trenolds39

Hey, this is my first time painting a case, I've read through many threads and David Groth's pdf guide, so naturally I have a bunch of questions.

First off, I have a case that basically looks like this:


It's silver aluminum, and currently only has a gloss finish on it.

My end result I hope to have a pattern like this on the side panel w/o the window, though I plan to paint the two sides and the top, and maybe the front if I can get the acrylic off and am able to work around the buttons.



For my paint, I plan on using red, white, and black dupli-color metalcast spray cans. From what I've read, this is RTS paint, and therefore only requires that I sand off the finish on my case, is this correct?

Now comes the mass confusion.

I think that I should spray the entire panel with the black metalcast, then I'm not sure if I need to do any sanding before I tape off the areas that I want to be black stripes, then paint on the white coat, then tape off the areas I want to keep white, and then spray the red coat on.

How many coats of each paint should I spray on before taping and moving on to the next color? Do I need to sand between any coats, or is this done after I do all the above steps? After I get all the stripes and colors I want, would sanding the entire panel blend the colors together? I want to get an uber-glossy finish, so I'm not sure how much I need to sand the original finish that was on the case before I even start spraying, or if I should use 220 grit sandpaper or what.

Also, does anyone have a good clear coat to recommend? Or should I use the UV reactive clear coat on frozencpu And I only need 1 clear coat that would need to be also sanded after applying and drying?

Assuming thus far that I have any idea of what I'm talking about, after 2 days I can use rubbing compound and hand glaze to buff it to the shine I want?

Thanks guys for taking the time to read all this, and I hope someone can help me tackle this w/o much flaming.


Also, I was wondering, after I spray on the first 3-5 coats of black, or until I think it is good, how long do I need to wait to tape it up, and how long do I need to wait to remove the tape after I spray on the other coats? Does having the tape on the paint prohibit it from curing because it needs to oxidize?

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silvafish

Well, first of all, I don't know if you're going to want those metalcast paints...anyways i don't really like them as they look anodized. Also, since it's kind of an unusual paint, i don't know if you'd be able to paint stripes over the paint with the same paint of a different color...i don't know if there'd be problems with adhesion. I'm not sure if a "uber-gloosy finish" is possible with this paint...it isn't a normal paint. I suggest finding some other paints of the colors you want. Here's a page with some info on the paint and some ideas on using adhesion promoter etc...if what you want is possible:
http://www.dupli-color.com/projects/...metalcast.html

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FunkyStickman

EVH is an awesome guitarist... what else are you thinking about for this case? If you were going to paint it like his guitar, you'd probably want to make the base coat red, then add the white/black stripes on top. Otherwise, masking the "non-stripes" will be a pain, and that's not fun.

You ought to put some guitar hardware on it for fun! Guitar knobs would look cool on a fan controller (or knobs from an MXR Phase-90, which he uses).

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trenolds39

So I've read through the entire 18 page archive on painting, looked at multiple sites (mnpctech, david groth pdf), and I seem to have a better idea of what I will be doing.

First off, would the dupli-color semi-gloss acrylic enamels be a good choice for this project?

After prepping the case for priming, when I do prime, do I apply around 3 coats of self-etching primer, with around 20-30 min wait between coats, and then wait overnight to wetsand the case to a smooth finish?

When painting, should I apply 3 thin coats at a time, or until I think the paint is thich enough, with like 20-30 minutes for the coats to flash, and should I wait a couple of weeks or more until I wetsand?

Should I have achieved that satin-smooth finish from wetsanding before applying the clear coat, and do I do any buffing prior to applying the clear coat? How many coats and how long flash times do I need before I wetsand the clearcoat, and does anyone recommend a certain grit for this? How will I know when I have clearcoated enough?

Do I do my buffing/glazing after wetsanding my clearcoat then?

If you took the time to read the longest list of questions ever conceived in a single post, here are my biggest concerns:

Is it possible to wait too long after priming/painting/clearcoating before wetsanding, therefore damaging the paintjob?

Will my method of priming, then painting 3 coats white, then taping off the stripes (I'm not sure if the green 3m tape will strip the paint, or how long I should wait for the paint to cure to tape it off, or if I should do any sanding prior to taping), then painting 3 coats black, cure, then taping them off, and finally painting 3 coats red, cure, and removing tape to wetsand work?

Will wetsanding the entire panel with the multiple color stripes smear the colors together? Or will substantial curing time between coating each color prevent this?

Does anyone know where this famed insomniac paint shop tutorial is? Every link I find is missing!

Are you so frustrated by my ignorance/noobness that you wish you could strangle me? Seriously every person at any auto store/paint store has had no fricking clue at what I have been trying to accomplish, so I'm stuck with bothering everyone here!

Thank you very much for responding, I thought this thread was doomed!


Oh, as far as customizing it, I've got a couple of things. Somehow, I acquired a bay audio device that can play audio files (songs) instead of beeps for posts. Therefore, I could get it to play eruption every time I turn it on, until it boots into windows.

The Dragon Reborn

First of all I think you'll get great results using the Duply Color Acrylic Enamels on this project. I've used this paint lot's of times and if you stick to the whole line of the paint system, nothing can go wrong, imho...

I'd use their sandable primer (red), on of their color's of your choice and their clearcoat.

No need for the self etching stuff on this case, imho... since it it's a steel case... and you don't have to sand the basecoat off just sand it flat....

But enough on "painting & sanding guidelines" there are plenty of those in this section, all you need to do is read the instructions on the 'cans & adapt them to the guides... easy....

Now I CAN imagine that you need some help with the different layers of colors on your project,
I'll leave that to a member with more expierience on that...

Good Luck!

TDR

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