Painting Pins

[KWagner]

I need to paint 18 pins (6 pins of 3 different colors) for casino bowling at the small bowling center I help out at. What type of paint do you think I should get, and what type of prep work is needed on the pins. Obviously pins take a beating and this is only a quick fix to buying colored pins (not in the budget at this time).

I don't want the pins making a mess and chipping all over the pace (this might not be avoidable), and I don't want the paint getting on the bowling balls.

What colors work well with AMF Accu-score so that scoring is not too much of an issue? I don't have any glow or party lighting in the center, so it will be regular lighting.

[mrdj]

we sand the surface of our pins and use regular latex paint on them. we paint the belly of the pin only and leave the head of the pin white works great with as80 scoring. there is a clear coat finish that we put on the painted area to keep pins from marking bowling balls and from chipping but for the love of me i cant find what we used and i dont remember what it was called.

[KWagner]

Thanks, I will give that a try. I was only going to paint the belly of the pin anyway so this was helpful.

[smurtland]

Make sure to leave at least a couple of days of dry time. I painted some and left them for about 24 hrs and threw them in. Came in the next day and the carpet, pin wheel cross conveyor and snubber were all red.

[8270king]

I would not use latex anything on the pins....use oil based paint followed by clear urethane

Latex and urethane do not play well with each other

[cuda96]

Has anyone tried the newer Krylon spray paints specifically made for plastics?
How do they work?

[8270king]

Any color needs to be covered with clear urethane

[Gym]

Has anyone tried to dye/stain pins? After you clean and sand you have open pores, so I got to thinking is there a dye/stain that would work for this?

How about using fluorescent hair dye?

[Popeye]

Has anyone tried the newer Krylon spray paints specifically made for plastics?
How do they work?

Yes I have. We had someone make red pins for us before automatic scoring. I wanted to paint the heads white so i tried this paint. Didn't seem to last very long.

[Popeye]

Make sure to leave at least a couple of days of dry time. I painted some and left them for about 24 hrs and threw them in. Came in the next day and the carpet, pin wheel cross conveyor and snubber were all red.

I believe paint takes about a week to fully cure.

[PinCup]

Discussed in an earlier thread.

http://www.bowltech.com/forums/showthread.php?38549&p=382361#post382361

My method is post #15

PinCup

[pinfeed]

It seems that I have tried everything imaginable on this subject. You buy cleaner, sandpaper, tack rags, paint, clearcoat, etc...And nothing but urethane paint will work...(Of course the most expensive.) Then you have your labor. And you can't give this job to a $10/hr guy cuz you'll get a $10/hr job. Then after all this you still have paint flakes everywhere. Then you want to touch them up or recoat them cuz they're starting to look tacky. So basically starting all over.

That $250 price tag for factory colored pins may seem like a tough pill to swallow, but after you get them, You'll ask yourself..."Why did I waste my time with all of that?" And the best part is they will last you FOREVER!!!

...Just my $.02

[Popeye]

It seems that I have tried everything imaginable on this subject. You buy cleaner, sandpaper, tack rags, paint, clearcoat, etc...And nothing but urethane paint will work...(Of course the most expensive.) Then you have your labor. And you can't give this job to a $10/hr guy cuz you'll get a $10/hr job. Then after all this you still have paint flakes everywhere. Then you want to touch them up or recoat them cuz they're starting to look tacky. So basically starting all over.

That $250 price tag for factory colored pins may seem like a tough pill to swallow, but after you get them, You'll ask yourself..."Why did I waste my time with all of that?" And the best part is they will last you FOREVER!!!

...Just my $.02

I completely agree! Unless you have all that extra time to spend!

[PJ]

The only paint I have found that will last for quite awhile is auto paint.

[keeth]

The only paint I have found that will last for quite awhile is auto paint.

I imagine that it would work even better if you get the flex additive that is used on the bumpers