Uncle Ben's BMW - Paint

Where we left this project months ago was I had managed to get the engine back together after discovering shot rod bearings. Next was to put it back in the frame and get this project to a roller. I really want some of my shop space back!  That necessitated painting the frame and other bits.  

Let me preface this - I hate painting. It's not my thing. In the end I'm kinda aiming for a decent "5 foot" finish. (You know, looks good from 5 feet away or more?)

I've always wanted to try automotive paints and thought I would give a try on the BMW. I decided to use Eastwood paints - they target the DIY market and their stuff is a good compromise between cost, east of use, quality and variety. I chose the DTM Epoxy Primer and a Single Stage Black Urethane. But first I had to build a spray booth, sand down or media blast the parts, figure out a way to mount the frame so I could get at it, and acquire some safety gear (fresh air respirator, hood, suit, etc). 

There's tons of info on the net about building you're own small booth. I went with the painters plastic over a PVC frame, cheap box fans with furnace filters, and fluorescent lights style. 

What this is really for is two fold - 1) to contain the overspray and fumes, 2) keep contaminates out of your new paint finish while it cures. This style of booth is probably just OK at both, but better than nothing. I did notice there definitely was a positive pressure as there was overspray blown out all around at the bottom of the frame and floor joint creating yet another thing to try to clean up.

Parts Masked

Here are some various bits masked off. I think this was the most enjoyable part of the whole thing. It's clean, easy and kinda looks cool when you're done. 

Ready for Paint

Ready for paint. Turns out kinda. Well lets just say I learned a lot. The overarching problem was the fact I had too much going on in here. The parts were too close together, they were too high to paint comfortably, I had a lot of trouble getting all the sides (I had to hold and manipulate with one hand while painting with the other. I got lots of runs. I got lots of overspray. I missed some places.

​It was horrible. 

Primer on. Another mistake, don't get black primer if you're going to shoot black as a color coat. You can't see where you need to paint. I should have used a grey primer. 

Color coat on

I ended up sanding the primer out on the frame sections (where there were runs and stuff) and respraying. (The other pieces ended up being good enough). This would have gone great had my stupid painting hood (which inflated due to the fresh air system and pressurizing and popping up the top a good 6 inches) not collided with my fresh 2nd coat. I'll have to sand that down and touch it up tomorrow. Sheesh!

Good enough!

Did I say I hate paint? The prep work. The set up. The space it takes. The mess. The clean up. The chemicals. The safety issues. The ease with which you can totally screw it up.

I think I've proven to myself, once and for all, that if I need to go beyond rattle cans - I'll send it out.