Custom Paint Job

[doanster]

So I'm planning to give my laptop a new coat of paint.
Any tips or suggestions, ANY at all, will be helpful!

I am thinking of either a piano-like black or white, or a Lamborghini-like yellow.
Here's what I am planning on doing:
1) clean surface
2) apply primer and let dry
3) wet sand to smooth
4) repeat 2 and 3
5) apply paint and let dry
6) wet sand to smooth
7) repeat 5 and 6
8) apply clear coat and let dry
9) wet sand to smooth
10) repeat 8 and 9
11) buff with some polish or wax to a nice shine

Has anyone here done this before! This is my first time some I need all the advice I can get because I dont want to ruin my expensive laptop

 

[santuitman]

It doesn,t sound like wetsand and laptop are a good idea unless you've got all the parts stripped out of it.

 

[se7en]

I've painted a few cases before and done my kb/mouse for my home system nothing to indepth tho. You have the steps down pretty well from what I've done I wouldn't go any less than 10 coats tho as you will want it to stand the test of time.

Of course I would tape off anything you do not want color on and depending on the case you are using you may want to consider painting any HDD trays or PSU trays if you have a window. And for paint I would get some high quality stuff no walmart brand and if you wanted to do it right you could go down to your local auto paint store and get some very premium colors (more $$$).

Do what you have posted there and take the time to get it right and you will have a beautiful paint job that will stand out from 99% of any other case out there.

EDIT: Ahh your doing a laptop..hmmmm.. .. yeah your going to get dust everywhere so long as you have a plan for that.

 

[doanster]

Originally posted by: se7en
Ahh your doing a laptop..hmmmm.. .. yeah your going to get dust everywhere so long as you have a plan for that.

Hmm... interesting idea on buying the paint from an automotive body shop. I was thinking more along the lines of Home Depot, but I will go check it out.
How does doing a laptop 'get dust everywhere' as opposed to doing a case or kb/mouse?

 

[se7en]

when you wetsand the primer your gonna have some fine dust as wel as when you sand the paint. So if you are doing the laptop assembled you will need to tape off things like any drive openings, watch for dust in the KB section things like that.

It will be the same dust as a case but with a case / kb /mouse I took everything apart so all I had was the actual metal / plastic and not the electronics so I could blow it all off with a compressor. So as long as your gonna prep the lappy right you should be fine and can never use too much tape where you dont want paint.

And yeah home depot will work but you wont find some of the colors you may want and even know about like the yellow you refered too.. where else are you going to find Ferrari red or mystic green that color changing paint they put on 94-95 cobra mustangs.. ..

linky

This is a decent site to check out for reference but you prolly have a local store you can order from too. This will slightly more $$$ but the paint will look so much nicer with a clear coat on top of it and holy crap will it shine.

 

[doanster]

come to think of it, a colour like 'mystic green' would look amazing on a laptop.

I wonder how spray paint for model cars would hold up. They are designed to work well with plastic (my laptop has a plastic casing), and come in colours that are fairly close to real car colours. They arn't designed to handle wear-and-tear, but wouldn't a tough clear coat solve the problem?

se7en: thanks for the link!

 

[Kaspian]

Go to your local paint suppliers and if you dont see the colors or the type of coating that you are looking for in a spray can more than likely they'll be able to special order something to suit your needs....