I recently landed an aging PC that I intend to hack up - basically because I don't have the balls / cash to attack my main system. First job is to sand down and re-spray the case - I've read up on technique (going for a super shiny bright red finish to the sides and top - probably a black bezel and drives) but wondered if I'd actually be able to do any of the painting in the current UK temps (hovering around freezing in the day, lower at night). I've started sanding but can I get any of the work done (primer, red then clear coat planned for metal parts, vinyl dye for plastics) or will I have to wait?
I'd have ot recommend you wait till it's warmer, as the cold temperatures freezes the paint as it goes through the air, and you wind up with a half dried spray on contact. Which creates bad looking coats. Or you could always just set up in your living room like I do* *lay down LOTS of cardboard, if it moves, move it. If it doesn't, cover it with plastic bags/sheets/etc.
Thanks Kargin. Hadn't thought about the paint landing on the surface dry/frozen - presumed it wouldn't make as smooth coats but hadn't thought about it like that. I might try polishing up the bare metal for something to do until it warms up a bit... (I was going to leave it quite rough for the primer to stick but I have a few sheets of higher grit W&D in the garage doing nothing)
I have a covered gazebo (more like a shed) behind my house... I put the gas grill in there, fire up all the burners (Yes there is ventilation) and warm er up to about 55F , then paint... Don't worry too much about it drying in the cold, but don't bring it in till it is GOOD AND DRY, or the condensation will Fubar your finish.
Or you could try keeping the paint warm with a zippo Actually Phat kinda reminded me, of when me or my Dad want to apint anything int eh Winter, we usually go to where we work, which is a factory that does mass painting for companies, so it's okay if we get paint on the floor Or we borrow some of tehir nice powder paint if we don't have of our own [brag]Mmmm...... Powder coated sword stand......[/brag]
Only a little square one (more like a powerful hair dryer than anything else). It does warm up the garage - used it while I started sanding off the old paint - but makes it quite humid too (I was in fact worried that the little bloody thing would get moisture in itself and trip the house out but it was OK - needless to say I turned it off at the wall not on the heater itself when I'd finished for the night!). And I imagine it would burn the place down if I left it on all night to keep the paint at a warm enough temp while it dried off - a really good way to impress the wife eh?
Hmmm.... Getting tempted now - I suppose I could always buy *more* paint and *more* sand paper when it all goes wrong...
I have been painting in the last week here, not freezing but pretty cold. I use a portable ceramic heater to heat the immidiate area that I'm painting in the garage. I turn it on about an hour before I paint. Another good tip is to heat the can of paint before you start. You should do this even in the spring/summer but it is even more important in the winter. The best way is to set the can in a half-full sink of warm water.
Ah go on then... If I can escape some household DIY I will try out the top panel (smaller, less effort to sand down again) at the weekend. I don't have a digi-cam so I won't be able to show you the results (and I'll probably only have the time to do the primer) but I will get back to you. For what it's worth I have formulated the following plan after reading various bits and bobs about spray painting: Sand down to bare metal with low grade sand paper (200?) (clean off and dry) Apply primer - medium to heavy coat, (allow it to dry), sand down with medium grade (around 400?) and repeat until smooth and even (probably 2 coats?) Apply colour - fine coats, sanding with high grade (600+) and repeat until even and very smooth (probably using 600 until the final coat and then whatever I can get that's higher grade than that). Apply clear coat - heavier coats ok again? Any tips or corrections? I've read that for the best finish I can go to some kind of polishing fluid but would that be on the colour coat or the clear coat or both?
Is it a big piece of metal? How bout drying the paint in the oven on the lowest setting possible? Stop condensation but will probably poison the next 20 or so meals you decide to cook in there!
LOL! Nah, can't do that - unless the missus decides to go out all day or something.... Maybe I could stick some a few bricks in the over to surround the piece with (though that's begging for dust on the paint). For reference it's a mini-tower (micro-atx mobos only, 2 5.25" external, 2 3.5" external 1, internal) quite small but thankfully the PSU is above the mobo (think normal tower) not on it's side above the CPU (how I *hate* crappy cases like that). I'm hoping to get the metal bright red - think chill pro case - and perhaps changing the front bezel a bit - may get rid of the 3.5" externals - not sure about the 5.25" bays yet. Luckily it's quite a flat bezel so I may even be able to replace it with some thick perspex or something (though that's stage 2!)
i just painted my mouse outside, -15 and a nice 30 cm of snow, heres what u do: clear away the snow, put like old newspapers on the ground if u dont want it to be painted, then paint, remember to take the spray can inside while you wait to lay on next coat
Evil plan forming in my head now... Get up early, clear down an area in the garage (paper taped down, etc), leave heater on, wrap bricks in foil (no dust and less chance of setting fire to the paper!), stick in oven, (wash hands!) cook and eat bacon sarnie, spray 1st coat of primer then get bricks out of oven and place around freshly sprayed piece. Inspect self for spray paint, go back into house, (wash hands again!) cook the wife a bacon sarnie and make a cup of tea, wake up missus then suggest she goes out shopping today while I do the 2nd coat of primer (only forget to tell her about the whole spray painting thing). Trouble is I'm a flat footed oaf and will wake her up either before I've finished the first coat or when I come in the house stinking of paint... And that's assuming she doesn't twig what I'm doing as soon as I present her with breakfast in bed (they always know don't they!)
Painted this in the snow, Just did what Jake suggested.. Before I started doing the thing in the gazebo... It turned out nice, but took a lot of final sanding, more than it would have in the warm weather... The top had been sanded and polished a bit, but the side was not yet in this pic... Might I suggest checking for finish paper at the auto stores... i got 2500grit paper, and that makes a pretty mirror, then for a real shine, use the rubbing compound... After a month, Wax the sucker with car wax.
Spray Painting, errrmmm, sick of it!!!! Anyway, if you live near Brum I could do it in the ovens at work for you. Th smoothness of the spray and even the gloss, comes down alot to the prep work. If you want it as smooth as a baby ass then I would spray first with a filler primer (£4.99 - Halfords), give it 4 or 5 coats, allow to dry over night in the house (dont worry about spraying outside, will be ok), then once dried get a flatting block with some 400 grit wet and dry paper and sand down slightly (not back to the metal) using warm water mixed with a load of fairy liquid or something (this keeps the abrasion down and washes away any grit that might cause scores). Once its nice and smooth give it a good wash down and wipe over to remove any greese of soap. Next the top coat, If you want a high gloss finish use laqour after the top coat (whihc you will have to anyway if you use a metalic colour). The clodness will alter the gloss out come slightly but dont worry about this as a good polish will soon resore it. Any more questions just email me at Russell_Harrison101@Hotmail.com Rusty
Thought I'd post a quick update: I've primed the top piece and everything went OK - heated up the garage for half an hour or so before I started but didn't bother surrounding the piece with the 'hot bricks' idea I mentioned above - I did shake the can in front of the heater to warm up the paint too. Ended up doing 2 coats of primer and am quite happy with the results. The 1st coat went on *perfectly* - no problems at all but I put the 2nd coat on a little too thickly (all my own fault!) and it's not quite as smooth as the 1st coat (not much of a problem - nothing nasty) but I'm confident that a little sanding will smooth it out. I'll see how smooth I can get the colour - I'll do a few (3 or 4) light coats this week if I can then do the clear coat at the weekend. I've only sprayed plastic before (black drives) but did that with normal paint not vinyl dye and it was really hard to get a good finish (lots of sanding). Judging by the primer though it's actually easier to paint metal (for this case I'm going to get some vinyl dye for the plastic parts (top and sides red, front and drives black swapping out all LEDs for red ones too - probably going to cut out an 80mm hole for a red LED fan too and the same in the PSU). I think I'm going to go for a mid-gloss finish - a semi-matte colour coat with gloss clear coat on top - want the colour to look deep and I think if it's too shiny it might spoil the effect (got a just off bright red). I'll see what happens.
Hi, Yeah if you flat it down with about 800 grit paper using soapy water you will get a nice finish to spray on to. Dont worry to much about having the primer perfect as after a few coats of top coat it will soon sort its self out. You dont need to wait so long between coats you know, do one coat then 5 mins later but a second coat on, and so on, you only need about 5 mins between each coat, and if you are putting on lacqor as well then you can put this on about 10 mins after the first coat. Then leave over night. Russ
Cheers Russ, I didn't realise you could re-coat so quickly - though I ended up replacing the skirting boards in the house at the weekend (seems so easy yet takes bloody ages!) so I wasn't free to just work on the PC. I'll see if I can get some more done tonight (esp. if the temp stays as mild as it is at the moment!). This is my first real 'mod' - only painted my drives before (to match my PC-61) and never tackled the whole case. Considering doing a lot more to it too but don't want to get too carried away.
cool, Im new to moddin and my first mod was a CDrom window 12 days ago. But I know alot about spraying and its was my job. Dont worry to much about the cold, but it would be best to do it in your house with the windows open. The coldness does effect the overall shine and can create "orenge-peel". If you live in the uk and in the midlands, i will spray it for you and give it a mirrow finish with a nice coat of lacqor. Or even a pearl colour so you hyave many colour in the same paint. Dont forget to use the soapy warm water to flat down your primer as this will work much better. make sure you have wet and dry sand paper. Dont worry about getting it wet either. but make sure its 100% dry before you spray. and dont handle it with you fingers to much as the greese will mess it up. Also, if you seem to get tiny grater type holes then dont worry as there should come out with some more coats, its silicon in the air contaminating the paint. did you use filler primer Russ
