Painting carbon fork

[ultraman6970]

The problem with rustoleum paint rattlecan is that the paint in a lacquer that takes centuries to cure and leaves you with like a rubberized spongy to the touch surface. That paint is ok for plastic but when you go to a bike the thing after a week starts flaking off.

As for pegoretti, well the thing that works for him is the color composition, if i try to do the same I will pick the wrong colors right out of the bat or the wrong shapes and the thing wont work, some guys have it... i do not.

The other thing is that you can even paint using sharpies, the works dont turn bad at all the issue is that again, if you have the artist taste of a monkey the thing will turn really bad. Pegoretti uses reagular paint brushes to do his stuff, other guys glue pieces of metal sheets like gold on top of the paint aswell, creativity speaking you can paint with whatever you want the thing is to do the right design and composition. You can paint even with seran wrap paper just in case.

The other issue in this bad times is to find a car paint shop open. I have one nearby but no idea if its open.

[Doug Fattic]

Angry you might try getting your charcoal filtered mask cartridges at your local auto paint supply store. I just got some a couple of weeks ago long after they had been out of stock at Lowe's.

As already mentioned those same auto paint supply stores can also fill aerosol spray cans with top quality 2 part epoxy type of paint. One brand of aerosol can that can be filled with almost any auto type of paint is Spray Max. This allows you to choose what paint they put into those spray cans. The way they work is that when you are ready to paint, you push a button in the bottom of the can that mixes the activator into the paint. Of course because the paint hardens by chemical action and not air drying you only have so long before the paint in the can becomes solid.

My recommendation is to use House of Kolor 2 part epoxy primer as your finished color. It comes in the 3 primary colors (yellow, blue and red) as well as black, white and gray. I like using this primer because I can mix the colors together to create almost any primer color. Because HofK primer has good colors, it is possible to use the primer as your final paint color and skip the intermediate step of painting another other color on top of your primer before putting on your protective clears. This makes doing it yourself with spray cans a lot easier.

The Spray Max aerosols cans can also be filled 2 part epoxy clears. If you are using HofK primer you want to use HofK clear that use the same reducers.

Here is a picture I painted of a frame using only HofK primers before spraying the clears. The Messenger decals used a straight yellow, the blue was a combination of blue with white and the gray was of course a combination of black and white. I put an additive in the clear so it had a matte finish. Just in case someone doesn't know I'm a professional painter and used my 3M paint gun to spray the primers and one of my Iwata paint guns for the clears.

[Doug Fattic]

If basic colors mixing House of Kolor primers is too boring and you want something lively, you might google Sammi Runnels. She is a pro racer sponsored by Squid bicycles but also an artist. Spray Bike the aerosol paint designed to use with painting frames works with Squid to provide custom paint finishes. Sammi has done some interesting paint jobs with Spray Bike.

I have no interest in using Spray Bike products myself because I have a huge inventory of Imron as well as HofK paint. However it is probable that in between the epoxy primer and clears you could paint with almost anything including the vast colors that Spray Bike offers.

[Oo0cH]

I've experimented with spray.bike products for my current build. I was really impressed by the Speedvagen Surprise me Scheme from 2018 (or 2019?) with the torn tape lines. Pdonk has one in a beautiful blue and brown.
IMG_9844 by , on Flickr
After sanding the fork down with 180, 320 and 600, and then wet-sanding with 320 and 600 the fork was ready for paint. Their solids (i've used black) is basically a clear coat in a can. Spray distance between 2-4" works best, and it doesn't drip. Touchable in mere minutes i've waited 20 minutes before spraying the second coat on.
IMG_3041 by , on Flickr
After 2 Hours i've masked the fork legs for their "metal plating", i've used silver.
IMG_3044 by , on Flickr
IMG_3045 by , on Flickr
The silver was very shiny, and too bright for my liking. The Internet told me to rub it down with a lint free cloth, which created a bit of a patina, but with visible strokes and caused color bleeds. Also, don't try to clean the fresh paint with isopropyl alcohol, a chemical reaction will occur and i've had to start all over again.
I've than decided to spray the entire thing black and clear coat it to match the finish of my Thomson stem and seat post. The clear coat must be sprayed on from about 8" away, and if your'e not careful you'll get paint drips. I used the clear directly over the paint, without sanding in between. All in all it turned out okay, but it's not quite the same as a professional paint job. I wouldn't hesitate to do this again.
IMG_0070 by , on Flickr

[djg21]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

i have two definite problems ahead:

-my respirator i use to paint needs carts. i seriously doubt i'm going to find any anytime soon.

-i stand zero chance of matching the frame color, so i'll need to pick a complimenting color.

Why don’t you ask Allied where they source the paint used for your frame, and if it can help you find the same color. I’d bet you could even pay them to paint it the same color.

[ultraman6970]

Part of the issue on getting the stuff right has to do with the paint. Never tried that line of paint used so i cant tell but i doubt even the clear will look as good as car clear.

[coreyaugustus]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

-i stand zero chance of matching the frame color, so i'll need to pick a complimenting color.

That frame color is so awesome, I'm not sure I'd be happy unless it matches. Would probably just send the fork to Allied's paint shop if that is a possibility.

Short of that, good luck and godspeed with whatever idea you have at the moment. Post pics of your process for those of us who can't wait to see how it turns out.

[Gsinill]

Easy breezy
I mentioned this before, get a set of waterborne airbrush base colors and I would argue that with some (or a lot of) patience you can match almost any color as long as it is not metallic or some special effect stuff.
Add an airbrush gun and assuming you have a compressor you are all set... $150 - $200 max and enough for many projects and touch ups.

I did this to repaint the rear triangle of my CSI after fixing the drop-outs and below is the fork of my C40 that came without one.
Bought a black one, very light sanding with 1000 grit and airborne primer before the base coats.
Since clear is nasty and I hate cleaning the guns afterwards, I used 2K rattle can clear which works really really well.

[Mr B]

If any of you are curious as to whether you can paint a carbon fork non-destructively (ie not flat back the original finish, and later revert to its original appearance), the answer is yes.

A little over 6 years ago I painted this bike



using Krylon Italian Olive Satin spray paint and a flat clearcoat on the steel Frame.
My requirement was that I wanted a colour-matched fork, but didn't want to risk not being able to change the paint scheme in the future.

Painting the carbon Fork was something of an experiment - I wanted to try a non-destructive paint job, so I decided to use Plasti-Dip, which (for those unfamiliar) is technically a liquid rubber coating that can be applied with aerosols like paint. It is definitely NOT paint. It can be peeled straight off if you don't like it, leaving nothing behind.
At the time I used it, aerosol Plasti-Dip was available only in basic colours - white, black, clear and a few 'camo' and 'flouro' colours popular with hunters and the tactical crowd.

- Prep was merely a wipe-down with a spirit rag or tack-cloth.

- Three good coats of White Plasti-Dip were to act as my 'primer'.

- I then went ahead and sprayed the colour coat on, which was the exact same paint as the frame (Krylon Italian Olive Satin).

At this point, if I were to leave it at that, the internet (folks on car forums) told me that the paint would harden like a shell, and peeling it off at a later date would be far more difficult - it would chip and flake off in tiny bits and take forever.
Then I found a thread where some bright spark had the idea of creating a 'Plast-Dip sandwich' by using White PD as base, then paint, then using Clear PD (which is flat) as the 'clearcoat'.
This means that the paint would be trapped between two highly flexible PD layers, and removal should (theoretically) be quite easy.

I didn't test this theory, I just went ahead and did it. I didn't plan on removing it any time soon, but hoped there would be a pristine Easton CF fork beneath all those layers.

Five years later, I stripped the plasti-dip/paint/plasti-dip sandwich off the fork. The experiment worked, the fork underneath looked practically brand new after lord knows how many commute miles in all weathers.
Removal was fairly easy - it didn't peel off in one dream-like skin, but it didn't take more than 20 minutes or require any sharp tools.



This method doesn't produce the glossy, smooth aesthetic you might associate with most custom-painted road frames, but it definitely suits matte-finish bikes or carbon forks paired with bare Ti frames.

[ultraman6970]

gsinill you talking about auto-air color brand paint?? Seen a friend that does custom car paint using that paint and is good stuff... i believe they have metallics aswell just in case. Personally never used it, i really have to buy a good airbrush, the POS i had from harbor freight worked but paiting results get better with the better tools, specially if you dont have the gift of painting.

[Gsinill]

Originally Posted by ultraman6970

gsinill you talking about auto-air color brand paint?? Seen a friend that does custom car paint using that paint and is good stuff... i believe they have metallics aswell just in case. Personally never used it, i really have to buy a good airbrush, the POS i had from harbor freight worked but paiting results get better with the better tools, specially if you dont have the gift of painting.

Yes, I am using Createx Auto-Air Colors and got myself a Harder & Steenbeck COLANI gun which is almost like a mini HLVP spray gun.
Started out with a HF airbrush gun as well but even though it worked, even painting a small area took forever since it just did not have the output to lay down a decent layer of paint.
Splurged on the Colani which works really well.
Can't beat the waterborne stuff, no stink, dries super fast and can be wiped off if you screw up.
Just need to be careful with the clear since it resolves the waterborne base coat if put on too thick.

[ultraman6970]

Thanks for the tips, will check on them.

THe problem the guy putting silver to the fork was the masking tape not good.

[coreyaugustus]

Originally Posted by ultraman6970

THe problem the guy putting silver to the fork was the masking tape not good.

I thought that rough edge look was the desired aesthetic. That's sort of what Speedvagen has been doing.

[ultraman6970]

interesting

[myth_jimmy]

Has anyone ever tried painting a carbon fork with a brush & paint?

I'm interested in painting my Wound Up fork...but not going to go and get air compressor/gun and not sure I can afford to outsource for $200 or so.