Jump to content

Spray Paint, Weight.


Fixed Pants™

Recommended Posts

Right, over the last week or so I've been wondering if spray paint/paint in general really makes that much difference to the weight of your bike.

Given that 1l of water= 1kg, and I've just used 1.2l of spray paint on my frame and forks, ontop of how ever much anodizing, i might have made my bike 1.2kg heavier?! Given that my bike already weighs a bit (certainly not the lightest bike around) i don't think I've got much margin for weight.

I'd be willing to caustic soda the anodizing off to make it a nice raw frame and forks (it won't affect strength or anything will it?) and weigh it before and after that... Not sure when I'd be bothered to do it though.

So, basically, does spray really weigh that much? I'm thinking not quite as much as water but it can't be far off, because it once was in a liquid state.

btw, i searched, didn't find anything though.

Edited by Fat Pants
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, not really, because it tells you you're buying 600ml of paint, and pretty much (out of the liquids that have a similar viscosity to water) will weigh 1kg per 1l.

Sorry for the lack of quality of the first post, i have good ideas and think i can write an essay on it, but when it comes to it, it turns out shit :(

EDIT: Inur, you man of all knowledge (and JT), fair enough on the anodizing bit, i didn't quite realise it removed metal, but surely it's more than 40g for the spray?

Edited by Fat Pants
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most of the spray is propellant I think - or something else. Either way it evapourates or something and doesn't find its way onto the bike. A full (good quality - thick!) paint job (primer, colour, laquer) weighs about 200g I think.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Propelant is only butane or similar, so only a gas (would be a liquid inside the can though, due to the high pressure it's put under), but i'm not sure of it being liquid, all i know is that it will keep a constant pressure of whatever the propellant is ('butane 40' would have a constant pressure of 40psi until all of it is gone, similar to butane cans that you get for portable cooker thingies)

But there really should be more weight than that, i can't understand how so much of it is 'wasted'/ doesn't go onto the bike.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pants, I was only referring to the part where you wrote that you didn't remove the anodizing before painting. If you removed the anodizing, you wouldn't have saved much weight. I have no idea how much spray paint weighs, but take into account that what you spray your bike with then has to dry. I'd be really surprised if your bike is even 300g heavier than before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you think about it, some of the can would have missed ytour frame (outside), some of the can was propellant and actual paint is made up of pigment, binder and a solvent and the solvent evaporates as well. So very little of the cans composition will stay on your frame. And the can probably wasn't full in the first place - the measurement was probably rounded up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, it's all true. You won't have made your bike 1.2Kg heavier because of factors like evaporation, particle dispersion, propellant weight (as said before) and paint density (whose "weight" is relative to it's volumic mass, not viscosity btw). I'd estimate about 500g max more weight added.

Edited by Dani.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...