Bare aluminium bike frame – etch or epoxy?
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- March 5, 2012 at 1:59 am #36135
I’m a bit out of the loop with all this as I’ve been doing easy stuff for the past 4 years :blush:
A mate has an aluminium bike frame that he’s going to strip or blast back to bare metal, and wants me to prime & paint it for him. Going back a while etch was always the first choice for aluminium, but since things have moved on I wonder whether epoxy would be better?
It’ll be painted in water base & solvent clear, so if I etch it I’d need to go over that with a sealer first (DeBeer recommend never to put WB directly over etch)
Cheers guys, I feel like a newbie all over again :whistle:
March 5, 2012 at 2:06 am #36136i would etch and epoxy, but i like giving the paint companies extra money :blush: , epoxy would work just fine
March 5, 2012 at 2:41 am #36141Either is a good option. Whatever one you have more readily available would be the one I would choose. You are correct on the no base over etch so one would require an extra small quick step.
Is this bike something that will have a high likelihood to be scratched?
March 5, 2012 at 4:32 am #36150[quote=”painter123″ post=25451][quote=”ryanbrown999″ post=25449]
Is this bike something that will have a high likelihood to be scratched?[/quote]
He need not worry about that as he isn’t using sikkens paint :p[/quote]
Says the guy using PPG. :rofl :cheers
March 5, 2012 at 5:58 am #36157[quote=”smooth” post=25446]If its going to be stripped or blasted why not do it in Epoxy than SS wet on wet? just a suggestion. Less work. :cheers[/quote]
coming from the guy that doesnt use SS :whistle:March 5, 2012 at 11:23 am #36158Thanks all. I have epoxy to hand, but would have to buy some etch, so that answers that question 😆
Wet on wet would be a good idea if I could talk him into a solid colour, but it’s a downhill mountain bike race frame, and he’s currently looking at a 3 stage lime green pearl :sick:
[img]http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00523/SNF0404MJ_682_523800a.jpg[/img]
March 5, 2012 at 8:45 pm #36161[quote=”Ben” post=25467]Does the DeBeer tech sheet allow the Epoxy to go straight over aluminum?[/quote]
Good point Ben, some epoxy’s wont go over aluminum without a pretreatment first.
March 5, 2012 at 10:26 pm #36162Always asking the right questions Ben 😉
And there’s the rub – it’s actually an Octoral epoxy that I’ve got (a sister company to DeBeer), but while it lists: “Substrates – metal (steel, zinc, aluminium)”, in another part of the TDS it says “Due to the large variaty of aluminium parts, first contact supplier”
I think I’ll play it safe and ring my tech guy.
RTFM as they say
Thanks again.
March 5, 2012 at 10:35 pm #36163Oh, and after further reading of various tech sheets (as you do…) both of Debeers etch (wash) primers specifically state not to be overcoated with epoxy primer.
Looks like I’m going back to how I always did it in the past – etch, wet on wet primer/sealer, base, clear 🙂
[quote=”Andy T” post=25471]Oh, and after further reading of various tech sheets (as you do…) both of Debeers etch (wash) primers specifically state not to be overcoated with epoxy primer.
Looks like I’m going back to how I always did it in the past – etch, wet on wet primer/sealer, base, clear :)[/quote]
Thats what I’ve usually done with aluminum. Etch, then sealer then top coat…wet on wet.
I recall some Epoxies I’ve used also saying not to use with etch, either. 😉
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