Poll: Safe to spray paint my case?

[shawnmos]

I wanna spray paint my computer and monitor black. The sides and back of my case are metal but the front and my monitor are plastic. I have spray painted plastic before and it kinda melted. Is the plastic on the monitor and case strong enough to keep from melting? And do I need a special kind of spray paint? I am gonna spray paint the outside of the cd-rom too. This is my old computer (my K6-3+ on my sys specs) so it doesn't matter if I mess it up too much. Also what kind of black should I get? The normal black or the metallic (shiny) black?

Shawn

 

[jkersenbr]

I just painted my case (metal and plastic parts) with lacquer based primer and paint. Looks awesome, but not very durable. Of all the paints, lacquer should be the hardest on plastic, but it worked fine on mine.

Whatver you do, don't just paint it. Prime it first with primer compatible with your kind of paint. Paint won't stick very good to plastic without being laid on primer. I think enamels are probably more durable than my lacquer.

I'd recommend a matte/satin/non-shiny black. That way you can get black drives to match it.

I did mine in high gloss black and metallic flake blue and tolerate mismatched drives. (Although I painted my floppy to match.) It shows fingerprints and dust bad, but when shiny it looks great. Guess the 5 coats of lacquer are just a bit of the hotrodder in me...

Good luck
Jeremy

 

[shawnmos]

This may be a stupid question but what is a lacquer based primer? And why do I need a primer at all? Someone tell me quick cause I'm on my way to wal-mart.

 

[kami]

You don't need primer for your case. Buy some wet/dry 400 grit sand paper and add a little water and sand down your case until it's very smooth (don't have to remove all the paint) and then go to Home Depot and buy some Rust-Oleum all purpose spray paint. It will be very durable. If you want more durability and better looks buy some Rust Oleum clear lacquer (also a spray) to spray on top of the paint. I recently painted my case and did this following the advice of other seasoned case modders and it turned out perfectly.

I put 4 thin coats of paint (the first coat didn't even completely cover it up) about 10 minutes apart and then 4 coats of lacquer. The key is not to rush it and make sure you put it on evenly or else it will look like crap. When you spray, start spraying BEFORE the paint will hit the case and then do a smooth stroke over the case, always keeping the same distance (typically 1 foot). If you start spraying on the case, you will end up with blotches.

 

[shawnmos]

<< or else it will look like crap >>

I screwed up...bad. I got a big blotch so I tried to wipe the paint off with a tissue and go over it again. BAD IDEA!! It got suck to the paint along with a lot of lint!!!!! I tried to get it off and made it worse. I let it dry and scraped most of it off then I panted over it. But now it looks really bad!!! Oh and I forgot to mention that it was on the cd-rom. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. This really sucks!!!!!!!! How can I get the paint off so I can redo it.

 

[NAC]

Haven't painted a case before, but in my experience with painting other things - I think you should wait till it dries completely, sand well and start again. I'd start with a higher grit paper (maybe 220?) to save time and then move up to 400 as Kami said. Once the new paint is sanded down enough, you can start again.

Good luck

 

[shadowfaX]

I've heard that spray painting your monitor is not good/safe. Otherwise, what the others said about spray painting is good.

 

[Fuzzmuncher]

I've painted 7 cases and found through experience that Duplicolor Truck/Van spray paint from Walmart is by far the best. Way better than Generic, Krylon, and Rust-oleum.

 

[Fuzzmuncher]

Oh yeah, sand between layers and add a few coats of clear coat and it'll look cherry. Black with clearcoats turned out looking like a piano finish. Sweet.

 

[BLoop]

There's a good case painting tutorial over at GideonTech. The webmaster is a member here so maybe he's got some more insight for you.

 

[maap]

Sure, if you're careful.

 

[WishMaster]

Yea nothing wrong with it, just watch out for vital parts