very interesting Wayne. I wonder if there is a way to mix and spray on the lacquer to get a more even finish instead of brushing or dunking. The effect really has promise.
Thanks KoSoVaR. Thanks for reminding me to try spraying voigts, I'll have a result to show real soon. Thanks mate, was best result so far but I think it's about to get how I wanted it, I'll try to update in about an hour.
I'll be looking forward to seeing the result. I am just thinking that if you could find a way to spray the metal lacquer on it might eliminate the unevenness that the brushing seems to keep causing.
Was on my to try list voigts but glad you reminded me, turned out pretty awesome I think, far better than brushing, not sure why I doubted the idea really. Made a part dunking dye mixing piece last night but it needs shrinking a little bit more to fit in a bit easier, all I do is mount a 10mm spacer to a part & anchor it into a hole to help it stay in place & to nicely mix the dye just plunge it up & down a few times now & then, multifunction dunking jig. Tried using a spray gun for the first time after watching some basic guides & how to clean the gun on youtube to apply the lacquer today because it was still on my to try options & I am really glad I tried it before lacquering anymore parts, it will definitely be my method of choice for lacqodising now, really should have tried it sooner, better late than never though. Waffle & excuses. The 4 dots if you can see them are where I didn't properly deal with bubbles when I should have, the flip paint look is due to the new ultra bright 5500k bulb I was using but switched to a 6500k lower powered one which shows the true colour anyone will see in normal lighting conditions, nice thing about spraying it on I can now do multiple coats a heck of a lot easier. Future project will be far nicer than this since all these parts have been re finished at least 3 times already which made it harder & harder to get the surfaces to a nice state, surface finish really shows everything underneath the lacquer just like anodising so it really needs to be good for it to look good. Trouble with dyeing parts flat is only the top side takes dye so it's pointless lacquering both sides before dyeing unless you have a dyeing tank to hang parts in on there sides, I tried dyeing the other side but for reasons I have no idea about it wouldn't take the dye so it seems to need 2 complete runs if doing both sides when dyeing parts flat. Now I really do have the lacqodising figured nicely I should be speeding along from now, I believe the lacqodising took up 99% of the effort in this project lol. Updates should be more progressive now.
Actually I'm still not satisfied with the result so next test is spray & brush like cheapskate suggested, takes the difficulty back up a notch, I can see the speckles of the spray, needs patting down & smoothing out for a good look so very light quick straight full brush strokes, it'll either perfect it or mess it up, involves a touch of risk but I have to try it.
Alright, we need to have an intervention. It doesn't need to be THAT perfect, Man. Ease up on yourself and enjoy this more. Also some pointed screws in the bottom of your dunker might raise the part up enough to get dye underneath. -Beware scratching, or sitting on the screw points!
Your right cheaps was sooooo focused on making lacqodising work, managed that but then I wanted really high standard lol, just taken better pictures of the spray finish & I'm happy with it now, still need to improve my spray gun technique though but that will come in time. Underneath is really odd, I even tried flipping the panel over after doing 1 side but the dye just wouldn't take to it so it needs 2 complete runs when wanting both sides doing, only other way would be to use a purpose built dyeing tank so I could hang pieces in sideways. Just got a nice tall floor lamp I can easily move around the workshop & put the 5500k light bulb in, here are some shots I just got with it, the other shots were far to intensely bright so I guess this finish will do after all, just requires good surface prep & some spray gun practice, if only I tried the spray gun months ago. To my amazement I made top 5 in the Intel NUC compo so as soon as I get the kit I'll be working on that, I'll try to squeeze time in for finishing this off also, just glad I got lacqodising to a good standard perfectly in time, with finishing figured I'll be able to really speed back up now.
Thanks Andy, was another fluke find the weathered effect, I'll likely use it in some way some time. Thanks Meelobee, it's good but I still feel it could be better but I could be wrong. Cheers KoSoVaR. Sorry for the delay, I started another log. http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=262068 I'll lacqodise this ASAP though, on a mission to get current projects clear.
Thanks AvJaB. Lacquered all the parts a couple of hours ago, I'll get it all dyed over the next couple of days, aiming for a simultaneous finish for this & Intranuc.
Lacqodised the same dark brown, internal pieces 15 minute dunks, external 60 minutes, front layers 15, 25, 35, 45 minute dunks, all at 80c. Can get the wire work done on this now & get it put to use only about 7 months late lol. To make accurate lighter browns it's not a simple matter of shorter dunks, need to start off on the lightest tone making it darker by adding dye to do it right but this will do, at least I'll get Lean & Green right, I was also mixing wrong amounts, all the different dyes have different mass so this is really wrong, I'll make custom scoops to make mixing a lot easier. Surface finish is quite bad on this one due to applying it prematurely a few times & having to strip it all off each time.
Not the colour intended, the dye mix was left idle for quite a while so I should have boosted it back up a little, surface is bad due to re sanding it so many times with aluminium dust welding to the surface making it a bit ugly in places, not all over but here & there, made it ridiculously hard to make nice. Thanks though jokkos. I assembled it to put to use. The wire work for the storage is real tight so isn't possible to assemble like a regular case, I think the internal HDD dock is a bad idea as well for such a cramped space, something is shorting out somewhere preventing a full power up, was feeling a bit high from completing a project only to come back down with this. Been playing gta v to cheer me up since yesterday, I'll get back onto trying to pinpoint the problem now, there are a few suspect points why it might be that I need to investigate because the mobo & RAM worked when I tried them but that was on a different PSU. If it needs new tech the project won't complete.
