Painting w/ flake

[SoSideways]

Mods please move this thread to the correct forum if this isn't the right one, thanks!

I am going to paint my car with a friend of mine this summer, and was wondering how difficult, or not difficult, laying a layer of flake is?

Neither him nor I have painted a whole car before, but his dad has, so he can give us pointers on the base coat and clear coat.

I'm just curious as to how different, if at all, laying down a layer (or 2) of flake is?

If you haven't painted anything before, you probably shouldn't reply to this thread because then you're just giving me an opinion, not advice.

Thanks in advance!

[s13silvia123]

lets add on with pearls as well.

Painting with Pearls i'm in the process as you are at the moment.

[TheRonTom31]

In for this. I need to paint two body panels and a bumper on my SC diamond white pearl.

[BoostinGST]

im in the same boat, acquiring body parts right now. but from what i've read you mix the flakes/pearl in with your base coat. wherever you buy your paint from should be able to explain how to do it correctly

[HS13KLS]

oo..my buddy paints..but from what i hear.(from him) is when putting down flake sometimes its hard. because it will clogg the gun. and the hardest part (just like painting silver or gold) is it runs a lot.. so you have to be extremly consistent when you paint and keep your gun the same distance away at all time.

[HS13KLS]

i hope that helps

[MunsonAuto]

like stated above, clogging the gun is one of the biggest issues. So make sure you have a spray gun capable of easily spraying the flakes you are looking to shoot. Again same as above, keep it to light-medium coats at an even/same distance the whole time while moving steadily so as not to build up in one spot.
Hope the small info helps

[Bubba]

The flakes won't just lay down as you may have already figured. Keep the gun moving for sure, you may have to give it a little swirl or a shake every few seconds to keep the flake from trying to concentrate in one area of the spray cup.
Keep a lookout at the layout of the flakes as they are coming out and hitting the car, you will more than likely have to concentrate on some areas of the car to ensure the spacing and concentration of the flakes are consistent.
Goes the same for pearls also, I recommend the powder pearls over the liquid.
The larger the flakes the harder it is to get the layout right. Hope the info I posted helps a little bit.

Good luck with the project. Post pics when you get finished.

[98koukile]

Another thing to note is that you can mix flake or pearl with a clear coat so you have base color, pearl/flake clear, straight clear in a 3 stage process. But you get a little different look from it. All this does is keep all the pearl/flake above the paint so you can use less and get the same consistency

[SoSideways]

Yeah I plan on doing it in a 3 stage process. Base, flake, clear.

Now, what should I look for in a gun to spray the flake? I was just going to pick up a cheap paint gun from like Harbor Freight, and to be honest, I know nothing about spray guns, so I wouldn't know what to look for.

All I know is, I'm probably going to pick up a jar of the HOK small flakes.

[landins13]

Originally Posted by bubbablak

The flakes won't just lay down as you may have already figured. Keep the gun moving for sure, you may have to give it a little swirl or a shake every few seconds to keep the flake from trying to concentrate in one area of the spray cup.
Keep a lookout at the layout of the flakes as they are coming out and hitting the car, you will more than likely have to concentrate on some areas of the car to ensure the spacing and concentration of the flakes are consistent.
Goes the same for pearls also, I recommend the powder pearls over the liquid.
The larger the flakes the harder it is to get the layout right. Hope the info I posted helps a little bit.

Good luck with the project. Post pics when you get finished.

dude knows his shit, another trick is to use a primer gun, it has a higher output and will keep the flake from clogging, it is effective, but you have to be really consistent and make sure that you dont move too slowly and cause runs or move too quickly and tiger stripe the entire car.

practice on an old body panel, a piece of cardboard a nitrous bottle, what ever you have, several times before you go near the car, also if your friends father has painted before ask him if he will do the painting for you if not show you exactly what needs to be done.

if you do clog or cause runs in the paint, remember any imperfections can always be sanded out and re sprayed, just make sure that you spot anythign you want to fix, well before you think about clearing the car.

i spent 3 years working as a painter at ACT customs.

good luck with the project, im looking forward to seeing pics when its all done.



PS: the gun itself makes a world of a difference. and the prep of the car is as important as the actually painting. remove all oil dust, ect. get some good tack rags and oil and grease remover. any oils from your fingers and any residue from cleanign materials will cause fish eyes and there is no simple fix for them.

[landins13]

as for the gun question personally i wouldnt pick up anything from harbor freight . you can buy a cheap gun and get the job done, but youll end up paying for it in paint when you have to respray.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....re&dir=catalog this was the main gun i used, i loved it, always sprayed consistent and rarelly clogged, in between coats make sure you clean the gun extremely well.

[nisans13turbo]

Originally Posted by landins13

dude knows his shit, another trick is to use a primer gun, it has a higher output and will keep the flake from clogging, it is effective, but you have to be really consistent and make sure that you dont move too slowly and cause runs or move too quickly and tiger stripe the entire car.

practice on an old body panel, a piece of cardboard a nitrous bottle, what ever you have, several times before you go near the car, also if your friends father has painted before ask him if he will do the painting for you if not show you exactly what needs to be done.

if you do clog or cause runs in the paint, remember any imperfections can always be sanded out and re sprayed, just make sure that you spot anythign you want to fix, well before you think about clearing the car.

i spent 3 years working as a painter at ACT customs.

good luck with the project, im looking forward to seeing pics when its all done.



PS: the gun itself makes a world of a difference. and the prep of the car is as important as the actually painting. remove all oil dust, ect. get some good tack rags and oil and grease remover. any oils from your fingers and any residue from cleanign materials will cause fish eyes and there is no simple fix for them.

Got my diploma in auto body, kinda skipped through the thread but how I do it is what he just said, also how long you thinking to keep the car can also be a factor of what paint and gun you should buy. I can try to help with any info needed.

[McRussellPants]

I didn't have any issues with clogging in my 40$ lowes mini gun.

Its better to use alot of little flake anyway, it looks less retarded but still gets more candy castle.

paintwithpearl.com sells enough to flake out two cars for like 15$

put way more in than you think you'll need.

its not rocket science, move the gun slow, no rattle can dust coat type stuff.

it needs to look like finished gloss after you make a pass, not dotted, but if you go too much it will run. One good pass and it usually wont run, so just keep track and try not to have to go back to get small stuff.

[SoSideways]

That Snap On gun looks nice, but unavailable, can't even see the price... guess I'll google it.

[nisans13turbo]

When spraying pearls or flakes, after every coat should let it dry for atleast min 10mins and max for 15mins just so you dont get any runs otherwise your fucked.

[!Zar!]

Don't spray too close or you will increase the chances of running. Try to keep you gun about 18" back. With long flowing sweeps when you spray.


Also, what compressor are you using?

[Dousan_PG]

you put the flake in the clear coat
we've painted 5 cars w/ flake

it goes in the clear.

[Brian]

yeah

in the CLEARRRRRRR.

PG invented the flake didnt they?

But no more.

bigger and better things now.

[azndoc]

^^^ Yes, like Aaron said. Also I think Aaron's painted his car enough times.

[tacotacotaco]

I say stay away from flake in the clear. Its damn hard to keep balanced. On my car we sprayed copper flake in the clear onto black. In small objects it looks fine but a whole car it comes out damn near impossible to have a balanced layer. When spraying the flake on one heavy lay or just a tad bit slower on a section will result in more flake in that area and when the sun comes up its gonna look mad uneven.
you can probably pull it off on other colors but black was a no no

[landins13]

i was just talking to a friend of mine at school about this, and he informed me that in the second issue of project car they do a 5-6 page run through on everything from the body work to prep to paint, if you can find this still in news stands it would probly be helpful for you in the long run, because it shows you pictures and proper teqnique when painting.

[s14xman]

no problems for me, sure shake the gun every few seconds but other that that with smaller flakes it just goes on with the clear without any other special attention. Never had any gun clogging problems ever.

here is an example of some i did:

[Dousan_PG]

uugh





BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH BH

[LB.Motoring]

When I painted Squidds car with flake, (fenders)


I shot it within the first 2 or 3 coats of clear.


I have 4 guns, with varying nozzles,

I used the larges (for primer) and it shot Micro Rainbow Flake just fine,

Lay them down, then you need to have mad overcoats above the flake, then wet sand.

I donno if I have any pics, but its a trial and error kinda thing, I would first try it on small portions,

you will learn you need to "mist" the area etc.

[SoSideways]

hahaha

Yeah I remember the rainbow trout PG cars lol

I'm actually thinking about going with the paintwithpearl.com's ghost pearl for the effect I wanted, but the spraying technique is the same.

I'll probably do a base coat, intercoat with the pearl, then a clear over that.

Thanks for the advice so far everyone!

Yeah I have a couple of spare fenders that I can try the technique and mixes and what not on first

[usajdm]

Ive p.m.ed you a forum you might want to check with.
In the late 80's to mid 90's, I was doing alot of work on lowlows and I feel very safe to say that those were the guys you wanted spraying you candys and flakes.
My one piece of advice though, if your gonna go with a candy then please dont put the flake in the clear.
When you can compare the two different ways then youll see what Im saying.
So jump on there and thye,ll tell you what you need to know about the right gun, psi and the tricks to spray a quality flake job.
Goodluck

[kingkilburn]

Can you post that forum for the rest of us?

[ByeByeSti]

mix it in with the clear as stated before. hope that enough re-assurance for you. also make sure to just like slosh the gun aroound a bit so that there isnt much chance for the flakes to clump up

[DUSANMANDIC]

shoot your base....mix your flake with the clear....shoot the clear/flake mix to your liking..... let dry...wet sand smooth cause not all the flakes are goin to lay flat so u have to bring it all down and then shoot just clear and then wet sand and buff and your done