Has anyone shot any of the Roth Monster flake? I am getting ready to shoot the roof of my ranchero tonite using Monter Flake and the Bomber gun and looking for some tips.This will be my first attempt with flake and i think i have the procedure down but looking for tips. thanks
That's all I use, love the Roth flake.......what's the Bomber gun? I use a cheapie Harbor Freight gun with the tip drilled out...... I like to lay the flake "wet" and spray my last coat "dry"....so the flake stands up (I like the random sparkle effect)....but more clear is needed to bury it.
i saw a dvd with a guy using the bomber gun, cant say i was impressed. it just looked way to lumpy, even after it was supposedly finished. hope you have better luck!
The Bomber gun is a wet gun that is basically a Harbor Freight jobbie with a 2.5 tip and stickers that they sell for $125. I used one and wasnt impressed. I went back to an old siphon feed. I agree with laying on wet coats and then a dry coat or two to let the flake stand up. It takes a ton of clear to burry the Roth Monster flake, but the effect is worth it. Also mix the sizes together 2 to 1. (2fine to 1 monster) This will also help the effect in my opinion. Not like I'm an expert.
Just throwing something in here I heard 40 yrs ago. I knew a guy back in the day, the flake he use to shoot was so big he would use a rolling pin to make it lay down. Not kidding he said it made the edges of the flake lay down before he cleared it. He just rolled over it. Lippy
Friend of mine used to shoot flake 30 - 40 yrs ago, he would first warm it up on a electric stove, don't know if that helped but that's what he did .....
I used a straight section of radiator hose around a piece of broomstick in stead of a rolling pin. The lacquer dried fast enough to roll it a little flatter between coats. I would also wipe down the surface between coats with my bare hands while blowing it off with an air hose to clean off the loose flake. I learned to use silver flake instead of color to get it smooth sanding between the clear coats. Sanding the colored flake was too easy to cut through the color. After the silver flake was semi smooth I used candy toners in clear to get the color I wanted. I thought the Silver was a better base for design work. I remember dry sanding the silver flake with 100 grit to get it smooth. Don't know how this would work with the new paints RodP
Hey Alex I didn't see you on here. If I ever get to do another flake job I will definitely call you. I need all the help I can get with this new crap they are trying to make us use. RodP
well i shot it and like i said this was my first time. the gun didnt seem to work that well. i think i should look into a siphon gun, i dunno. but anyway i laid down 8 coats using 4oz of flake and it didnt cover the roof of a ranchero. you can still see the base. the tropicali flake was bronze and i used gold base. for sure next time the base will matck flake closer. anyways did i shoot flake wrong or is 4oz not enough for a small roof? i then put on 4 coats of clear over flake.
4 oz. is definitely WAY too little to spray a roof and get any coverage, even one as small as a Ranchero. Heck, I prolly waste 4 ounces for each roof I spray. Also, a "trick" I use to lay the flake down, I put on a pair of nitrile gloves and just pat it down lightly. I tried a rolling pin kind of thing and the gloves just seem to work better for me. Be sure to show us some pics.
If your laying out a color flake make sure you shoot 3-4 coats of clear on top of that. Your will need this for the wet sand.
also, lay down a basecoat color that closely matches the flake ..... and be patient. it takes time and many coats to get good coverage..... a gun with a tip 2.0 to 2.5 works fine for standard and micro flakes
Y'know, someone told me once to use a big salt shaker to sprinkle large 'flake onto wet clear. I actually tried it. It didn't work that well. The booth just sucked all the 'flake into the plenum before it could hit the paint. It was pretty funny. There were like 3 of us in the booth, all wearing respirators and paint suits, holding salt shakers full of metalflake trying to sprinkle it on these !@#$ing Lambretta scooter parts and it's just flying away like we were in some science fiction fairy fantasy movie. Custom paint is HARD.
That's awesome, I wish you had video of that.. I think we've all tried stuff that didn't quite work out but in theory sounded good at the time.
Hahaha.......why couldn't have turned the fan off while ya did all the shakin'??? I as gonna try a pepper shaker on my next job. Hmmmm.....maybe not now though.
I used both types of Roth Guns on my car. I did not like the bomber one too hard for me to adjust. The dry one I liked alot better. What I did was spray a couple coats of clear to start off with. Than I took the dry gun held it back about 6-8" and kinda puffed it on. In short bursts not holding the trigger down. Than I shot couple more coats in between the coats of flake. Make sure you let the clear dry a little before you shoot the flake. To where it is sticky but not stringy.
You've got a PM. For others this might also be interesting; Use www.resize2mail.com to resize your pics to say 720x540 so you can upload them here to the forum.
Like Josh says i put on about 8 coats of flake with a 2.0 tip gravity feed gun, and then some dry coats for extra sparkle. followed by 15-25 coats of clear, nice and deep.