Hand-painted Enclosures

[irmcdermott]

Hey guys and gals,

I'm pumped because after hanging out with a great friend, and former band mate, who just recently moved down to Nashville, he told me he would totally be into hand painting some enclosures for me. I really dig his artwork, so I'm pretty stoked. My question is, do any of you paint your own, and if so, what types of paints do you use?

I saw on Catalinbread's Custom Shop page, that in the pictures the girl that paints his just uses good ole' Testors paints that I used on the countless model cars that I built growing up. Just looking for some tips and advice on that so i can get him started on the enclosure for my Cherrybomb, or whatever the name will turn into once he paints the enclosure. Thanks everyone!

Ian

[Myramyd]

Hey,

I've used both Testors (or other model paint that works on metal--I've seen some designed for model trains that works well) and fine art acrylics on enclosures. I believe you could use oil paint as well. I have never primed it beforehand but, it would help if he uses any non-opaque colors. He could try using some gesso on it if he is an actual artist.

Once the paint is on, he would want to put some clear coats on it. Which one would depend on the type of paint he ends up using. Not usually a good idea to use an acrylic-based clear coat over oils for example but some are designed to work with it.

Bottom line, the metal enclosures seem to take about any kind of paint well from my experience. The clear coat will be a must to protect it, as the paint will scrape off very easily without it.

J

[jkokura]

The most important thing you do when hand painting is enclosure prep!

Make SURE you sand it really well with rough to smoother grains, say 120-400. Some times I start with 120, go to 240, then 400, then 800, then 1000 if I want a really nice enclosure.

Then a really good cleaning is important. Use acetone and paper towel until the paper towel comes off clean. You can also use denatured Alcohol as well (Rubbing Alcohol). It's cheaper and more readily found.

It may also be good to look at getting a can of etching primer as well. It's pretty good stuff, and allows your paint to adhere better. It goes on dark grey, and is easily covered over. I usually do two light coats of it, but you could do just one if you want to save.

Jacob

[CRBMoA]

I run steel wool over all of my enclosures, and depending on how sharp the edges are, I will also run fine sandpaper over the edges of the enclosure and bottom, because I have learned that paint does not like sharp edges.

Then one good coat of flat gray primer. Paint as desired. I do everything with spray paint. Click HERE to see how I have developed that ability to manipulate spray paint.

I prefer to drill BEFORE I paint, because drilling can chip your paint if you are not careful.

'Careful' means let the paint dry, tape the enclosure, center punch and then drill.

[eniacmike]

I guess I am just lazy. I get the 4site enclosures and they come primed and I have never had a problem as long as I use quality spray paint. Every once and a while there will be a rough corner or something and I go over it with some sand paper.

http://www.harborfreight.com/pack-of-10-coarse-grade-aluminum-oxide-sanding-sponges-46751.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/pack-of-10-fine-grade-aluminum-oxide-sanding-sponges-46753.html

[irmcdermott]

cool. thanks for all the feedback everybody!