bulgie 

Sorry for the maybe-obvious question, but your respirator is the cartridge variety, right? With cartridges for organic vapors? I only ask because you mentioned filters, which are good to have but not enough by themselves for painting. Gotta have the vapor cartridges. Unless you go for a supplied-air hood, with the intake positioned somewhere with 100% clean air.

Mark B

Velo Mule

Good question again. I am assuming that you are not only asking me for my safety, but also as a reference for anyone thinking about painting their frame to get the right stuff. The answer for mine is I did some research before buying my respirator and bought a 3M with a 6001 cartridge from The Home Depot near me.



The original black elastic lost its bounce after a short while. The elastic was replaced with a similar width ribbon from a fabric shop. Black was not available, but fashion takes a back seat for safety. This replacement elastic has held up better than the original. It seems to be thicker and have more rebound force, if that is a thing. I think it has more rubber in it than the original.

Senior Ryder 00 

Great idea & design!
Here’s a suggestion for paint curing. Can’t take credit since it has been posted before.
After air drying for a couple of days, use a cardboard box or small child’s wading pool that has been painted flat black inside. You can also use a 1 X 6” folding frame and set it on a sheet of black plastic. Support the frame so that minimal spots touch. Cover with a large recycled window pane or clear plastic & put in a sunny location. The cover should not be tight so that the vapor can escape. Sorry, no pictures.
Cheers,
Van

obrentharris 

I use the South Facing Subaru brand drying closet which is based on the same principle.




Here's my version of the painting stand:






The handle and little blue thrust bearing came from McMaster Carr. Without the thrust bearing the handle would unscrew each time I rotated the frame up and down.



Brent

Senior Ryder 00 

WOW! That’s great; simple, effective & even somewhat elegant. 😃
Just curious, where did the cones come from? The co-op where I volunteer has a mill, a lathe & welding equipment. I’m not much machinist, but can weld.
Cheers,
Van

bulgie 

Me too — curious, but only casually, I'd probably just make my own. Maybe I should wait for Brent to answer... nah I'll just shoot from the hip.
Here's a pair, but whether they're worth $64 (shipped) will depend on whether you can DIY.

The link above goes to what they call head tube cones, but I'm pretty sure they'll work for BBs too. The ones they sell intended for BBs are a bit more expensive and could be overkill for a paint stand. Well, even the smaller headtube cones could be more metal than you need there, but the convenience of ordering from the web, versus the hassle of DIY, might make this compelling. Even compared to something smaller, lighter, and possibly even better at the job, like an internal expander that holds the BB shell from the inside only, nothing touching the outer face.

Note, I've never tried such an internal expander in a BB so maybe that's a terrible idea, just spitballin'. But I have used an internal expander (similar to a quill stem) that goes in the seat tube, and held the frame there for painting. Like a dummy seatpost, only (a slight preference of mine) it's smaller than a seatpost at the top of the lube or lug. It tightens down inside a ways, at the seatpost diameter, but then the part that sticks out the top of the frame, and joins it to the stand, is smaller diameter so it doesn't touch the top edge of the seat tube. If a BB cone cone or dummy seatpost does touch at the outer edge of the frame, and if the paint wets out on both the frame and the stand holder-thingum, then there's a risk of tearing the paint when those two parts are separated after the paint dries. There are ways to avoid that problem though, to where sometimes it's not a problem at all, just something to watch out for. Thus my slight preference, not a big deal usually.

Mark B

Aardwolf

Yep, ripping the paint off the sides of the BB is a problem I've had with the wooden cones.
I decided to live with it and maybe clear coat the sides later.

repechage

I suggest storing the mask in a big ziploc freezer storage bag, out of the light (humidity control) between uses.
the 3M is a good mask but does not fit my face comfortably. Wilson was the best for me but finding those today is a problem.

obrentharris 

Having neither machine tools nor machining skill I used the bottom bracket cones from the same source cited by Mark.
Brent

dmarkun

I cut an old Park stand in half. The top I mounted on a rolling tool cart and the bottom I used as a frame holder for painting. The PVC pipe in the head tube is held with a clamping thing that allows me to raise the tube. I used SprayMax: 1 can of 2-part primer (2k), 2 cans of color non-catalyzed (1k), and 2 cans of 2-part gloss coat clear (2k). The instructions call for 4 minutes of shaking so I used a saber saw as a shaking machine. Spraying is a bit nerve-racking because for best results they want you to spray all the color and all the clear with a short time in between each coat. So that means like 8+ coats in a row that all have to be perfect. But the result is that the coats all bond together nice and shiny. Color coat is thin and goes on pretty well but you get orange peel if you spray too thin. Primer and clear is thicker and you get drips if you spray too thick. As I said, nerve-racking. You need a professional technique for professional results (not saying I have that). Not perfect but it came out pretty good and I would do the same way again. I had some drips in the primer that came out with light wet sanding. Important to inspect your work for any missed spots BEFORE you use up all the paint (which goes fast). I gave the floor a good vacuuming and put a fan in the window to suck out, letting it run for a few hours before I started. (Not a single speck of dust in the paint). I turned off the furnace and suggested that Mrs might want to spend the day at the garden center.

One more important thing:
I would do better masking. I would follow this advice from a car painting forum: The best way to mask things is to tape off the area you want covered but leave the last 1/8" or so showing. Now, after the whole thing is covered but that 1/8" you tape that last edge with blue fine line tape that is 1/4" wide. So you cover up that last bit and a little of the regular masking tape. After you paint you pull off that blue fine line that was added last at the edge WHILE the clear is still just tacked up. I even pull it off while still totally wet sometimes.

Pompiere

For the frame, I clamp a broomstick in a Workmate and slide the seat tube over it. I can spin the frame 360 degrees to hit every nook and crannie. It is a lot easier to paint when you don't have to spray upwards to get the undersides. For the fork I use an old lamp base. I put a small dowel in the brake hole as a stopper. I'll hold the fork in one hand and paint the top of then crown, then I'll flip it over and slide the steerer on the stand to paint the legs.

martl

That looks a lot like what i use. Recently, i use the workstand to clamp a piece of tube roughly vertical, but at a slight angle, and hang the frame by the steering tube losely over that. Depending on the angle of the tube in the workstand, this gives some stability to the frame position while still allowing to swing the frame sideways. It gives easy access to all surfaces on the frame (it also can easily be flipped upside down).