Rivet Panel Snare Drum Paint Issue

[Kevin_S]

This is my first post so go easy on me. I am a custom drum builder and have painted a "realistic fire" drum kit and then a "rivet panel" snare drum. The rivet panel snare has a failure that occurred under and around the "lugs" that mount the the sides of the shell. This drum was built by me in July of 2012 for a drummer in Mississippi. He sent it to me to have me demo it with the band, Better Than Ezra, at the end of the month, but when I got it, I discovered blistering paint, primarily around the lugs. The blistering was likely there before he shipped it as he never really checked it over.

I am not formally trained as a painter and am self-taught, but have had no issues with the "realistic fire" paint job holding up and it was done in 2011.

The paint was done with Kustom Shop polyester primer, Kustom Shop black urethane base coat, Auto-Air Colors 4101 Aluminum base fine (water base), Auto-Air Red Oxide (water base), and Kustom Shop 2K Speed Urethane clear as the top coat.

He are some thoughts I had on why this paint may have failed. Please tell me if I am on track or if there is something I may have overlooked:

1. The lugs have a rubber gasket under between the lug and the paint. Could these have attacked the paint? My realistic fire snare has the same lugs and gaskets with no issues.
2. The lugs are under high tension and pressure. Could this have contributed?
3. Did the clear coat need to cure longer? I think I let it sit for about two days before assembly.
4. Could storage in a hot vehicle in Mississippi have played a part?

I need to refinish the entire shell (which is maple) and really need to understand what went wrong so I don't have to do this again.

Thank you in advance for your advice!

 

[TAZ]

Hello and welcome.

Looks like you did a sharp looking paint job!

The reason this happens is when there is quite a bit of material and something is tightened down quite a bit, the the paint will smush out from under whatever it is that is tightened.
Normally this is when the base gets sandwiched between what's getting painted and the clearcoat (sometimes it will also be the clear itself)
A few suggestions to help prevent it from happening again is the following

1- don't do a paint job with so much base and material on it
2- don't overtighten any nuts, bolts, lugs.....
3- let the paint cure for quite a bit longer period of time
4- use a basecoat hardener in the basecoat. Let the base cure for a longer amount of time before the next step.

 

[tomsteve]

to add to what taz said, i was wonderin if vibration may have caused the problem.
but i also think it could have been that the paint wasnt fully cured.

 

[Kevin_S]

Thanks so much guys for the advice!!!

 

[hoss]

one of the fellas that assembles bikes says to use some vasaline under the area that your going to bolt to. it allows the paint to not be grabbed under the bolts as they are tightened.

your issue is definitly from what taz says and looks even worse from the vibration on the drum, but the vasaline is worth a try. it definitly doesn't hurt.

By the way, Better Than Ezra is awesome! Who else have you built drums for? i'm an elementary music teacher in SE Kansas, so i dabble in the perc. a bit.