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Modding Three painted Microflys

Discussion in 'Modding' started by okapi, 4 May 2008.

  1. okapi

    okapi What's a zebra?

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    These Microflys are the first mods I've done. The only cutting was done to replace the fan grill in back. Mostly paint and sleeving coordinated with the motherboard colors.

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    Excuse those middle pics taken under less than ideal conditions.

    Nothing too ambitious here but it is satisfying to actually complete these. I'm working on some more involved stuff now.
     
    Last edited: 12 Jun 2008
  2. modgodtanvir

    modgodtanvir Prepare - for Mortal Bumbat!

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    Wow dude. Despite the simplicity of the job these are looking really good. I suppose it is better to do a few jobs perfectly than it is to do a million jobs and make a hash of it. The temperature displays are a nice touch. Bagsy the bottom one! What do you do with your computers once you've modded them?

    and whats the mobo in the red one? Is it MSI or an Abit Fatal1ty?
     
  3. Xer0-

    Xer0- Waste of space

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    The green and red look great, the purple not my style but still looks ok.
     
  4. okapi

    okapi What's a zebra?

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    Those temperature displays come with the Microfly. All the computers are running distributed computing projects at 100% CPU load 24/7. So I can never have too many. The green one is running Vista 64 bit for testing, the others are Linux. The red mobo is MSI. You can just see the logo if you look closely.

    Thanks. The purple + orange combo is not the first thing I would think of either, but when I saw ECS makes a purple mobo with orange accents and Geil uses orange heat spreaders on that RAM, I couldn't resist. :lol:
     
  5. Matticus

    Matticus ...

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    The green and white is fantastic. I may have to rob the colour scheme and use it for something, anything, I just need to have it.
     
  6. notatoad

    notatoad pretty fing wonderful

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    i really love those glossy white interiors. i've got a case gutted right now to turn into a nas box. i think you have inspired me to paint the interior white. i hope it turns out even close to as nice as yours.
     
  7. Squadexodus

    Squadexodus I got my cookie. What about you?

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    Im just curious, but how did you paint this?
     
  8. okapi

    okapi What's a zebra?

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    Standard technique. For the interior, clean out cutting debris, then use tack cloth, then rubbing alcohol. Two coats of white primer. Two coats of color. Spot sand with 600 grit to fix problems, final coat of color. For the exterior, rough up the factory paint with 220, clean with soap and water, dry. Two coats of white primer. Wet sand quickly with 600 grit, dry. Tack cloth. Two coats of color, wet sand with 600 then 1000, dry. Tack cloth. Final color coat. Wet sand with 1000, dry. Tack cloth. Two coats of clear, wet sand with 1000, dry. Tack cloth. Final coat of clear. Buff.

    That's the routine. Some problem areas will develop which require additional work.

    I used Rustoleum Painter's Touch rattlecan paint. I will try to avoid it in the future. It is much more fragile than one would believe from reading and watching tutorials on the web (using other brands of paint). The Rustoleum Painter's Touch wet or dry sandable primer, however, I found to be excellent. Automotive grade paint is supposed to be much better, but I did not have a convenient source, and had a very bad experience with Duplicolor automotive grade primers.

    The next time I start painting I will test Rustoleum Gloss Protective Enamel on some scrap. Hopefully it will be better.
     
  9. Squadexodus

    Squadexodus I got my cookie. What about you?

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    So do you actually have to take the pain off the case that was on there previously?

    And those things are amazing. Just incase you didnt know
     
  10. okapi

    okapi What's a zebra?

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    Thanks! You don't have to completely remove the factory paint right down to the metal, just rough up the surface enough so the primer sticks. Primer tends to run badly on a smooth surface. Although it IS very easy to completely remove the factory paint from these Microflys which doesn't hurt.
     
  11. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    +1. The white interiors with white lighting works really well. And the quality of the paintwork is impressive.
     
  12. Cinnander

    Cinnander What's a Dremel?

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    Those look great :) The Purple and orange one reminds me a little of the Gulf Oil colours (blue and orange)
     
  13. mr00Awesome

    mr00Awesome YEAH SWEET LEMONADE

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    Great looking cases!

    Yes, auto paint is way better, but it comes at a price. I've never liked Dupli-color either. Working in the Collision/Refinishing field, thats saying a lot. They aim their products more at the professional market. They like to not include product specs(mixing ratios, flash times, stuff like that) on the cans, because they expect you to know them already.
     
  14. unrealhippie

    unrealhippie What's a Dremel?

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    Very ... bright. Still kudos for the clean paint job!
     
  15. okapi

    okapi What's a zebra?

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    Thanks!

    My experience was weird. I tried Duplicolor self-etching primer and sandable primer. Both came out of the can in blobs. I don't know whether the paint had gone through too many temperature changes, or was simply old, or what. I still have some Duplicolor engine enamel from the same store. You can bet I'll be trying it on scrap first!
     

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