hello.i am going to post a few pix to show the results of getting a case powdercoated flatblack.
i am hoping virtualrain will post in a reply 1 picture of his lian li case,that he also had powdercoated,his case is semi-gloss.
i would recommend powedercoating to anyone.i am so impressed with the final outcome.
case is a chenming901ad.once completed i will post some pictures-long way off for that thought!!
thanks for replies.
i had it professionaly done by a shop where i live.
here in saskatoon,the min shop charge was $135.for that price i had the case done,some pieces of aluminum modders mesh from mnpctech,which is for the top and bottom bezel at the front of the case,the antec lanboy hd cage,which i have used to replace the factory hd cages,and my big ass aluminum channel open air cage for my dual watercooling loop,which will sit behind the case.
you can also achieve pretty much same kind of results with "heat paint" did my stackers interior with it.. but i bet that powder coat is more impact resistant.. looks great.
I really like the durability and look of a powdercoat finish.
I also powdercoated the frame and some mesh and brackets for my build and I thought I would take this opportunity to show the difference between a semi-gloss finish (which is what I got) vs. a super high-gloss finish as found on MountainMods cases. The small bracket in the photo below is a MM fan HD bracket in full gloss while the other parts are a 65% gloss.
Note the reflection of the can in the gloss. While the MM super glossy looks almost like wet paint, and reflects nicely, it does scratch extremely easily... even with a soft rag.
Now folks can compare these pics to JTF's matt finish and hopefully make a better decision on what would best suit their own rig.
thanks for popping in rain.the semigloss finish does look equally nice,imo.
flat finish or semigloss,either one will prove to be very durable.
look forward to seeing your case when complete.
One other nice thing about powder coating is that it is thicker than you might think... it will cover any surface scratches in the underlying metal nicely... therefore hiding the odd slip up or hasty cut during the mod process. It also tightens up any tapped holes that might otherwise have been a bit loose. For fittings that were already snug, it takes a bit of work to initially thread them, but since I had to tap a lot of new holes myself, I'm pleased with the added snugness.
flatblack i think,will be a little more scratch resistant than the semi,or glossy finishes
The reality is they both have the same resistance to scratching. When I say scratching I'm talking about breaking the surface of the paint. Powder coat is extremely durable and it is very difficult to in fact scratch.
Now on the flipside there is something I like to call Micro-scratching. This is completely surface. If you take something with some abrasive material - anything not 100% cotton and wipe across the powder coat a surface or "micro-scratch" will occur. The higher the gloss rating of the powder coat the more one will be able to see this. Mountain Mods mirror black is 100% gloss rating and so these micro scratches are more easily seen. However if you use 100% cotton cloth and some non abrasive car wax usually these micro scratches will smooth out. The 100% gloss gives an awesome "mirror" quality as seen in the photo above. It is more difficult to maintain however. This is one reason why we are going to be introducing black wrinkle into our standard colors as well as anodizing.
Another thing to note is 2 different types of powder coat. One is "epoxy" based and the other is "polyester" based. Polyester based seems to yield a higher gloss effect even with the same rating as epoxy, however the epoxy seems more resistant to the micro-scratching. We at MM have used both types and that has been our conclusion. Our entire last run was done with the epoxy powder on the black units.
Last thing to think about is something called Classes of powder coating facilities. Namely Class B and Class A. Class B facilities are generally less expensive, but the amount of specs in the material can be higher per inch than Class A. Class A facilities are also usually completely automated giving a very consistent amount of spray from part to part.
lovely paint job i'd like to powder coat my case to but there are very few shops where i live. I did my case with spray paint and i am less than satisfied whit the result .Anyway hood job man
i'd like to powder coat my case to but there are very few shops where i live. I did my case with spray paint and i am less than satisfied whit the result .Anyway hood job man 
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