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Powder coating a case

M

M4573R

Gawd
Joined
Jul 30, 2006
Messages
522
What is the process to powder coat something like a lian li case. The outside is already has a nice coating on it, but do you still sandblast it all off and redo everything? Or do you just do the uncolored parts?
 
Lian li cases are not powder coated, they are anodized. As for powder coating them they wouldn't sandblast them, they would simply spray over the metal. I might suggest looking into anodizing it, although it will be more expensive, it will yield a better end result in my opinion
 
I recently contacted a local place to me and they offered to powder coat for $40 if they were doing something in a similar color that day(probably for baking) and $80-90 depending on color if they weren't doing something that day. They do not sandblast, but apply a negative current to the case so that the powder almost magnetically attaches to the case. Then they bake it at 400 degrees F for 2-8 hours I belive. So don't plan on having any plastic on it...
 
I understand how it works, I'm just curious how a modder goes about preping the case. Does the original color of the case just get powder coated over? Do they mask off the color already there?
 
Usually they would drill out the rivets and keep the exterior stock (if desired) and coat the inside frame.
 
I just powdercoated my case with a powdercoat chrome base and a color called lollypop blue on top of that it turned out pretty good. But they charged me 160 bucks for it. You can see it pretty good in a video I took at PDXLAN a few weeks back here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj3RdI30JRU
 
Just bring the parts to the powder coater and they will do all the prep work for you (cleaning, etc). In my experience they will not de-rivet anything for you, so if there are separate pieces you want done, drill out the rivets or just leave it as one piece and they will powder coat over it (which isnt a bad thing). I riveted mine beforehand and then got it powdercoated.

fin_back.jpg
 
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Do you have to retap any screw holes after it's done? And is there ever a time when maybe only one side of a side-panel is already colored? Then would you cover the whole thing?
 
The powder coater will cover all threaded holes that you tell him to (with these tiny plugs) so none will be messed up.

And is there ever a time when maybe only one side of a side-panel is already colored? Then would you cover the whole thing?
Click to expand...
Not quite sure what you mean by this, but I'll try to cover both interpretations I have.

1. You can have them only coat one side, or both. Typically they will do both.
2. If there's one side of the panel that is already painted, they will likely run the piece through an acid bath or sandblast to get the old material off. Then they will coat.
 
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