blown 87

I have painted my center caps with Enamel, is there any benefit to putting them in the oven for a hour or two?

What temp, how long?

Or just clear them and leave it alone?

Thanks.

Calgary Ole

Greg, I am new to the painting game and have much to learn but from what I know so far, a low temp baking is okay to smooth out enamel. It will help cure at a low temp of 200 for a couple hours. My exp. is with much larger,less complicated painted items and if your caps look good just let them cure on there own.
I say this only because I would hate to see your colors run into each other. I have baked many parts on my car to help the cure with success.

Dave928S

Hi Greg ... Baking of first coats is generally carried out to get that coat hard enough to prep (sand, wipe and tack) again for the second coat, and to avoid the common phenomena of solvent entrapment under the skin of the first coat, which can interfere with the cure of both coats and cause other problems. If the second coat is applied too early over the first, when it still has a high contained solvent level, you can get re-softening of the first coat, blending of colours, and possible interference with adhesion of that coat. In some cases, where temperatures are elevated early in the life of the part (like wheels from the heat of brakes), you can get solvent blistering. It all depends on the ambient temperature, type of paint, etc, etc ... but if it was me I'd play it safe and bake at a LOW temp (100F or less) to avoid softening and bubbling of the paint, and to cure by driving off solvent before applying the clear. Each coat has the potential to trap solvent under it so make sure coats under are cured (free of excess solvent) before applying the next. Previous coats have to be fresh enough to ensure a bond (some paints more so than others like epoxies etc) to the next ... but not so fresh that you get the issues I mentioned.
HTH

Calgary Ole

Knows his stuff, its all about curing the solvent and putting on the next layer at the right time.Again, you should be ok with letting the caps dry on there own

Giovanni

Greg, is this automotive enamel with a spray gun or just can spray?

blown 87

Spray can, paint pens, testors, etc.

Giovanni

I have never had success with spray can paints. The best approach is to buy a cheap HF gun and use automotive paint.

Here are some recommendations to use of halogen lights to cure the paint: http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/in.../t-242136.html

blown 87

I am not sure how a person could do the red and black on a center cap with a spray gun.

I do agree, spray cans are not the best way to paint.

M. Requin

Heat curing and baking are different. Baked enamels, such as used on Brit bike frames among many many other things, are a different breed of cat from spray "enamels" we use today. Those had to be baked, really baked, or they never really cured. Heat today is used to do exactly what Dave said above. Greg, if I were you, I would not heat those pieces with much more than a good sunny day's sunshine. I used the same combination, spray can and pens, with a clear coat on mine and a year later that haven't chipped or peeled a bit.

blown 87

That is what i decided to do, got them sitting on top of a black car out in the Georgia sun.

New tires tomorrow, after all this time with the worlds most ugly wheels, I am excited about having the looks of the car changed with new rims and tires.

I am at the point with my 87 that I can finally start to do some mods.

KenRudd

Along w/ Greg, just did mine with basic Testors enamal ( Spray Gold, then brush red and black). Let them cure overnight and just sprayed them with Dupont ChromaClear. They look good now, but the real test will be a year or two down the road.

BTW ChromaClear is nasty stuff from a health/enviromental point of view, but I had it around and it does look good and is durable.

-Ken

slate blue

I'll post my centre caps later, they are red and gold with a base coat just like the badge! It matches perfectly.

Greg

blown 87

I will also post my poor attempt tomorrow.

slate blue

O.K here's the badge as a reference, notice it is red over gold.



and while I haven't been able to capture this properly on my camera phone I think you get the idea.







The color match in reality is quite good I was having trouble with the sun when I took the pics

Cheers Greg

blown 87

I tried using Candy Apple Red over the fine Gold, but I could not control the thickness of the tinted clear, which means the final color.

I could not figure out how to mask the red area so I could use my airbrush.