Spray Painting

[stefan]

Hey guys,

I'm after a metallic / pearl "look-a-like" effect and want to achieve this buy using your usual enamel based paints.

Is there a way you can add either different colours or like a metallic powder to get this or is it just a hit and miss trial i'll need to experiment with?

cheers

[Nemi]

Ask Denver he's the resident acrylic pro in here

[stefan]

cool. cheers Nemi

[e30_power]

when I got my car repainted I just got them to paint the whole car in the original colour and put the (silver) pearl paint in through the clear coat, when the sun comes out the car sparkles

[stefan]

i saw that you can get a pearl concentrate you can put through the paint (and clear coat as you described). might look into it

[DrNick]

yeah mate you can buy pearl and metal flake additives to put into your clear, but it is a bitch to paint with them since you have to keep track of where your spray patterns overlap and how many coats you have put on each panel. if these vary then the effect can look different.
its not so much of a big deal with pearl, but if you use something that catches the light like flake (or even a candy in the clearcoat) then it has to be really uniform.
you are best off practicing on some spare panel to get the hang of it first - the cheapest place for pearl and additives is actually on ebay, its a heap cheaper than the paint shop.

[stefan]

yeah mate you can buy pearl and metal flake additives to put into your clear, but it is a bitch to paint with them since you have to keep track of where your spray patterns overlap and how many coats you have put on each panel. if these vary then the effect can look different.
its not so much of a big deal with pearl, but if you use something that catches the light like flake (or even a candy in the clearcoat) then it has to be really uniform.
you are best off practicing on some spare panel to get the hang of it first - the cheapest place for pearl and additives is actually on ebay, its a heap cheaper than the paint shop.

ill have a look around. basically its going to all start at work, just painting up some promo signage and stuff.

question with these metallic flakes, are there flakes that mix with enamel thinners? can u mix with a normal enamel based paint or is it better to use it on the clear coat only? reason for these questions is because most of the spray jobs i do at work are of semi or high gloss enamel finishes and we do have some powder but its not enamel friendly apparently...

[DrNick]

the only flake/pearl that i know if is for mixing with either acrylic lacquer or 2 pack automotive paints. i dont think theres any physical reason for not mixing the product in with the base colour instead of the clear but it probably wont turn out looking as nice. 2 pack paints are a sort of enamel so if the stuff is compatible with 2 pack clear then it should (in theory) be ok with your gloss enamel.
i've never tried it so i cant really say any more. what i would do if i were you is just buy $25 worth of metal flake and mix it with a bit of your enamel paint and spray a couple of bits of tin and see how they turn out, the worst that can happen is that it turns out looking shit and you can try some other options.

Here i found some on ebay thats only $15 for 25grams. Just grab a silver one and experiment with it :

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/25g-1oz-METAL-FLAKE-CUSTOM-METALFLAKE-AUTO-PAINT-FLAKES_W0QQitemZ360186406540QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_ Motorcycle_Parts_Accessories?hash=item53dcc8668c&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

[stefan]

awesome. cheers Nick, ill give this a shot next week hopefully. just need to convince work to buy me a new gun now lol