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Henry Martin spends his nights writing fiction and poetry, which predominately deals with the often-overlooked aspects of humanity. He is the author of three novels: Escaping Barcelona, Finding Eivissa, and Eluding Reality; a short story collection, Coffee, Cigarettes, and Murderous Thoughts; and a poetry collection, The Silence Before Dawn. His most recent published project is a collection of Photostories in five volumes under the KSHM Project umbrella, for which he collaborated with Australian photographer Karl Strand, combining one of a kind images with short stories and vignettes. He is currently working on his next novel narrated in two opposing points of view. He lives with his family in the Northeast.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

The Bandit 1200S Project continues

This Bandit 1200S project just keeps throwing obstacles under my feet. One thing after the other does not go well, or is not working as it should have. Those of you who had followed and read this blog for a while know that I generally do not run into any big issues when restoring bikes. The Bandit did not need to be restored, and maybe that is why I'm having such a bad luck.

This time around, it is the frame.

So, I had decided to change the frame color. Not only because I wanted a different color, but also because the frame had a few chips and scratches in it. When I first started looking for a place that would powder coat it, I kept coming up empty handed. All my usual sources refused to touch it, either because the frame is so large or because there are too many brackets/triangles to ensure optimal powder coverage. I almost ended up having the frame painted with 2k urethane, when someone recommended a powder shop to me.

I spoke with the owner, did all my usual checking, viewed sample of his work, and decided to let him do the job. The order was mirror red with a second coat of clear on top of it to provide extra protection.

I dropped the frame off, and waited. About a week and a half later I got the call that the frame was done. However, the owner said that the second coat of clear turned it dull. I went over there expecting a slightly dull finish, but what I got instead was this:    
Looks great from a distance, right?

Well, a closer look reveals not a dull finish, but a 'frosted' finish:
This is all over the frame.

The shop did not want to redo the frame without raising the price, which I thought was unprofessional. They did offer to try one more coat of clear on top of it, which I rejected. Covering a screwed up job with yet another coat was not making me comfortable. The owner knocked down a bit from the agreed-upon price, and I took the frame home, thinking about what do do.

First idea was to sand the 'frost' coat and have it coated with a clear 2k urethane. But then I started thinking that if I'm already sanding it, I may as well try buffing it.

I hit the frame with 1000 grit sandpaper, followed by 1500 wet sanding:
So far doing only the exposed areas. The clear coat sands fairly well, and leaves a decent finish behind without digging into the color coat so far.

Here is a section I hit with a polishing compound:
Not good enough, but getting there.

So, the plan is to go over the frame with more wetsanding, followed by a polishing compound (silicone-free), and then some finer scratch remover compound. Because it is all tubes and angles, I'll be doing this by hand.

I'd guess you know what I'll be doing every evening :(





3 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm a a professional PowderCoater. 16yrs now. I realize I'm way late to this thread.... Anyway, by the looks of the pictures, they sprayed the clear coat VERY thin. And that will usually look like etched glass. More clear was likely the answer. I wouldn't charge for a 2nd coat of clear. Also nothing leaves my shop until its flawless. There is a lot of fly by night P-coaters out there that have never been educated in the trade. I feel for yuh..

Henry Martin said...

Thanks for the comment. Yes, I will not be using this particular powdercoater again.

However, after some sweat and hard work, the powder cleaned up nicely with wetsanding and rubbing compound.

Feel free to post a link to you shop - a lot of people read these posts.

Unknown said...

Hoping you can please tell me how to fix. If not I understand. Had my handrails powder coated and poured rock got on the rails. So I tried to scrap it off and polish but the film keeps returning after dried. How can I touch up the white spots and return to black without taking the whole handrail back apart and having redone. Is there a way to cut through the concrete without ruining the powder coat?