Tips and advice for painting moped?

[jaycee]

I've been thinking about changing the color of my moped. I only plan to change plastic case. What are do's and dont for this type of procedure?


Thank!

[eclark5483]

SOOO much advice to give.. so first of all..

Do NOT sand your plastics, you only need to scuff it up. Just a light scuff, you don't need to dig in. Take the scuff pad and just do some sweeps over the part to be painted. The purpose of scuffing it up, is so that the paint has something to adhere to.

To explain this a little better, think of a sheet of glass. Imagine what would happen, if you sprayed a coat of paint on it, and then let it dry... You'd be able to easily take a scraper, or even your fingernail, and scrape that paint off.

Now think of that same sheet of glass, scuffed up. You now have little bitty grooves that the paint will sink into, locking it in place. My suggestion for scuff pads would be to pick up some of these:

www.amazon.com/dp/B002NEWYNW

The reason you don't want to sand the plastics, is you risk removing contours, you can get streaks and runs if you do it by hand and not a rotary sander, and you risk hitting the substrate, which you do NOT want to do.

I would only sand as a last resort to correct pitting or other type of imperfections. You'd want to sand using a 320 grit at most, then follow up with a 600 grit.

Once you have the scuffing/sanding down, it's time to move on to prep for the part. This is a vital, and very often overlooked step for the home painters.

First of all, you'll want to paint somewhere that will keep contamination away as much as possible. If you have a garage, you're almost set.

Best way to approach it, is make yourself a makeshift paint booth in your garage. You don't need that big of an area. To make one, buy some rolls of plastic that are long enough to go from floor to ceiling. Make yourself a little makeshift paint booth in a corner, by running plastic down from the ceiling all around the work area, and tape them together with duct tape so that you have an enclosed room. Put the door/opening to get inside somewhere towards the end and place a small fan on the floor by the door that blows outwards to let paint fumes out.

Turn on the fan, and let it run for about 5 minutes before doing the actual painting, plenty of time to prep the part.

To prep the part for painting, get a lint free cloth and soak it in a mixture of 50%rubbing alcohol 50% water. Wring it out, and use it to wipe down your parts before painting. What you're looking to do here, is get rid of all the fine dust particle that may be present. After you have done that, you'll want to use a dry tack cloth (preferably one with beeswax), and go over the part again. THEN you are ready to paint.

When painting, always start your stream BEFORE the part, and use a steady motion all the way across. For a proper paint job, you'll want each coat to rest for 3 days. Sure it might be dry after a couple hours, but if you want a pro look, you need patience and cure time. After resting for 3 days, again, give it a wash down with the alcohol mix and a good tack job before moving on to the next coat.

Soooo much more I could go over here, but right now I'm asking myself "what the hell am I still doing up at this hour when I have work in the morning".

Good luck.

[2stroked]

eclark wonderful tips and vital information. Most people outside of body shop workers and painters ignore the tack cloth.

[eclark5483]

Other advice I would have, is scrub your hands and arms like you're a surgeon. If you have some, wear gloves. Do not use any deodorant, perfumes, lotions, powders, etc on your skin. Basically, you are trying to avoid SILICA by leaving these things off yourself. The reason behind scrubbing up, is because of natural body oil. Both body oil, and silica can ruin a paint job if you are handling the parts. Body oil, or any oil really, will cause a condition called "FISH EYE".

This is fish eye:


Silica, will cause divots. Think of a golf ball and all the little pits in it. Divots are very very hard to remove. If we can't get them out here at the plant with a conventional 1500 grit wet sand on a nib sander, off to rework they go. They can be pretty deep and are a pain in the ass, easily prevented by simple hand washing and protocol.

Orange peel is also something to watch for. Typically this can happen from poor spraying, thick coating, etc... other causes, which won't apply to a home painter, would be improper time and temp in the oven.

[jaycee]

Apr 15, 2017 4:06:52 GMT -5 eclark5483 said:

SOOO much advice to give.. so first of all..

Do NOT sand your plastics, you only need to scuff it up. Just a light scuff, you don't need to dig in. Take the scuff pad and just do some sweeps over the part to be painted. The purpose of scuffing it up, is so that the paint has something to adhere to.

To explain this a little better, think of a sheet of glass. Imagine what would happen, if you sprayed a coat of paint on it, and then let it dry... You'd be able to easily take a scraper, or even your fingernail, and scrape that paint off.

Now think of that same sheet of glass, scuffed up. You now have little bitty grooves that the paint will sink into, locking it in place. My suggestion for scuff pads would be to pick up some of these:

www.amazon.com/dp/B002NEWYNW

The reason you don't want to sand the plastics, is you risk removing contours, you can get streaks and runs if you do it by hand and not a rotary sander, and you risk hitting the substrate, which you do NOT want to do.

I would only sand as a last resort to correct pitting or other type of imperfections. You'd want to sand using a 320 grit at most, then follow up with a 600 grit.

Once you have the scuffing/sanding down, it's time to move on to prep for the part. This is a vital, and very often overlooked step for the home painters.

First of all, you'll want to paint somewhere that will keep contamination away as much as possible. If you have a garage, you're almost set.

Best way to approach it, is make yourself a makeshift paint booth in your garage. You don't need that big of an area. To make one, buy some rolls of plastic that are long enough to go from floor to ceiling. Make yourself a little makeshift paint booth in a corner, by running plastic down from the ceiling all around the work area, and tape them together with duct tape so that you have an enclosed room. Put the door/opening to get inside somewhere towards the end and place a small fan on the floor by the door that blows outwards to let paint fumes out.

Turn on the fan, and let it run for about 5 minutes before doing the actual painting, plenty of time to prep the part.

To prep the part for painting, get a lint free cloth and soak it in a mixture of 50%rubbing alcohol 50% water. Wring it out, and use it to wipe down your parts before painting. What you're looking to do here, is get rid of all the fine dust particle that may be present. After you have done that, you'll want to use a dry tack cloth (preferably one with beeswax), and go over the part again. THEN you are ready to paint.

When painting, always start your stream BEFORE the part, and use a steady motion all the way across. For a proper paint job, you'll want each coat to rest for 3 days. Sure it might be dry after a couple hours, but if you want a pro look, you need patience and cure time. After resting for 3 days, again, give it a wash down with the alcohol mix and a good tack job before moving on to the next coat.

Soooo much more I could go over here, but right now I'm asking myself "what the hell am I still doing up at this hour when I have work in the morning".

Good luck.

Thank you! I will let you know the result!

[eclark5483]

Please do. Always thrilled to see results people have with painting. I do it professionally, but I always feel with a little effort, a home painter can get almost the exact same results we get in the booths at Polaris. Looking forward to seeing a nice shine.

[greggkinney]

whatever you do not use chemical stripprs. i ask my so in law to help me with ny front fairing while i went to town. he applied some orange gel stripper i had in the garage that id used on some spray painted truck rims. well lol on the plastic scooter parts it ate through the clear coat and paint just fine but it also turned the plastic into a soft goo of sorts. it pitted the fairing, i tried to spray it off at the car wash, the preasure put cuts and ridges in the now soft plasctic. sand paper just rolled little plastic balls out as you tried using it and it cut deep, smearing and streetching so to speak. never did harden back up right either

[eclark5483]

When painting in your makeshift paintbooth, try to paint so that the fan is in front of you pulling out air.

VERY SIMPLE VISUAL

[eclark5483]

The only pre-prep fixes I would recommend a "HOME PAINTER" do between coats, is no more than a 3000 grit, wet sand, sponge type pad. If you need more then this, then that is a higher level of skill which I feel I shouldn't need to go over since it will require more expensive equipment and training then I care to go over to the average scooter user (sorry). But the idea here, in a nut shell.. is be a little more gentle then you think, and a little more tedious... that's all it takes to get a professional look.

[2stroked]

"Cleanliness is next to Godliness".
In this sense meaning being keep your parts, your area and your self as clean as possible. Do whatever you can to b certain there is no dust floating around. No oils from your skin, and if you like me, have long hair, been certain to wear a net or at least a skull cap.
When setin up your " booth" been sure your fan is pulling air OUT and away from your project.
Agreed with eclark, scrub the s%-$ out of your hands and forearms. Wear clean clothes that are free from lint or hair as well
I have seen people in a pro shop ruin paint by having hair ongheir clothing. IF possible and wihin your budget those Tyvex Crawl Suits are good for large painting projects. Guaranteed clean, and best part: disposable.
Please do let us know how things turn out.
There is no real reason you can't do a wonderful looking spray job at home. Use the proper paint, and primers where needed and follow EClarks advice. Stay clean and eliminate ll possible sources of airborne particles.

[tiny]

I've bin thinking of changing the colour of my Vino. Which is the best paints to use?

[2stroked]

That's a loaded question!
SOME of it is personal preference, but I like Dupli-Color and that Krylon for plastics. I also use an etching primer on plastics but that's me.
EClark will be able to tell ya more.
Be sure to avoid the cheap Dollar Store spray paint it is soft and will not stay on the plastics. It cracks and scratches real easy.
Some folks won't or don use a imer but I find it is easier to obtain and maintain a good finish when I start with a fresh primed surface. Of course if there is nothing wrong with your current paint a ScothBrite will turn or paint into a nice ready to paint surface.

[eclark5483]

I honestly have no opinion on commercial paints, but if I did, I would probably go with Krylon. The paint I'm accustomed to using (DuPont), gets premixed and sprayed on with a gun. If you went that more expensive route, you can typically get a decent auto parts store (NAPA), to mix you the exact color code you need. Like on my yellow scoot, I wanted specifically Iowa Hawkeye Yellow so I used,


PMS 116 C
CMYK: 0  14  100  0
HEX: FFCD00
RGB: 255  205  0
Madeira Thread: 910-1069 Classic Rayon #40

Which is this:



Otherwise, you're pretty much stuck with whatever color is available. If you don't use Krylon, for sure use an automotive grade replacement that won't deteriorate from sun exposure.

[benji]

If you have them around, try going to an auto body supply store. They usually have "higher quality" aerosol paints available in lots of colors. Sometimes they can custom-mix a color and put it in a can for you.

[2stroked]

Thad why I like Dupli-Color. It's intended for auto use so it's designed to be exposed to sunlight and elements. Some auto part and supply stores can mix rattle can paint to your custom requirements, but it's more expensive ounce for ounce than going the gun route.
My local Napa and one of the no name Auto Stores mix rattle paint with a days wait time.