OK - was thinking about trying my hand at doing some metalflake work - was going to start on the kids go-kart bodies (fibergl***). They'll love the "sparkly" look of a real big metalflake and it'll look great on the track. SO.... What I'm wondering is how much flake do I need to buy and how much to mix in at a time? Looking to get the largest flake I can spray with a 2.0mm tip for the spray gun. If I mix up say 16 oz of clear how much flake to add? Also - anyone use the cheap metalflake found on eBay? (there's even a LB of flake for $20 here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4623778835 - that's got to be some cheap craft glitter??) Seems to be "Old Skool Flake" and "Kustom Shop" flake out there a lot. Anyone have good luck with the inexpensive clearcoats found there too? These are dirt oval karts and I'm expecting a little bumping and rubbing seeing how the girls are only 5 and 7... Anyhow if it goes well I'll be painting their 5x8 enclosed trailer to match - so need to know what to use for a basecoat (can I use an oil based enamel for a basecoat - AKA implement paint?)
Definitely do not buy the flake you have linked off of ebay! I bought the exact same stuff last winter for my daughter's peddle car. Before shooting it on the car, I decided to test it on a panel. (Luckily!) The stuff was too big to go through the gun. If that wasn't bad enough, when I opened the gun, I no longer had clear with purple flake, but purple clear with silver flake. For my $.02, I would stick with House of Kolor flake.
How big is the bucket on your gun. Most clears are two to one mix with hardener, plus reducer. I mix up enough to fill the bucket, then add the flake and stir (I used a tables**** or so) Many coats to get depth, then clear a few coats overall so it can be sanded smooth without cutting the flake. There's suposed to be two types of urethane clear coat, on softer than the other, sounds like you want the softer stuff. The flake used was House of Kolor Don't forget to take the filter out of the bucket first A friend made that mistake once... Flatman
I believe it's a 20oz bucket on the one gun and the old siphon feed is almost a qt. Guess I'll start with a tables**** and work up from there. If I need a couple coats is 2 oz of flake going to be enough for a kart body (about the same surface area as a hood or roof I'd guess. I was going to ask the paint supply house about clear that flexes (the kind used for the urathane bumpers) as I figured it would stand some bending - I know for paint there is a "flex addative" which makes it softer and less prone to cracking. Anyone used the "Kustom Shop" or "Old Skool Flake"? Anybody ever used these clearcoats: Western Select- $63 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4624320724 Xtreme $59 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4622568259 Valspar (at least I've heard of them!) Legacy finishes $60 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4623480905 Auto Paint Pro $55 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4622568461 Any of these work - not looking to spend $200+ for the PPG I would normally shoot on the cars...
4 things: 1) Use a base coat the same color as the flake. 2) The more flake you put in the gun, the less clear you'll be shooting to get it to cover. You're *not* looking for depth like you would a custom car. You want to shoot one coat of clear/flake if you can. 3) Dupont makes a "Nason" clear that's cheap & pretty good. Not sure how flexable it is... You'll need several coats to cover the flake so that you can sand it smooth (then a final coat of clear). 4) You have *got* to post pics or your girls & their carts! :-D ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" Giggle Cream - it makes dessert *funny*!
Someone had posted about problems with Kustom Shop Flake. Ol School Flake and Roth Flake is cheaper in cost than the House OF Kolor. Be careful to not lay the flake on too thick or you may get runs. Here are some more places on the web other than egay Smartshopper has paint supplies for good prices, but some items seem to have high shipping prices. http://www.smartshoppersinc.com/ http://hokpaint.com has good prices on House of Kolor. I go some ol school flake from http://innate.com
I've used Old School Flake and have no problems with them at all. I've used the blue flake a couple times on motorcycles and they cover well and look great. But if you're going to buy them I'd buy them from a OSF dealer. Just my two cents.
I used Kustom Shop 'flake on 3TONFUN. It works fine and is cheap ($14 shipped for 4 oz. off the 'Bay). There is a total of 7 good wet coats of clear on it. Prepare for no fingerprints from sanding. If you're ever gonna knock over a bank, after wet-sanding would be the time.
I'm the one that had the problem with kustom's stuff. Their crystal clear flake is the flake that gave me problems. Their regular colors of flake work very nicely for me, and they went out of their way to make things right when the flake I bought screwed up the roof of my car. They sent me all new materials to do it over again, which were alot mroe expensive than what I had bought to use on the car, plus they sent me a BIG bottle of white ice pearl too! ain't mad at em! I've always been told to mix 4oz. of flake per quart of clear.
Glad to hear that they took care of you - that's service! I'll be using a pink / fuschia on the one and a green on the other - or was thinking about the color-shifting 'flakes that they've got. 4Oz/Qt is what I was needing - that's good to know - looks like I'll probably get 4 oz of each and that should cover with some leftover 'flake for touchups...
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