Painting the front of a case

[berky]

What do you guys usually use to paint the plastic part of the front of a case?

I picked up some Krylon paint today to do the rest of it, but will that work on plastic as well? what grit do you usually use to sand the plastic? my case's front has lots of pits that i can't get into, so i'm hoping that the paint will stick in there. it's a chaintech full-tower that i bought a few years ago.


thanks.

 

[Michael Daly]

Isn't Krylon the paint specifically for plastic?

Lots of paints will stick to plastic unless the plastic is very flexible. Some model makers use auto paint (including baking the paint finish - at low temps, of course) - there's no reason you couldn't use the same on a case front. Some paints work better with a primer - some primers are needed to protect the plastic from solvents in the paint for some extreme combinations.

You could look at hobby shops for model builder's paints if you're curious about those options.

You can also use some types of dye for plastic, but matching colours can be tricky if the plastic isn't white.

 

[berky]

yeah, i bought primer too, just to do it right (and it's only 3 bucks).

krylon isn't really made specifically for plastic. there's a krylon fusion that's supposed to be mainly for plastic, but general krylon isn't. not to say it won't work, but it's just not designed specifically for it like their 'fusion' line.

i was just curious what others have done as far as preparation and what paint you used.

 

[regnak]

Isn't Krylon the paint specifically for plastic?

Krylon Fusion is made for plastics they still have a regular line of spray paints.

What do you guys usually use to paint the plastic part of the front of a case?

For plastics I'm really partial to Vinyl Dye. I painted my 360 with it... worked great (well, besides my front panel not working anymore but I broke that wasn't the paints fault). Check out this article: http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/modding/46 it doesn't go too in depth but it gives you a general idea of what you're doing, just light coats.

 

[Ang]

The krylon fusion is VERY good for plastic from my experience. If you want to colour match to other colours for your side panels, it might be difficult.

 

[stryder2720]

I do the following for plastics:
1. Sand it with some 400 grit paper to rough it up
2. Spray on primer and let it dry completely
3. WET sand the primer with 800 grit until it's smooth as a babies ass
4. Spray on your color and let it dry for 1hr
5. Spray on 2 coats of clear and let that dry for 24hrs

 

[berky]

The krylon fusion is VERY good for plastic from my experience. If you want to colour match to other colours for your side panels, it might be difficult.

yeah, that's the issue i had with the fusion. otherwise i would have gotten it.

and are you from the UK? it's color, not colour!

 

[berky]

Krylon Fusion is made for plastics they still have a regular line of spray paints.


For plastics I'm really partial to Vinyl Dye. I painted my 360 with it... worked great (well, besides my front panel not working anymore but I broke that wasn't the paints fault). Check out this article: http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/modding/46 it doesn't go too in depth but it gives you a general idea of what you're doing, just light coats.

cool, thanks for the info. i'm definitely going to look into vinyl dye for my acrylic sidepanel.

I do the following for plastics:
1. Sand it with some 400 grit paper to rough it up
2. Spray on primer and let it dry completely
3. WET sand the primer with 800 grit until it's smooth as a babies ass
4. Spray on your color and let it dry for 1hr
5. Spray on 2 coats of clear and let that dry for 24hrs

thanks for the info. i'm testing this tonight on one of the 5.25 drive bay covers. i'll wait til tomorrow to wet sand the primer since it's getting late tonight. hopefully i can get the main parts of my case done this weekend so i can test my new system.