Need painting advice

I'm going to be giving my 700D a new color scheme, and I need a little advice on painting it. I'm going to bring it down to bare metal, and use some self-etching primer. I have done this in the past on other cases and projects, and I keep getting the same issue. I keep getting an orange peal look to the paint. Granted, that I always used a glossy paint before; but I'm going to use a flat paint this time so that I can get a good stock-ish look. Besides, glossy paint is much harder to clean. I also have access to an air compressor (with water separator) and a professional quality paint gun.

Also, is there anything special I need to do to the anodized aluminum front? I never really cared for it because it did not match.

I'd love to do powered coating, but that's getting into the realm of +$300.

Most paint will orange peel if applied in thick-ish layers... And when using glossy paint, you basically need to apply thick layers to get a high gloss sheen. It's something you can't avoid without properly diluted paint (mix 10% mineral spirits in a compatible paint and it will lay much flatter). Allow it to flash then heat cure at 145f using an infrared heater... I've found this to be the only way to avoid orange peel.

Ideally I just sand and paint and sand and paint etc. for 4-5 coats, sand to a matte finish then buff out, if I want gloss without any orange peel.

IMHO, I'd skip the self etching primer all together. Sand to bare metal. SAND REALLY SMOOTH using at least 400g sandpaper AFTER sanding to metal - then use a FLAT BLACK rust paint (tremclad or rustoleum) in several light coats with 10-15m dry time between coats. You can distil this from the can to make it air-gun compatible using the straw from an air duster in place of the cap. Just spray it into a small glass bottle and let the accelerant evaporate.

As for aluminum, nope, just use a high quality metal paint. Most brushed aluminum is "pitty" enough to accept paint very well.

Again Arc, Thank you!

We need a fracking rep system on this forum to recognize people that help the forums!

I dont see why powder coating is +$300.00 to you though, just saying. It doesnt have to cost that much. Am I to assume you mean to pay someone else to do it? Powder coating can be pretty cheap. The guns that can do the job are not that expensive and pretty well worth it when you consider guns like Harbor Freight etc. Heating the entire metal piece will depend on size of parts, but we went and got a free oven from a local appliance shop to cure our parts. Still works today even after 5 years of powdercoating. You wont get a better, much easier finish though IMO. Not saying you should do it, just dont rule it out. It can be easy if you do your homework and not that expensive when considering time and effort. Biggest drawback is difficulty to coat plastics.

The problem with this is getting the wife to agree. She's the one the makes most of the money. She complains a lot about my projects, but she's good to me.

And... YOU CAN POWER-COAT PLASTIC?! I thought you need a attract the coating with some kind of magnetic field...

Absolutely under special consideration. You need to use a good temp grade plastic that wont melt at your powder curing temperature. There are powders meant for this and cure at or below 250 degree F. They also cure using UV instead of infra-red or convection heating which is easier on the plastics. Remember that the material doesnt have to reach the curing temperature, the powder does. The plastic may be able to stand the temperature for the 15-20 minutes needed to cure the powder in question. Lastly not all plastics will conduct the electrical charge needed to get the powder to stick, it would be best to try it as some plastics already contain the mixture needed to perform the action. Understanding what I have mentioned though, you can see why it can be troublesome and best discussed during the creation of the product to make sure the materials used are ideal.

But there are a lot of things that are already powdercoated plastics that you see everyday. It is a very good coating and gives a higher quality feel to the average piece of plastic. Many keyboard and mice now use the treatment for instance to mimic the feel of rubber or leather. Logitech for instance using the process a lot to make their gaming series stuff feel more upscale, but the material is still just plastic underneath.