Took one for the team.....painting end caps experiment

[JimV]

Ok well...it was supposed to be a multiple product experiment with different roller types and different paints. I started out using a foam applicator brush stick thing using a dabbing motion to create texture and hide the chipped areas. Well I could immediately tell this was gunna work better then the spray paint for masking the chipped areas. After dabbing at least half of the end cap I decided to see what kind of texture my 1/2" nap? roller would create. Well the texture with the roller blended everything pretty darn well. No its not perfect but the even masking created from painting with a paint jug vs a spray paint can is much better. The chipped areas dont show up as real shiny vs the textured areas the entire area just carries the same sheen. I was able to manipulate the texture in many different ways......
examples.....
rolling with a mostly dry roller
rolling over and over and over as the paint dries
rolling with a foam roller would likely show more imperfections....but rolling with a lower nap would work

No need for me to drag this on....bottom like is that this works much better then spray painting. The final product is not perfect but it doesnt look like a horror show that spray painting produced for me. Now it is possible that you could spray paint on and quickly run a roller over it for texture.
Until I heat the grill up I wont know if it will adhere well but I see no reason why it wouldnt adhere very well.
See pics.....note pics are of 2 end caps not just one.

 

[JimV]

I should note that I know many of you already use the paint rolling technique and this option was suggested to me on another post by one of u guys.........sorry for being too lazy to go back and remember who.......but if its one of you and you read this.....thanks for the suggestion!!!!!

 

[JimV]

more pics....I took these pics as close as I could to make it look as bad as I could.......it certainly and purposely has a lot of texture but I dont think it looks bad at all....especially at a glance.

 

[Bruce]

I would have to call it a "Success".

 

[JimV]

Ya thanks........for flippers I can stomach this look with no problem at all. My previous attempts with the spray can .....well.....that look just didnt cut the mustard as my pops used to say.

 

[Jon Tofte]

Great idea! Now the big test to see if it holds up under heat. I don't see why it shouldn't.

 

[G Schafer]

Back in the day, Harley Davidson used a "wrinkle black" paint to paint their engines. I'm sure it's still available. Since they painted their aluminum cylinders and cylinder heads, it would definitely be a high heat paint. It might give the texture you are looking for.

Gerry

 

[JimV]

Ya that wrinkle paint has been mentioned a few times. Sounds interesting. My goal is just to cover chipped up end caps without having to grind em down to bare aluminum every time. Ultimately I prefer texture over smooth......now this is a bit much regarding texture but thats what I had to do.

 

[BPratt]

Ya that wrinkle paint has been mentioned a few times. Sounds interesting. My goal is just to cover chipped up end caps without having to grind em down to bare aluminum every time. Ultimately I prefer texture over smooth......now this is a bit much regarding texture but thats what I had to do.

Hi Jim, I roll paint on to the Fireboxes. It seals them up pretty good. The rolled on paint does need to cure a bit longer like a couple of days. You also need to heat up the grill for about a half an hour to have the paint outgas.

 

[JimV]

Thanks for the tips........I had another question about the rolled on paint. I got such good coverage with my initial coat I saw no reason to apply multiple coats.........will one good coat do the job????

 

[BPratt]

One liberally applied coat is good enough for the Firebox. You get even color and texture.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

I’d agree with Bruce, that’s a success! Strong work!

 

[JimV]

Thanks guys I will report back when the grill is complete and I can give it a heat test. I let the end caps bake in direct sunlight all day today.

 

[AHymel]

That looks great! I don't think anyone's favorite thing to do is grind down OEM paint