I was hoping to finish painting the tube today; apart from final assembly it's the last thing left to do. I did manage to fill, sand and prime the tube, and then sanded that ready for the white enamel. Unfortunately, that will now be delayed for a few weeks as I am having a spinal fusion tomorrow
, but at least I've completed the (physically) hardest parts.
I'm just a beginner spray painter, so I made a couple of mistakes:
- The automotive lightweight fillers that are around cure very quickly (less than 5 minutes), so I found it extremely difficult to squeegee it around the tube (to fill small voids in the surface of the CF). I had to mix small (~20ml) batches, and trying to measure the hardening agent for that (~0.4ml) is very difficult, even using a syringe (it is a paste). Adding to my difficulties was the fact that it gets quite hot in a tin shed! I wonder if there is a better filler that I should have used for this purpose? I found that I probably under-measured the hardener, which made sanding very difficult as it wasn't as hard as it should be and would tend to clog up the sandpaper)
Trouble was, more hardener would set it off extremely quickly.
- When spraying the etch primer, I had the nozzle set to too wide a spray pattern, so it had a very textured surface (due to thin overspray) which needed more sanding. Anyway, the results don't look too bad, just a lot more work than necessary!
Some images below:
- The raw tube in the new kit shed I built for my wife; just a coincidence it was the perfect size to use as a spray booth
- The tube after being filled and sanded.
- The tube and some fittings (light shield, bottom fan plate and cap) after priming.