Thursday, July 21, 2011

Sweaty paint

Ouch, it's been hot.  The temps and humidity here have been opressive, to say the least.  I've been working through paint the last week or so on a number of items; Noah's Ritchey, Jude's Trek, and a few custom bars for Julian and Howard, and have been doing my best to keep my sweat out of the mix as well as get the dog gone things to flash the solvents off. 

Here's Judes frame after sitting in the booth for 3 hours after spraying...see the moisture still?
Using the bake box has just been adding to the mind swirling fumage.  I finally gave up trying and bit the bullet, sacrificing three days of shop time and too much money to install an air conditioner compressor for the shop to help control climate.  Digging the 150' long trench was made a bit more difficult as the dogs kept laying in it to cool off right where I needed to shovel  :)
Wiring done, compressor placed, and coolant lines in to furnace...
Ahhhh, cool air (I'm such a wimp).  Now that it's in, we're back in business.  Wow, what a difference it makes both at the weld table and in the paint booth.

Noah and Judes frame both got 4 sanded coats of primer...
Then I began the white pearl paint for the Ritchey.

the first of 5 light coats of 80's Carrera White...
Once I achieved good even coverage, I mixed up the bright white pearl top coat. The cup of clear/hardner/reducer and the pearl additive waiting patiently...

The mystical, swirly pearl added in...

...and applied to the frame.  The pieces will get two even coats with the pearl to insure the light refracts off the base layer through the top coats evenly, giving a consistent look over the whole frame.

 The new tube and brazing...flows pretty well with the original fillets of the frame.
 White is such a tough color to do well...the tiniest dust nib or imperfection in fabrication shows through...


Should be a killer build, if I know Noah's tastes.  Can't wait to see it in rolling form.

I'll be spraying the bars this evening and working on the final computer graphic files for Jude's frame.

As the sun goes down, we've been blessed with some fantastic sunset/full moon views...I hope your evening is as rewarding.
cheers,

rody