Case painting tutorial....The Goldfish way! :p

How to give your case a new lease of life, without costing a fortune!

My beige case, despite having a window, was beginning to bore me. So, I took it upon myself to give them a lick of paint! This is how it looked before painting:



Pretty drab eh? Now, you’ll notice, I’ve got a window installed on that side panel there. What, paint it with a window? Yo’ gotta be mad! Yes, I am, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to make a mess of it!

Halford’s has a tutorial on how to apply their paint to touch up a car. You can get it here : http://www.halfords.com/268.asp

The paints are pretty cheap down my local car shop... £5.99 a can, and if you get primer and colour, you get the lacquer free! What a deal! My choice of paint was Ford Juice green, pearlescant... a very nice finish, espe)cially on a Mondeo

Ok, in the first step, we’re going to take off the panels and sand them down some to give us a good even surface to paint on. In this case there is no benefit for going down to the bare metal, as all it does is increase the chances of rusting. I’ve used a fairly rough grit sandpaper (120 grit) to get rid of the major paint bumps, and then a finer paper (200 grit) to give it that silky smooth finish. It's probably a good idea to wash off the remainants of the sanding and any greace with a cloth and some soapy water.

Then, as we don’t want to coat the window in paint, we need to mask it off! My preferred method in this case is to cut out a couple of layers of newspaper in the shape of the window and put masking tape over the edges to secure it. I did this on both sides of the window, to ensure no paint gets to the plexi-glass. Once everything was masked off, I put on the first coat of paint: the primer.

The primer covers the whole panel in thick, opaque paint, which acts as a surface for the coloured paint. In this case, I've used grey as recomended by the instructions on the colour paint can (it varies from car to car). It’s advisable to use a mask at least when applying the paint, it gets pretty close pretty quickly! And you should also find a dust-free area to spray in… in order to get the best finish possible. Try to keep at least 25 cm away, to give an even coat (not too grainy (too far away) and not too wet (getting sagging))

... more to come, as it happens! Will include pics once I either get my digi cam or I get some photo developed ....

 

Hey thanks Goldfish! Ive been wanting to paint the other beige computers i have around the house. Now i have a good guide to do it!



cooked

 

No probs! Not exactly an uncommon tutorial, but I thought I'd make it my own It's a bit dodgey at the moment, especially with no pictures.

BTW, I've just painted the pearlescant green onto the panels first coat, and its looking schweet Now I have pearlescant fingers...

 

Case Painting : Part 2

Ok, part 2..

After applying the main colour coat (in my case the Juice Green), you need to get some 1200 grit wet+dry, and get some water (a bucket'll do) and get some hot water and add a drop of detergent. Mix it all up, and dip the wet+dry into it, and shake off the excess. Get a block of wood and wrap the wet+dry around it to use as a sanding block.

Wash the panel with the water with a sponge. Gently rub over the whole surface of the panel, to take the glossy finish off the paint. Don't worry if you get grey marks, the lacquer will cover it up. Once the surface is smooth but matte, wash it off and dry thoroughly with a lint-free absorbant cloth.

Now, go somewhere with no crap floating around in the air (dust-free, leaf-free, hair-free). I can't stress this enough, as my finish was ruined by bits of dust and grit landing in the laquer and sticking there. Spray on the lacquer, using a smooth motion. Spray until there is an even layer over the whole panel, which should be smooth and shiny. A good guide is about 25cm away from the panel.

Leave this for 15 minutes, then apply another coat. Once you have this, leave the panel for 24 hours to fully set hard.

Then, get some rubbing compound and apply a small ammount of this, and rub as much as you want. This will give you a very smooth finish to the panel, and will rub out any inperfections in the laquer coat.

Then, you're done! To clean, use automotive wax, and apply as you would if you were cleaning a car.

 

Re: Case Painting : Part 2

you're killing me smalls! i need some pics!

 

Hmm, well I've only got my webcam (which is crap) so this'll have to do..

 

Ugher, just spent about 4 hours with the rubbing compound, wet, rub, rub, rub, take off. I think I've done that panel fully now though

Now I've got to do the laquer coat on the windowed panel, and then rub that down too.

argh... but its worth it

I tried to take the top panel off my case today, which was interesting to say the least. It seems the top piece of metal is actualy welded into the frame of the case, so its impossible to take it off without taking the whole top half of the case off with it. Fan-bloody-tastic. Oh well its not like I had enough paint to do that as well today.

 

looks good (from what I can tell)

 

Extra tip if you're painting metal!

handy. Shame I didnt know that before I started spraying!

Oh yes and I managed to fudge the windowed panel by spraying laquer before all the water was gone, creating 'orrible water bubbles where the laquer went over the water. So, I had to rub-off the laquer I did get on there, and re-spray the affected area and then I'll be re-sanding the whole thing again to get it completley smooth.

 

Couldn't you have taken off the window, and then paint, easier to buff out as well......wobbles

 

Hurry up with that camera goldi!

I have two beige cases at home that despertly need a paint job.

Im thinking of making a Folding @ Home Themed case.

I cant wait to see your results!



cooked

 

No, annoyingly, because the window is glued in and I'd ruin the plexiglass getting it out (it would splinter around the edges).

And OC.... check this : http://www.bit-tech.net/article/30/

Much the same as my guide, except with pictures

 

Rubbing Compound works great for the final sheen, but to remove the orange peel effect, you should wet sand every coat smooth before applying the next coat. Takes alot more time, but the finished product is worth the effort.