I have attempted to use Linear1's guide(http://linear1.org/gm/archives/00000156.php) to paint my computer case fans, and have had less than successful luck with it. I know there is a fan painting guide on Bit-Tech, but it was a simple spray paint job, and I need a more professional look (I know fans are just spinning anyways, but I'm trying to pay attention to detail here, and I need a bright, glossy reflective finish). My problem is this: I can't seem to finish sand the edges of the fan blades without cutting through both the paint and the primer. I've tried using 800 grit sandpaper (the linear1 guide calls for 600) to get the "orange texture" look out from spray paint (I am using Krylon), and that still cut through. I am wondering if anyone has any other suggestions. I am also interested to find out if a airbrushing system would help me acheive better results (smoother, glossy look without as much sanding) as I believe airbrush systems spray a much finer mist of paint than spray cans. Any help is appreciated. Adam
maybe a higher grade sandpaper. 400 grit is used for preparing surfaces and then you want 1000 -2000 for sanding a painted surface. I personally use 1500 and then for shinyness want a high gloss paint. I used blue krylon that was pretty nice but I wouldnt want to go to thick and use clearcoat to getthe high gloss since that will make the fans louder from the thickness of the blades.
Ehh...I don't think you'll be able to hear the difference that paint will add the the fan blades. Really, it's paint. As long as it's not dripping, you won't be able to tell.
I think in order to get the orange peel texture from something, using 1000-1500 grit sandpaper wouldn't work very well at all. Even at 800grit the texture was coming off extremely slowly, and the edge paint was still being cut through. Anyone have information on how airbrushing would do considering what my goal with this is? Adam
I basethis on the fact that I have blue krylon painted fans in my xaser II system and yes even on the low rpm fans I heard a slight more noise. Krylon isnt a thin paint and regardless if you thicken the fan blades this causes more air resistance thus more noise. And if you dont belive my personal experience on this matter there is a picture of said painted fans with krylon blue. Even used the paint with my latest mod for the nos canister and my xaser II front plate and my cd roms on both my server and xaser II. So lots of experience with it.
As fo rorange peel that means that the surface wasnt prepared properly and that you have coated to thick on one pass. Its better to do lot of light passes every hour then to goop it on. 1000 should be suffecient then. *00 would work its really not that far off. But 400 is a grade level for preperation.
Well if you read linear1's guide, even he said there will be some orange peel texture even with multiple thin coats. Possibly the result of the paint stream coming out thicker than say an airbrush system? Even looking at your blue fan pics on your site, they are not as smooth as a professionally finished paint job. I realize that the fans aren't all that visible when they're spinning, but the rest of my computer parts will be painted and sanded smooth, so I'm trying to pay attention to detail here and make everything match. I'm talking car style paint job, shine and reflectivity and all. Anyone that can help more with this? Adam
Ok well I tried sanding the fans with 1200 grit to get the orange peel texture off, and although it was painstaking and slow, it worked a helluva lot better than using the 600 grit linear1 recommended. Not that his tutorial was wrong (cause damn his case looks amazing), but this just seemed to work better for me. I still cut through to some primer probably because I didn't have enough paint on the fan, so it looks like it's back to square one, but at least this time I know what to do. Still interested in any info about how airbrushing systems do with this sort of thing. Adam
Those pics where just examples of that I have used the paint. those wheer non primed and no clearcoat. Something like my front panel would be a better indication of a surface being shiny or if you want primed then painted that would be my nos bottle. Also something you must realize is that if a surface has any bumps on it it will appear throught the paint and make that surface look the same. Thats why i would use a sandable primer to get my very smooth surface and then paint with the krylon blue. If you dont the little bumps in the fan which most fans have except maybe the aluminum ones but even there blades are plastic will have that texture look. Krylon blue just goes on thick anyways.
Had to log on other computer since i was on my webserver but anyways here is an example of the difference you would see using the blue to paint different surfaces such as bumpy and smooth and different methose. In this example its what i mentioned about the textured surface of the fan itself. This is no priming since indoor/outdoor paint on plastic dont need priming really and it sticks pretty good. Now this next picture is a bit fuzzy but this is a non primed on metal smooth surface. so is this with the fan brackets which are smooth So as you can see there is a difference between the textures after even when paint goes on. Paint will not level that off unless you do many coats like 4 and do some serious sanding sessions which I think you have seen with your 1200 grit. Now for a bumpy surface to be made smooth You want to prime and sand it and then paint. To get that high gloss you want to use clear coat. But the thicker you make the blades the more noise so keep note of that. Anyways this is what it looks after all those steps on plastic (peroxide container lol) As you can see very smooth and glossy. Please not e that the fan bumpyness ealrier isnt as bad as it looks since it was an older camera but it is stoill there because of texture and no priming or any preperation at all. Personally i like the krylon bright silver paint but also notice it is bumpy since fans are bumpy and you need to prep them properly. Now orangepeel can be specified as two things. I have seen it happen even with my latest project because sometimes it happens and it looks like a grid underneath. But that a smooth surface and had to application. Now in the case of the fan it is already bumpy so it can look like orangepeel and it really isnt. Like mine for example could be called that by some of the pros out there if they didnt realize that the surface wasnt perfectly flat. Now understand your blades might be flat. In that case there could be many issues to what is wrong with the paint (doubt it krylon is very good paint) orhow the person is applying it. here is some info on that: " Paint Problems 10. Orange peel Description of problem: The paint is slightly granulated resembling the outside of an orange. Causes: - Bad spraying technique. The gun is either too far away or too close. - Application thickness is either too little or too much. - Thinner is too fast drying. - Viscosity is too high. - Incorrect air pressure. - Temperature is too high. - Insufficient sanding of substrate. - Incorrect spray gun set up. Preventive measures: - Use correct spraying technique. - Adjust the air pressure so as to minimize the “poussierage”. - Use slower thinner or retarder. - Use recommended thinning ratios. - Use recommended gun set up. - Prepare and sand substrate correctly. Remedy: - In minor cases, wait until the paint is fully dry and polish with a coarse compound and then a fine compound. - In more serious cases, you may have to sand with P1200 and polish. - In extreme cases you should sand with P500/P1000 and respray. " http://www.generalpaint.biz/refinish/orange.html Anyways there is some info for ya. Also make sure you are wet sanding and not dry sanding. Wet sanding shouldnt eat the paint that fast so to get to the primer.
Thanks for the info. I managed to get a pretty good result when upping the grit from 600 to 1200 to send any texture off, but now I am probably going to have to restart as certain parts are cut through the paint and primer to the plastic, and other parts aren't (from when i was still trying to use 600). Is it wise when I resand the fans to get off every last bit of paint, or can I probably leave most of it on as long as I rough up the surface a little bit with 400grit? Btw...did you take a look at this? http://linear1.org/i/paintjob2.jpg Adam
any slopes and such will show up. Everything has to be level if you know what i mean. I made a mistake on my front plate (different paint but same thing) and tried to clean one spot and it just made it worse. I ended up having to strip the whole panel of the paint and sand it and do it again.
