Interior color

Update

Well, Ive been working pretty hard on this thing, when I have time. Ive sleeved the ps, that was the funnest three hours of my life. I cant wait till I never do that again . It is a pain in the *** to get that sleeving on without it unravelling and thats with the molex's off. After I got done with it it was well worth the time. I changed between black and pink just so the inside of the case woulndt be bombarded with one single color. The IDE's that Im putting in will be UV pink also.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/EdwardAune/DSC00787.jpg

Ive primed and baked most of the interior parts and finished cutting the rest of the pieces that still needed to be done. Ill shoot those later on this week. The back part of the case where I am putting the 60mm was cut out today. Besides it and the inside of the side panels I will be done with the black priming.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/EdwardAune/DSC00712.jpg Before
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/EdwardAune/DSC00786.jpg After

I did start on the exterior painting, I start with the bottom of the case (practice if you will, but not so much). I am VERY pleased with the outcome so far. I start off with two coats of primer, standard grey, and sanded between each application with 400 grit. Then after searching high and low I finally found a shade of pink that suited the misses, Ballet Slipper, cute huh .
I put two coats of that on with 600 grit after each of those. Then the fun part, the flames. I used a can of pearlesent paint to "ghost" in the flames. I drew a template that I wanted to use and basically filled in the lines. It came out way better than I imagined. I used about three coats to get the effect I wanted. All I need to do is lay down the clearcoat and Ill be done with that piece.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/EdwardAune/DSC00783.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/EdwardAune/DSC00782.jpg

This is a lot of work, but Im having a great time getting it done. Bit frustrating at times, but well worth it. I still have a lot of painting to go but it seems to be bumpin' along.

Pictures dont do the bottom the case (pink and flames) any justice. It looks great, a bit dull, but that'll be fixed as soon as I shoot some clear coat and apply the rubbing compound.

Ill keep ya posted....

Looking good man. Nice job on the sleeving, I don't have the patience for that kind of stuff.

Brundle Fly said:

Looking good man. Nice job on the sleeving, I don't have the patience for that kind of stuff.

Click to expand...

Thanks, its not for the faint of heart

those holes on the back are exquisite. Grade a work.

Wow edwardaune that looks great. Cant wait to see more pics as your working on it.

nice job so far man im glad you found some pink paint and pink UV sleeving.
your smart to practice on the bottem of the case. cant wait to see the final bootem with the clear coat.

nice clean holes for the 60mm's are you just going to leave the tiny holes? or cover them up with somthing?
mind you there so tiny it woudnt matter that much.

not to be a pain but just to let you know for ur next mod, try to cover the ends of the wires on the PSU with heatshrink pretty good job though.

now to wait for you to stop liffing those dumbells on the floor and start paining like mad!

What do you use to remove the molex? i use a needle, needless to say it's not as easy as it sounds, i stop after i pulled out 2 molex (that's 8 pins) too hard IMO, any other tool that can do the job? (i wasn't sleeving i just need it to fit through a small hole lol) and how do you remember the where the wire goes? i always forget, i had to draw the thing out before i remove the pins.

use tape and write on the tap (tape goes on wires)
a PIN AHAHAHAHand just for a hole.....
you can buy a tool to remove them thats the best way...or a small screw driver but the tool will save you so much time even the screw driver is slow.
so ya buy the tool

I used a molex remover.

you guys convinced me, i bought the molex extrator (8 bucks) and a sleeving kit lol it was worth it anyways, the i bought the XP90 for 30 bucks, so i might as well add some of the accessories to save on the shipping money.

nice its always good to cover and clean wires (i use electrical tape PM meif you want to seepics i dont wana steal this alsome thread)

.... im just waiting to see this thing again its going to look so good.....
(mabey i should mod my mom pc....)

Just a word to the wise. If you are painting in a color thats not readily available, make sure you purchase enough of it to finish your project. Ill be damned, I bought all of Krylons "Ballet Slipper" in town, and I dont live in a very small town. Wally World is the ONLY place it can be found. They say their getting a truck tonight, but what do you think the chances are that they are getting Ballet Slipper in. All I have to shoot is the final coat on the face piece of the case, THATS IT. Man this sux. Anyways boys and girls, remember the addage, measure twice cut once. Its hard to tell how much product your going to need till you get done. Thanks for letting me vent. Pics to come shortly.

sounds good (hope you get what your looking for)
cuz i cant wait for the pics

Anybody familiar with sanding the clear coat and then applying rubbing compound, would you please tell me the technique that you use. I have painted and sand the bottom of my case three times because the results that I have gotten have been way less than acceptable. What Ive been doing is priming, painting, then clearcoat (sanding between each coat of prime, paint, ect.). Well after I finish shooting the clear I let it stand for a couple of days I then sand with 1000 and then 1500. I have purchased rubbing compound, and boy, did that do a job to the paint job. I personally think its too abrasive, then again, maybe I didnt wait long enough for the clear to dry. Then I bought some polishing compound and that didnt produce the "mirror" effect that I am going for. Do I need to let the clear set for longer that two days, or should I not sand the clear at all then apply rubbing or polishing compound. I dunno, but I sure am tired of sanding this damn piece or anything at this point. I am about to the point of just leaving the clear on there by itself, I just dont like the orange peel that it leaves and on top of that Ive put a lot of work in the early stages of painting to get it to this point. Help pls.

I just use some 1000 grit paper (wet, very little pressure) then dry it off and follow it with scratch remover compound (liquid in a bottle).
It's much much finer than rubbing compound and using my buffer I even put a shine on a primer finish when I color sanded my paint way too thin once.
You can use hand buffing with it as well, but I was doing my whole truck after repainting the hood...black primer, black paint.

Look for the words "clearcoat safe" on the bottle.

In my mind, regular buffing compound has been replaced by the super fine grits of paper widely available these days. I only use it to buff chrome bumpers and hubcaps.

I went with white for my pc in my sig.

Diggrr are you saying you just use very fine wetsand paper with the scratch remover?
it does a better job than buffing?

why clearcoat safe? that means when you applie the scratch remover ontop of the clearcoat then itwont wreatthe clear coat right?

did you just use one layer of clear coat?
i just dont see how you would sand theclearcoat and it would still look good.

but very interesting Diggrr

Diggrr said:

I just use some 1000 grit paper (wet, very little pressure) then dry it off and follow it with scratch remover compound (liquid in a bottle).
It's much much finer than rubbing compound and using my buffer I even put a shine on a primer finish when I color sanded my paint way too thin once.
You can use hand buffing with it as well, but I was doing my whole truck after repainting the hood...black primer, black paint.

Look for the words "clearcoat safe" on the bottle.

In my mind, regular buffing compound has been replaced by the super fine grits of paper widely available these days. I only use it to buff chrome bumpers and hubcaps.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I WAS using a paste. Way to abrasive in hindsight. I have one more piece to put flames on and then clear it, Ill think about if I want to try buffing it again. Im going to give all my pieces enough time to dry and then we'll see. Thanks for the info.

syberspy9 said:

Diggrr are you saying you just use very fine wetsand paper with the scratch remover?
it does a better job than buffing?

why clearcoat safe? that means when you applie the scratch remover ontop of the clearcoat then itwont wreatthe clear coat right?

did you just use one layer of clear coat?
i just dont see how you would sand theclearcoat and it would still look good.

but very interesting Diggrr

Click to expand...

It does a top-notch job like those finishes you see on show cars.
To explain the "clearcoat safe" part...When you use a very fine paper like 1000 grit or 1500, it basically smooths out the surface, taking down the tiny peaks of paint to match the valleys. It leaves a dull shine behind, enough to see your reflection but not enough to "count yer teeth". So the polish is a superfine abrasive that finishes up the job by removing the sanding marks.
It is buffing but just using polishing compound instead of a buffing compound.
The polish is made for using on your car that's already painted well, but has scratches from washing waxing and life in general. That's the clearcoat safe part...buffing compound is meant to do what fine grit sanding has replaced (again, IMHO).
Remeber too that you're working with soft paint (even if you're baking it). Detailing is working on paint that's finished curing to rock hard years ago.

By the way, I'd only do this with at least 2-3 coats of clear. If it's too thin then you still run a risk of sanding/polishing through.

I've seen buffing compound used by body shops to remove decals and striping, and the result is somewhat hazy, still requiring a polish.

edwardaune, no problem dude. I had to learn by trial and error...never ever again will I buy a jet black truck.

Diggrr said:

It does a top-notch job like those finishes you see on show cars.
To explain the "clearcoat safe" part...When you use a very fine paper like 1000 grit or 1500, it basically smooths out the surface, taking down the tiny peaks of paint to match the valleys. It leaves a dull shine behind, enough to see your reflection but not enough to "count yer teeth". So the polish is a superfine abrasive that finishes up the job by removing the sanding marks.
It is buffing but just using polishing compound instead of a buffing compound.
The polish is made for using on your car that's already painted well, but has scratches from washing waxing and life in general. That's the clearcoat safe part...buffing compound is meant to do what fine grit sanding has replaced (again, IMHO).
Remeber too that you're working with soft paint (even if you're baking it). Detailing is working on paint that's finished curing to rock hard years ago.

By the way, I'd only do this with at least 2-3 coats of clear. If it's too thin then you still run a risk of sanding/polishing through.

I've seen buffing compound used by body shops to remove decals and striping, and the result is somewhat hazy, still requiring a polish.

edwardaune, no problem dude. I had to learn by trial and error...never ever again will I buy a jet black truck.

Click to expand...

Looks like you've been "volunteered" as the resident paint expert, congrats.

That being said, no intention of a thread-jack here, but I have another question concerning the sanding/clearcoating. We're painting a mural on the side of #2 son's case, the case has been painted, but not wet sanded yet. Should we wet sand the case, then paint the mural, then wetsand the mural before the clearcoat? I'm concerned that if we wetsand the base coat, paint the mural, then wetsand the mural, we'll accidentally take off some of the base coat around the mural.

So, I figure my options are:
1) wetsand sand the mural and case as one, knowing the mural will be hand painted, and although it will be painted in enamel(same as the case), it will be painted with model paints, which may not be as "hard" as the rattle can Dupli-colour.
2) partially wetsand the case, paint the mural, then finish the full sanding.
3) wetsand the case, clearcoat it, wetsand the clearcoat, paint the mural, wetsand, then a final clearcoat over everything, wetsand it all and buff.

Option #3 sounds the safest in my book, I'm not treally worried about the cost, I know I'll be blowing a lot of paint and bucks that way, but I want it to be done right. We've already sanded off the first paint job on the case, and then did it right. We're ready for the mural, and I really don't want this step screwed up, Josh is going to get more than a wee bit depressed if he has to sand down his case one more time. I feel sorry for the kid, but it's giving his biceps a good workout, heh.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Like everyone else, seems the paint is the final stumbling block, I want to get it right the first time.