Hi I heard that 'mirror paint' exists It should be special kind of paint , that will make ur ... object that ur painting , look like its made out of mirror-glass .. (like a real mirror) .. It very difficult to paint it tough .. and its a thick layer ... Anybody know more about this kind of paint ? .. I can imagine it would be cool to have a mirror case ?? (its difficult to paint pcb , easy on alu ... so u would need a alu case) Thanks I asked at all my local stores .. none know it .... exept one , he sed it wasnt a real 'paint' ... its some special stuff... and that its hard to make it 'even'
all a mirror is, is a sheet of glass with one side painted in really reflective silver coating. So "mirror paint" would be simply silver paint with a very high amount of shine to it, I'm guessing...
Ive seen Chrome Paint in them small little cans you get at places like B&Q is that what your meaning something like that? I don't think it would be as good as a mirror but it would be nice and shiney.
thinking about it, one thing you could do to an aluminium case (for a mirror effect), is shine it up and polish it (similar to heatsink lapping, but on a bigger scale), then put a clear sheet of plexi over the shined surfaces to protect them. In theory, that is...
i bought some of the "chrome" spray and its NOT mirror at all, its just a slightly metalic looking silver, very lame.
there's 3 ways I know to get a mirror finish. 1- chrome (the real thing) 2- polishing (looks about the same as chrome) 3- normal paint but very flat (http://www.pc-workshop.net/articles/paint101/paint101-4.shtml) you could try the "anodize" paint from Duplicolor but it's not that mirroring. A friend of mine got his valve cover polished and it looks like chrome... it's looking great and cost less than chrome.
Let me just say that I painted a mouse today. I used a matte black color. Then I applied a thick layer (more like several thin layers) of clear coat. And now I can see my reflection in it. If I had used a chrome paint instead of a black, I guess it would be quite similar to a mirror.
i just looked at that link Bard posted... he said that the clear coat damaged the chrome finish.. well.. you CAN probably clear cote it.. but you need a clearcoat that is the same type as the chrome paint.. or else it will melt.. example: you can paint a layer of enamel paint.. and then aply acryllic paint on that.. but not the other way.. enamel thinners are wery strong so the acryllic paint might melt...
I have experienced that... I made a chrome mouse once, and when I applied the cheap clear coat to it, this happened: It just became gray and stainy. This is the mouse which I today painted black. I painted over the blue light strip. Might have to make a new logo.
That's what I used on my GW802 sidepanel. Make sure there's no dust or hairs about though, they can be a real pain.
Ok Thanks for all ur help but its not just "chrome" As I did some research .. the closest thing to it ... (to what i'm looking for) was some kind of Chrome Car Paiting ... That goes in 3 steps 1.) Undercoating 2.) The chrome paint (several layers) (needs to be done in a real car sprayshop) 3.) Clear finish protection (this is a thick layer (probebly several layers too) , and this will protec tthe chrome .. but more important , this will give the Real MIRROR effect Just like Atticus sed , its just glass with 1 real relfective silver side .. well the chrome is the 'reflective layer' and they put on .. some sort special layer ... thats the hardest part .. putting that one on that will give the glass effect (I assume) Ok .. I think I knew what I was looking for (They did that on a TAXI that was driving in brugges 2 years ago ... It was "reflecting" the town on itself's ... some artist thingy .... but its not allowed now or something , cuz it blinded other drivers (duh) Oh well ... its TERRIBLY EXPENSIVE If anybody know the price of letting ur car be professionally painted in a Metallic paint ... well ... take that price and triple it ... so I think I will not be doing this on a case , lol Thanks anyways M
well... I strongly suggest to get your case polished in a workshop. you'll have something extremely similar as chrome without having to pay big bucks for it. in fact, there's very little difference between the 2 when you look at both of them at the same time
Polished aluminum requires maintenance to keep the shine. Not a lot of maintenance, but some semi-frequent rubbing. Having a fairly flat case chromed would not be that expensive. To have my motorcycle's forks chromed, I only paid $60.00 for both and it was triple coated. If you can find a plater that is willing to work with you, they might just do the chroming and let you do the final buff. Could save a few bucks.
Alclad is very good stuff! I've used it in some RC cars and scale models and highly recommend it. It's pretty remarkable when used correctly. There is also another chrome paint from Spaz Stix called Liquid metal (Have not tried this stuff though): http://www.spazstix.com/ (Not sure how it differs from alclad, but the results seem to be similar).
For the polished alu I used acrylic primer and some high-gloss black acrylic. For chrome I used gloss black enamel as the undercoat, which supposedly is the golden rule (though I've never experimented otherwise). For application, I used a Paasche double action airbrush with a 10gallon air tank and laid down several light coats at ~15psi.
