Hi peeps, I have these slot covers from my Silverstone FT02 case and these highflow brackets: I want to get them anodized in red so i emailed a company and they asked if they are aluminium so they can send me a quote. The weight of them is very light. I'm a total noob when it comes to materials and tell what is what sometimes I searched on google and found that using a magnet would help but i can't find mine. Any other way to find out? Thanks
Many Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated Will try the fridge door seal when i get home and then email the company.
Burnout got it first time, they're chrome plated mild steel. I had exactly the same ones for my own FT02 stripped and powder coated a while ago.
Got a reply from the company saying only aluminium can be anodized as the solution in the tanks would damage the steel guess i'll need to find another way of changing the bracket's color
Cool will have a look into this. Will the highflow brackets be ok powdercoated since GPU's tend to put out hot air?
Sure, the GPU wont put out enough hot air to even worry the powder coat, however powder coat is a additive process, so it's a layer of polyester plastic that is fused to the surface. Where it gets tricky is dependant on the dimensional tolerances you've got to play with the additional layer of powder coat may prevent the GPU I/O plate fitting back onto the card, and I/O plates might not engage in the motherboard backplate where they anchor. Considering most powdercoat companies deal with large objects like park bench's or alloy wheels they tend to lay it thick, which is a pain in the arse on this smaller stuff. EDIT: just noticed the post time
I've been having PCI brackets - both blanks and off GPUs - powder coated for years and I have never had an issue with anything fitting after the process. If a coater is putting powder on a small part like that thick enough to stop anything fitting, they're doing it wrong. If you're worried about it, mention a small tolerance on the port holes of the high flow brackets to them when you drop the parts off. They'll be able to put a slightly thinner coat on smaller parts like this to allow for it. Powder coat is cured at ~200°C so you have nothing to worry about with the heat produced by a GPU.
It's all down the coater really, some are great others are best not mentioned ever again... I just wanted to point out the potential pitfalls of getting something powder coated.
You can anodise steel, if you've got a quote from some one on the net it'll be expensive just look someone up in the yellow pages and take it down there with a tenna in your hand and ask them to do it for you. Powder coating will add anything from .5-1mm, wet spraying is probably the best way as it'll add a thinner layer.
Spraying them won't result in as durable a finish as powder. The method used to finish the FT02-R chassis at the factory was wet sprayed paint, and the less well looked after of my two second hand ones was in bad shape when I got it, but instead of spraying it again I had it and all the accessories like the PCI plates powdered in almost exactly the same colour. It's now durable enough to last a lifetime without chipping and scratching easily. Powder > paint.
