Roll cage prime and paint

[Greg_B]

Hopefully I will be welding up a new cage either over the weekend or next week. While I am a decent metal fab guy I know nothing about painting aside from powder coating. If this would fit through our oven door I would just PC it.

I want to prime and paint this cage bright white... Is there a certian type of paint I need to get? Does it need a clear coat to look good? Does it have to be sandblasted as many on here seem to do or can I use a zinc phosphate prep solution like I use for powder coating?

Any tips to make this look good and be durable are much appreciated...

Greg

 

[malcolmzilla]

Rattle can FTW (touch up or repair).

1st painting I sanded with fine grit (by hand), washed with acetone and sprayed rattle can self etch then rustoleum hammered. The self etch stuck well. Quite a few touch ups from the hammered.

Rebuild and repaint I sandblasted it at a DIY yard in about an hour and rattle canned it directly with some better automotive enamel skipped the self etch. So far so good.

 

[allenfahey]

I would use an epoxy mixed/reduced as a sealer. (no need to sand it that way) After it flashes apply the paint. You will be fine with a single stage. For a beginner it is very difficult to spray automotive paint to something like a roll bar without getting runs. Take your time and do one bar at a time.

If you use etching instead of an epoxy you have to either seal it or use a 2K primer. You should never apply regular automotive paint directly on etching.

 

[Greg_B]

I have only one experience spraying automotive paint... on a tube buggy I built 20 years ago... It sucked... I had over spray everywhere.... I was young and dumb... I had yellow paint coming out the windows of the garage and covering everything in the garage... That day I understood what paint booths were for. 20 years later you can still see the evidence of that tube buggy paint job...

Thanks for the info...

Greg