Painting With Epoxies

Hi everyone, thanks for stopping on a piece crutch. You know. Sometimes you get to paint some really really cool things right here. I have two vibration dampers and they look like big shock absorbers Ness actually what they are they're huge shock absorbers, except they don't have Springs on them and they're not going to go on a vehicle. These are made on a solid stainless steel, 316, solid, stainless steel, and these are going to go on a crane, an on an oil rig in the North Sea, north of Norway. So I have to paint these two of the special epoxy that have to withstand Arctic ice water and salt water temperatures for ten years and I'm using a really neat epoxy. It'S a very expensive epoxy with very high solids in it to make sure that these last or ten years out of North Sea, so sometimes I get to paint things that are really cool. Not necessarily the painting is cool but where they're going is really cool. These are five thousand dollars, a piece, I'm painting for them and you can see they're hugely a huge club as enzyme. They weigh a hundred pounds apiece and there's four women going on the crane. I'M painting two at a time because the company has to get in there and have to get on that crane as soon as possible, painting to they'll ship to I'll paint. Another two, but the reason I'm doing this are I'm talking about painting. These is that I'm talking about the epoxy painting process. Now these are stainless steel, but you can do this regular steel, it really doesn't matter and the reason I'm doing this is because a lot of people, a lot of guys, ask me or I get a lot of inquiries about powder coating frames now I would never Discourage anybody from doing powder putting on the frame because it is beautiful. It makes it durable finish, there's a lot of colors and it looks great but there's one problem: if you chip your powder coated frame, you're driving down the road, some internet chips, it's almost impossible to match the color and it's really almost impossible to match the shine. So when you do chip powder coating is very, very, very difficult to fix, so don't turn it up as either paint it with a regular pain or an epoxy. The epoxy I'm using on this is extremely hard. It'S a very very our finish - is a PPG product. I'Ll put the the name up there, so it's a PSX, 700 primer or paint epoxy, and then it's going to be painted first with a metal, etching primer. The etch is a few stainless steel, but any any metal can use a metal etching primer. So what I'm going to live in Prime these? First, I'm going to put two coats of this primer on, let it seal and I have to let it X and then let it cure two coats of that and then they're to be painted a bright red. It'S gon na be really neat put some of it's an oxide red oxide primer I'll show what the primer looks like it's going to dry dull. Now, after that cures up with the cop hak-seon and I'll, show you how to mix epoxies, because it's very important not how to mix them and they sometimes they come very, very thick and knowing how to mix them is really important. So I'm gon na primum paint them and then we'll see how it looks when I'm done. This is the primer. It'S at DePauw, I'm sorry, it's a PPG product. It'S called a miracle 385. This is the curing agent. You can see with a high solids epoxy. It'S almost like butter, it is really really thick. This is the curing agent, and this is the primer or the the mix. You can see how thick that is, and it has to be sprayed thick like that in order to maintain the solids so that it edges into the metal and can withstand years and years of saltwater abuse. But I mean this is this: is it's almost like? You? Wouldn'T think you'd be able to spray this. What you can - and this is this - is really like a almost like a latex caulking than it is a putty than it is a primer, but it's really thick. So that's what that looks like I'm gon na mix this. It mix 50/50 and then I'll spray a coat on there and I'll show you how it looks after i, prime it. You see this particular epoxy primer dries flat as well, the just a red oxide primer, but it's an epoxy primer and it dries flat almost like a base coat. So now I have to paint these with the epoxy topcoat. Let'S see how thick that is to mix this is the color epoxy, and this is a little different. This is the PSX 700 coating and it's not as thick as the primer, but it still is fairly thick and the key to painting a material or using a material. That'S thick is you're not going to get a big fan. Spray fan out of it. So you have to use a very small turn down your gun to a point, a little over a point and control the material, so you don't get a big splash and keep the gun moving. So, as you paint a thick material like this, you paint it with the small point and then you keep the gun moving to get the code. Even you don't hold it too close because it'll put a ton of material on very fast, but the key is just to keep it moving and use a smallest point as possible, and the paint will go on nice and smooth and here's what the finished epoxy looks. Like and it's very shiny, this color happens to be RAL 3002 red now there are a couple of bandages painting with epoxy number one. Since you mix it two parts, it's going to dry very, very hard. It can be very durable number one number two: it takes a little longer to dry than regular paint, so it is going to flow and is going to be a lot smoother and shinier then trying to work a clear, and these are very shiny. The reason there's a little orange peel. There is because the primer underneath the metal etching primer had to be put on extremely thick, but the pain itself is very shiny. I'Ll see, if I can show you the side of this club is here, has a very shiny. You see, epoxy is very shiny, so a lot of advantages to painting epoxy and it's a beautiful material. If you're going to paint a frame, you can't really beat a good epoxy paint. So you see when you paint different parts, metal parts, your frame, subframe components, any kind of metal part. You have many many options for this particular project. They were stainless steel, but it really doesn't matter because they make acid etching or metal etching primers for all kinds of substrates. I use the PPG amber code 385. This is mixed one-to-one and it's very thick, but there is a little bit of reducer and I was able to spray that it sprays thick, but it isn't. It was an excellent primer and the topcoat was another et product called PSX 700 FD. It'S a very durable, very hard primer. If you paint it on your frame, you will have excellent results, it shot, it dries extremely shiny and you have a million colors billion colors. Whatever color you want, the color can be mixed to whatever your specifications are whatever color. You want, if you have a sample, they can mix it or powder coat. You powder coat your frame, you're limited to the colors that are powders. Okay. So if you want to do a epoxy coat, it's equally as durable, it can be repaired. Now it can't be repaired like a regular, taco wear, if you, if you spray it, you can melt it and blend it. It'S a lot more difficult to blend. But if you do have a chip you can fill it in, the color will match perfectly and you won't run the risk of peeling off the paint. That'S already there. I'Ve done it with powder coats before, where you try to touch it off, and the the chemicals and the acetone or whatever that are in the paint will lift up the powder coat to make it even bigger mess than you had when you had a chip. It'S just a suggestion. I would never discourage you from doing whatever you want to do with your frame. It definitely is cool to have a powder coated frame, but if you want to have a cheap alternative, you can buy this gal gallon kit, which makes two gallons of primer there's only like $ 150 and the red epoxy was about $ 250 mix to make a Gallon, so that's about how much you would need so roughly about let's say $ 450: you can paint your frame with an epoxy, that's extremely durable and lasts a very very long time or you can get a powder coated which will cause a couple thousand dollars. If you don't want to go that row, the epoxy will give you the same exact result and will last Oh forever. You take care of it. It'S forever. It'S fixable, I'm just giving my opinion what I've done and giving you some options in case you're, going to work on your frame or pain for your project. I appreciate you watching. If you have any questions, please send me an email. Give me a call - and I really appreciate you watching - videos thanks for stopping by peach garage