Antec Sonata Mod Worklog

oh and remember that UV blue fan I put in that power supply in the start of the worklog... the fan in the front will be uv blue too :) should look verrrrry coooool :D :cool:
 
oops, forgot to ask... i've never painted a case before, actually i haven't had much experience with painting at all...

i have some primer and some paint, but i was wondering if anyone has any tips or suggestions for when i paint...

in other words, how many coats of primer, in cross cross pattern with each coat? will sanding after each coat give me glossy finish or flat, or what? should i make it glossy or flat finish on the inside?? feedback is VERY much appreciated here, b/c i don't know if I want the inside to be reflective like the outside or not... let me know what you all think please :)
 
I painted the inside of my case as shiny as I could get it, so the cathodes would reflect more. I painted in the following order:

Primer
Sand
Primer
Sand
Color
Sand
Color
Sand
Color
Clearcoat
Clearcoat

Though after the second clearcoat, a small area under where my mobo would go kind of bubbled up. I think I put too much clearcoat on :mad:.

It turned out pretty good overall, the reflection from the cathodes is good, but the paint isn't automotive quality. I prefer shiny, as do most small children and animals :p .
 
Forgot to ask- What color are you going to paint it? Are you just going to repaint it black?
 
black black black!

You should sell this thing when your done! I bet you could make some major cash. Keep up the good work man
 
Originally posted by Kurtis
oh and remember that UV blue fan I put in that power supply in the start of the worklog... the fan in the front will be uv blue too :) should look verrrrry coooool :D :cool:
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How about you send me that case front plate for a couple hours and I'll make a mold from it so it I can make one from carbon fiber for my 3700BQE ;) It should fit perfectly. :D

Hell I'll even make you one too. :p
 
lol sell it.... right :p

i've probably spent well over a hundred on this mod so far, not even counting all the stuff sponsors have sent :p

I dunno, when I'm done, I guess if people offer enough I might be tempted to :p

like erronreq said, i will be painting black
 
I think I might ask our buddy Bill from MNPCTech for some tips on the paintjob :) Seems he knows exactly what he's doing heh :p

Anyway, today I will probably file and sand the case a little bit on the inside to clean things up before painting, so I doubt I'll have any pictures for a few days when there is something interesting to take photos of :p

damn political science test tomorrow.... :mad:
 
Originally posted by Kurtis
Anyway, today I will probably file and sand the case a little bit on the inside to clean things up before painting, so I doubt I'll have any pictures for a few days when there is something interesting to take photos of :p

damn political science test tomorrow.... :mad:
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yeah yeah yeah...;) Quit dragging your feet and get that bad boy done! Krylon is your friend lol
 
LOL... I think I'm getting things done pretty quickly. A lot of people drag worklogs on for weeks and months even... I should be finished within 2 weeks of when I started I think :p I can't wait to see it done though, I'm getting more excited as I get further along :)
 
I just went to the garage and did some minor adjustments in various areas, and I cut the flange off of the fan duct. Looks like that will be the best way to make it fit the curve of the case. This will call for some bondo to make the fan duct look good :p

won't be working on the case any more today... have to study after dinner :(
 
lol not sure I want to know what sort of special hole he's putting in the front of his Sonata ;)
 
k today I got some more work done on the Sonata... I cleaned up all the rest of the jagged edges, and then I realized I should take the shell of the case off...

What I mean is that I decided to remove the top/right/bottom of the case, which is all one piece of metal... this will give me better access to the insides of the case for painting, and I won't miss any spots. Of course, to put the case back together later, I'll be getting a rivet gun for TheTechLounge :p This will be useful in future mods as well of course :)

I also did a test run with the paint I got, and I think I'll be going to the store again tomorrow to get some better paint, Krylon specifically... I'll have some pics in a little bit, still working in the garage a little bit... Next post will have pics :)
 
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75.jpg


There is DEFINITELY no turning back now :eek:

Next step will be painting everything as I said before. Not sure if I will sand down everything first or not, but I definitely need to spray it down and clean it with soap and water to get rid of all the debris on it...

Is anyone else as scared for my case as I am? :p

______________________
http://www.thetechlounge.com
 
I have to do that later myself. You'll want to sand it down just a bit so that the paint can "stick" to the frame better.
 
Originally posted by Kurtis
What I mean is that I decided to remove the top/right/bottom of the case, which is all one piece of metal... this will give me better access to the insides of the case for painting, and I won't miss any spots.
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Both sides remove on the SLK3700 BQE :p
HDD cage is just riveted in too lol. :cool:
 
major props for a awsome job and you aren't even done yet... Makes me want to go out and get a sonata and start chopping it up. :D :D :D
 
Originally posted by CrimandEvil
I have to do that later myself. You'll want to sand it down just a bit so that the paint can "stick" to the frame better.
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i will be using primer... does primer need sanding first? My guess would be that the primer sticks fine without sanding... I'll do a test run of course to find out :p

______________________
http://www.thetechlounge.com
 
AFAIK the sequence you want to use is is to sand the surfaces you're going to be painting, and then clean them, the sanding is to allow the paint to stick properly by roughing up the surface somewhat, the cleaning is to remove any foreign particles that could cause bumps or the paint to not stick properly.

Then you prime it with primer. Then you sand the primer, and then prime it again. This is to ensure a good coverage of primer.

Then IIRC, you sand the primer, and lay down your first coat of paint, then sand the paint, paint it again, sand it again, and paint it again. (For those keeping score, that's 2 coats of primer and 3 coats of paint). After this, you apply clearcoat to keep the paint from becomming damaged.

Of course, this is total overkill. :D
 
yeah it seems most of my project so far is all overkill stuff... ah well it will be worth it in the end... i hope... heh :)
 
I've got a link to a good article about painting cases, I'll link it when I get home.
 
Kurtis,

mod is looking great man, fun to follow along! I've got a hacked up Sonata (not nearly as major as yours, link is in my sig).

one weekend when I get some time and can live without my main rig, I'm gonna paint the inside, looking forward to seeing how you go about doing yours.

keep it up man, looking like its going to turn out really well.

-G
 
Atragon: yeah someone linked to that before, very helpful :)

Garage81: The link in your sig has two http:, just fyi. Your mod looks nice, good work on the window. Hopefully it will turn out really well :p The rivet gun we got makes me a lot more confident that I will be able to put everything back together when I am done... :)

Last night I filed, sanded, and washed (soap and water) the outer shell of the case that I removed. I let it dry outside overnight. Today I will be getting to work on priming and perhaps a little color coating :D Stay tuned hehe
 
Ok I have primed, painted, and clear-coated a spare piece of metal to test how the outcome will be... waiting for the clear-coat to dry right now, but so far it looks good :)
 
got a couple coats of paint on the shell today, nice and smooth but it doesn't quite look perfect yet. You can tell that my 'strokes' with the spray paint weren't all even. Some parts are more reflective than others, etc... I'll sand it down a little bit tomorrow and see if I can't get it just right :)
 
looking good so far, hope the paint job works out, and as always: MORE PICS :D
 
yeah black. I have some pics of the primer and stuff, but I won't post any more pics until I have at least the shell finished. :p So you'll just have to wait, muahaha
 
okay the shell will be done today. It's not going to be 'perfect' (in my eyes at least), but it looks good. Just putting on the clear coat now
 
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