Long Weekend

[dxmachina]

I had some extra vacation days I needed to burn before New Year's, so I took one Friday. I was hoping to maybe get a couple of rides in, but it was too damn cold Friday and Saturday, and it poured all day today. Instead I pulled the bike from the truck and brought it inside, probably for the winter. Feh

Comments

[hackerguitar]

Glad you got the bike in - NE weather and salt isn't good for bikes. Broke a frame b/c of that once, long ago.

The $15 HF airbrush is pretty much the standard gun for a lot of guitarmakers - it's notably good for spraying waterbased finishes. If using waterbased finishes, mix them well and strain them before adding them to the reservoir, and you'll do fine. Adding a bit of high-proof ethanol as well (1:20 proportion or so - very, very little) also helps. And don't forget to blow out the nozzle with solvent when you're done spraying.

[dxmachina]

The bike is actually pretty well protected when it's in the truck (I have a lid over the bed), and the frame is aluminum and carbon fiber, so I wasn't too worried about that aspect. It's more the annoying realization that I'm unlikely to have many opportunities to ride for the next few months.

That's good to hear about the air brush. It'll be used primarily for plastic models, so it'll see both water-based acrylics and traditional enamels. I have an old Paasche single action brush that I bought thirty some odd years ago (for twice what I paid for this), but I haven't used it in years. It's been, like, twenty years since I last worked on a kit, so I'm long overdue.

[hackerguitar]

I think you'll like it. I've sprayed KTM-9 from Grafted Coatings (Seymour CT, not too far from you) with it with great results. I just can't stress keeping it clean enough, though - while it's inexpensive to replace, they get better over time as the trigger wears in a bit.

I think my next bike will be an aluminum frame. I've pretty well decided to try to bike-commute using the train as an intermediary step. We'll see how that pans out....