addition to the overall storage space available and thus provide for keeping everything in place. You can have everything organized and get all that you need without having to search for it.

Truck toolboxes are available in different sizes and are made of different material to cater to the individual requirements of the user. Depending on whether you need a big truck toolbox to keep big items or want one with small partitions for storing small items, you could make your choice out of the wide range that is available. The truck toolbox is also made of different material ranging from plastic to steel catering to the requirements and budget of the customer. The toolbox allows to keep all the belongings safe. There are toolboxes that come with locking systems that make your belongings absolutely safe while you are doing long distances moving from one place to the other.


The truck toolbox also helps you keep all the accessories of your toolkit safe and organized so that you have exactly what you need. While moving from one place to another a requirement for tools could actually arise at any time, in fact, it generally arises at the most unexpected moment and so having everything handy is very important.

There are truck service body manufacturing companies that manufacture custom made bodies in keeping with your specific requirements. These companies aim at providing for your individual requirements perfectly and so having a custom truck service body is a good idea. By having it custom made for you all the requirements can actually be incorporated to suit your specific needs. By having a custom service body made you do not need to get an additional truck toolbox fitted but could have it incorporated in your truck service body itself. The truck toolbox thus, fitted would be more sturdy and durable and can be made to your specifications so as to accommodate all your belongings.

A convenient and secure way to travel you can now have everything handy when you need it.

Sponsored by: http://www.balootisme.com

Author: Robert Hastings is an innovative designer of high quality Vehicle service bodies with truck service body models, truck toolboxes, truck toolbox, truck storage to suit all applications. His designs will enhance your service team's appearance, while genuinely boosting your operating efficiency.


Truck Service Body - Designed To Cater To Your Individual Needs