Good professional spraypainter in NSW Australia?

[kevincool87]

Anyone in NSW Australia know a pro spraypainter in NSW Sydney area? My last spray paint effort pretty much went down the drain and I'm not giving up. I'm trying to get my MDS-20BK rack refinished with a black colour..

At first when I bought it it had severe scratchings all over the place.. Then I repainted it black - Sanded using 100 grit, then primed, then water sanded, primed, then applied a black gloss over it. I guess I should have sanded it a couple of times when I was applying black gloss as well.. I don't know. It came out fine but a single turn with a t-fittings and the paint came off straight away. And I'd now rather put it in the hands of a pro spray painter

So anybody know anyone? Should I try a smash repair shop? Or would it be too expensive to justify a mere paint, considering I can get a new MDS-20BK for about $730AUD. Any help would be appreciated.

[kevincool87]

I know ultimately any painting done professionally or not will be scratched off easily, but there must be a way to make it last like factory painted MDS-20BK racks. I wonder how did Roland painted them with so much durability?

[M_C_M]

Have you considered powder coating? I'm not sure if you can powder coat aluminium, cant see why not, and its a virtually bullet proof finish. I know it has to be stripped back to bare metal but you could do most of that yourself. Get the yellow pages out and ring around...

[kevincool87]

I think it's ferrous steel. And yes I think the original MDS-20BK came powder coated, that's why they must be so durable. Thanks, I'll try the yellow pages

[daveybabes]

Yep

Yeah they powder coat motorcycle frames to make them bulletproof, maybe a dealer could do it or a bike restorer? check the classic bikers adds? it's another option ... if u can find a small company or an individual to save the $$$ should be someone in yellow pages and they would probably sand blast it back to bare metal?

[M_C_M]

There should be heaps of specialist powder coaters in Sydney. I don't think its that expensive either, a mate of mine got 4 car rims done and from memory it was about 100 bucks...

[kevincool87]

That's good to hear... just sent a couple of emails to a number of powder coating specialists. I'll try bike restorer as well, thanks

[Hercules]

Hi Kevin,

If you want a really cool finish you could try a gun (rifle) shop and get a quote on getting them "blued" - that gunbarrel finish would look excellent on a rack

[Colquhoun]

And with powder coating, flat colors are just the beginning. I just did a little googling, and found this for powder-coated finishes. After the page opens, click the color chips to enlarge:
http://www.custompowdercoating.com/i...ial_finish.jpg
Some of those would look REALLY cool on my rack.....this has me thinking about it.

[kevincool87]

It's been a while but.. I finally got it powder coated black satin.

Stripped to bare metal, went through a 7 stage treatment, then powdered coated. I was going to paint it with something like a silver chrome look.. Or something flashy and also a little rough on the surface of the paint to better hold my weak Roland hatched clamps. But my decision for another MDS-20BK was made so I decided black gloss, but realised the annoying finger marks you get with gloss finishes so I went satin. Less slippery too.
All got done with $165. It was minimum factory charged but I reckon it's a good price, yes? Next time I might do the t-clamps as well as the ribs that hold the vert. tubes are chipped off badly..

My expectations dropped down though when I accidently scratched one of the tube(fortunately the one that holds the module mount) on the side with the edge of a screw from a clamp. Not that I was expecting bullet proof durability but I didn't scratch it hard at all. Luckily it's only a scratch that you have to get real close to notice. I guess I'm being too much of a perfectionist.

It's been a week and since I tried turning the left/right wing arms in and out a number of times to see if the T-clamps scrapes off any paint. Even though the ribs inside the T-clamps have some paint chipped off in the middle and some on the edge, it's not leaving any mark of the vertical tube. As you know it's ok for the ribs that hold the horizontal tubes be chipped off or sanded, because that'll rather help hold the horizontal bars from spinning.. but I have no idea how the ribs that hold onto the vert. tubes got chipped off. The previous owner must have literally threw the rack around when he was transporting it or he was an amateur with shipping.

Well I'm getting another MDS-20BK after failure to efficiently buy a Gibraltar rack that would cost me about atleast $1.4K .. Even from States. I already had MDS-20BK so I figured I'd be better off spending another $500 to accommodate all my pads. I'm also converging the two racks together.. Not like Michael's new rack though.. just adding more tubes for strength.

I'll be posting pics of my complete kit after the new cymbals, rack and pads which all should come by end of August.

Anyway 'tis was just a review on powder coating a rack for anyone who's perhaps interested in repainting their old racks.

Cheers
Kev

[csnow]

Looks like it turned out really nice.

[M_C_M]

Looks great Kev. Cant wait to see it set up...