Painting 101

[nelsoncp21]

Thanks. I plan to do plenty of prep work. I had a hard time finding any sand paper over 600grit locally so I had to order it online. I will have primer, sanding block, 800,1200 and 2000grit gloss black and gloss white paint and clear quick dry. Other than rubbing compound I think I have everything covered right?

[nelsoncp21]

awesome. Hare, thank you so much. I think I may try the shoe polish and see how that works out since I have plenty of it laying around.

Maybe you have an answer for this question too. What clear coat should I use. The paint I bought was Home depot's painter's touch gloss black so I got the same brand crystal clear matte which says it seals and protects. I thought that was what I needed but I tried it on a scrap peice of metal and it looks like crap. Actually it had more shine with just the gloss black paint before I added the clear coat. Granted I didn't do any sanding or anything as I wasn't concerned about bumps and stuff I just wanted to see if I had the right paint. Any suggestions.

[Hughyhunter]

@ nelsoncp21. Maybe you ought to try some rubbing compound, polishing compound and then car wax. Try buffing it out. If you put several layers of the clear on you might want to wet sand with 1000/1500/2000... not that I have experience just what I've read.
You are probably good getting the same kind of clear as your actual paint. I dont know of any clear that doesnt need work once it's shot on. You have to sand it smooth then buff it out. Start with 1000 then move on until you finish with 2000. Then you use rubbing compound (I would actually skip this step and move onto polishing compound) and finish with car wax.
I'll have my project done next week Hare!

@ Hare... I'll have my project done next week. Found a place in NorCal that puts high quality auto paint in a spray can... Using an expensive machine. Anyhow it's a nice pearl blue. Should turn out nice. Got to do some hardcore sanding as the paint before is still on. Guy was telling me to use 180grit on the outside of my Case... what do you think? I have an Antec 900.

[nelsoncp21]

cool thanks. I thought I could get a waterdown version of the finished product so to say without waxing, another words it would just be grity or unsmooth but I didn't realize it wouldn't have a shine at all without sanding. I didn't want to put all that effort into sanding a peice of scrap. that's what I get for be lazy I guess.

[Hughyhunter]

^^ Yeah... to get the clear to shine takes some effort. Not much more than some rubbin though

Has anyone tried this stuff... I saw it at the auto store. Cheap... man $15 out the door. Thought about it but didnt know how it would turn out. All it is: Base, color, clear. Three easy steps for cheap!

[Cpl Ledanek]

maybe some one could assist me....I printed 4 sheets of paper to make a stencil and I taped the mesh with painters blue tape already.
Problem is I never done this before, I'm learning as I go along.
I'm trying to do something like this, I did this in Photoshop rather crudely so please excuse my artwork:


can someone help please so I can paint this week before the weather sucks again.
advance thanks

[hixie]

Hare, take this as a compliment. You posting all that stuff here is making my fingers itch to get my spray gun out again. I might actually get off my @$$ and do the Chip Foose inspired paint job i've always wanted to do.

[kinghong1970]

Cpl, i'm no expert but being a nub, i would cut out and make a stencil and then lay over your mesh, or could use some spray adhesives to fix your stencil on your mesh then spray over it...

again, i'm no expert... and also, i have no clue what it involves to have it airbrushed...

iirc, the mesh on the 830/832 is not flat... that might make it trickier...

on a side note, i read somewhere on these boards bout a dude sticking his primer'd part in the household oven... then repeat for the coats of paint and glosss.

is this recommended?

aside from the paint fume smell that lingers in the oven... is there any health hazards? any paint residue that can be stuck on the oven?

or all i have to deal with is some smelly bread?

[Hughyhunter]

@ kinghong1970, I was looking at your builds. My compliments!

[Canadmos]

This isn't exactly related to paint, but is it ok to drill through anodized aluminum?

[kinghong1970]

@ kinghong1970, I was looking at your builds. My compliments!

tyvm... have to finish my 832 tho... been putting that off too long...

This isn't exactly related to paint, but is it ok to drill through anodized aluminum?

yes, absolutely OK to drill through em.
i like to use a punch to mark the center so the tip does not travel when drilling but it can dent the surrounding areas if you dont counter it on the back side.

drill em, jig saw em...

but make sure you have some masking tape to cover up the areas as the anodized surfaces scratch very easily

[Canadmos]

Cool, thanks.

[hare]

K, I have a question unrelated to any of the paint conversations.
I bought this case at a pc salvage yard for $10.00 about 6 months ago with a antec 350 watt 20 pin atx power supply.It's a antec but I have no clue what series or model .. It looks like a TX 630
but it's not LOL and it looks like a SX 840 too. Thing is Mine has 2 USB and a fireiwire port behind a nameplate that niether case mentioned has ..
what is this thing ?? CURIOUS !!

[hare]

k, I'm professional auto applications big shops They do have a booth
that the car or truck rolls into. It has several rails on each side to BAKE the paint with UV lights. This causes the paint to lay out better and improves adhesion. . Drawback is : too much heat and your body work will shrink and or all spot putty used will show into the finish AND or the paint will sag right off the panels. same thing he's doing in a shade tree manor. as far as fumes I wouldn't do it in my house .. Unless U wanna get WHOOHOO !! depending on the paint used Some years ago it could kill U .. IMRON 4 one . reason : introducing the activtor into the paint creates an ICyanetic gas . same thing they use in the GAS CHAMBER. dryers force the solvents out of the paint =
VERY SICK , Imron headaches ,and nerve disorders years down the road .USE CAUTION ..

[kinghong1970]

Ok, i wont bake my painted stuffs in my house any more...

dang... i knew i shouldn't have done that...

oooh... colors.... i'm seein colors...

[Cpl Ledanek]

Cpl, i'm no expert but being a nub, i would cut out and make a stencil and then lay over your mesh, or could use some spray adhesives to fix your stencil on your mesh then spray over it...

again, i'm no expert... and also, i have no clue what it involves to have it airbrushed...

iirc, the mesh on the 830/832 is not flat... that might make it trickier...

on a side note, i read somewhere on these boards bout a dude sticking his primer'd part in the household oven... then repeat for the coats of paint and glosss.

is this recommended?

aside from the paint fume smell that lingers in the oven... is there any health hazards? any paint residue that can be stuck on the oven?

or all i have to deal with is some smelly bread?

Oh yeah, I've read that post....I have a bet, he is single...no wife on this planet would let a husband use the oven for paint job

As far as the stencil hack I'm doing, I'm doing just transferring the drawing now on the blue tape, then from there, I will make my cut outs.

My concern is do I use a self etching primer, or just a regular primer.
How many coats though?

Which is a better primer for my Rustoleum Red Paint?

Would the end result come out?

I just realized its red on black mesh, with red LED glowing from the inside of case. Would that defeat the red paint, or would it glow over the black?

Stay Tuned

[kinghong1970]

CPl, did you strip the original paint?

i think it's best you expose the metal then use a etching primer...

best and easiest way to strip paint would be to take it to a place where they sandblast it...

else, some elbow grease time...

but then hold on... that means you need to do 2 colorings... hmmm....

i really dont know bud...

hey, in Home Depot, dont they sell those wall paper like films that come with sticky back?

but then again... it's not a flat surface you're working wth...

geesh...

[Cpl Ledanek]

I was more like wanting to keep the original black paint, and strip the areas that I'm going to paint...I'll probably used elbow grease...I believe they are on sale for $Priceless/gallon..

I thought about those wallpaper too, but like you said, its not flat, bound to have bubbles....

we'll see if weather prevails.
where's the "Cross your finger smiley"?

[Hughyhunter]

Is it possible to wet sand a powdercoated finish, to get a mirror like shine? Powdercoating seems to always leave an "orange peel" finish.

Yes it is possible. However I wouldnt touch any wet/dry paper below 2000. Only until the orange peel is gone though.

Just finished priming. Sanded with 600 for an hour. Still got lot's of sanding to do... it was gettin windy. My PSU cable hole was hard to get perfectly oval as you can tell.

[Cpl Ledanek]

going against the grain, again...

first primer coat:

2nd primer coat

1st red coat:

[malware]

K, I have a question unrelated to any of the paint conversations.
I bought this case at a pc salvage yard for $10.00 about 6 months ago with a antec 350 watt 20 pin atx power supply.It's a antec but I have no clue what series or model .. It looks like a TX 630
but it's not LOL and it looks like a SX 840 too. Thing is Mine has 2 USB and a fireiwire port behind a nameplate that niether case mentioned has ..
what is this thing ?? CURIOUS !!

It's an early Chieftec office case model.

[nelsoncp21]

I have a question. When sanding after the primer coat, where ever the edge of the metal is like at the edge of the side panel it sands all the primer off and I can see the black from the panel underneath. It's not the bare metal but it sands all the primer off just right at the edge probally cause the edge is rounded. Does this mean I have to spray primer again cause no matter how hard I try it does it at every edge. So will I be ok to go ahead and put the first coat of paint on?

[Hughyhunter]

Thanks. Those ovals can be a b***h. What I found useful was the Dremel bit (9909 - Tungsten Carbide Cutter).

That sucker is expensive though. It was like $13 at the hardware. I just got a grinding stone bit and attempted to smooth it out. Oh well.

I have a question. When sanding after the primer coat, where ever the edge of the metal is like at the edge of the side panel it sands all the primer off and I can see the black from the panel underneath. It's not the bare metal but it sands all the primer off just right at the edge probally cause the edge is rounded. Does this mean I have to spray primer again cause no matter how hard I try it does it at every edge. So will I be ok to go ahead and put the first coat of paint on?

What I have found to be most effective is to get that old paint off. I used 180 grit wet to do this. Then use your Etching primer, then us the high build primer. Only sand the high build with 600 grit... unless you put to much on. Then you can use 400 grit. If you are seeing the metal on the edges just quit sanding near the edges. If you really took it down too much around the edges maybe another coat of primer wouldn't hurt. However to much is hard to work with.
Also I found that on plastic a sealer is required. I didn't use a sealer and my primer bled through the paint.

[nelsoncp21]

I used 1200 grit and 2000 on the primer. It's not down to the metal just to the original paint and it's just a thin line on the edge. I'd really rather not start all over again and sand everything off if I don't have to. I have alot of real estate I am working with here!

[Hughyhunter]

Oh yeah... dont start over... just make sure it's smooth. I wouldnt even worry if it got down to the metal. Mine sure did. Once I put the coat on it didnt affect it though. You should be good. Just paint