[almondboy72]

im still scared i migh like deep scratch it

[StinkNBreff]

Vinyl dye is teh only way to get your drive faces and empty panels to match up . Also since one would constantly be touching drives , the dye does not wear but soaks into teh plastics ; where paint will never do the same , wear , chip and/or flake off !!

[Papsomax]

I recently went to a blue acrylic case and I spray painted my hdd, floppy and cd(crd, etc) black. I used Krylon black spray paint for high heet areas such as grills. I covered all connection slots, etc with tape and they all works fine. Fold for a cure! Hooah!!

1. XP 2500 (187x12.5) 2. XP 2200 (140x13.5) 3. P4 1.7 (OEM) 4. P4 1.8 (OEM) 5. Dually in process

[DarkHawk]

Originally posted by RoadWarrior
Hey peeps, got a suggestion, RC car racers use a Lexan based paint that actually bonds to the body shell, just thinking that that might be really nicec for drive and faceplate painting because it will bond to the plastic and not tend to chip off, or scratch easily back through to the white.

Should be available from hobby stores.

regards,

Road Warrior

Though a note worthy suggestion there is one problem, that paint works sorta backwords. It's intended to be viewed through the body from the underside, so if you flip over the body and look at the paint by itself and not trough a clear plastic its not very good looking, not to mention most of the best RC car paints are 2 step with a a base and a top coat, though they are painted in reverse with the candy coat on first then the backing.

I was looking at my RC car body as I said this. I need to get that monster fixed! 55 mph and 1/10th scale = approx 550 scale mph, HOLY FAST CAR!

[tbones1337]

I dont reccomend the method i went.

Back in my old case. It was a soyo beige. So i spray painted it all black. Even my CD-RW, i didnt have the DVD then. Opened the CD and sprayed a the tray up to about an inch in, when it was out. Then closed it.. and sprayed the front. It still works.. But i dont reccomend doing it.

Back then i didnt know fully what i was going to do to the drive, that case is long gone.. Now its in my raidmax.. Which i didnt have to paint.. Yet. since i can spray just the metal and take off the acryllic on the front.

http://www.visionperk.net/callmetbone.jpg

[captain_sHiFTy]

would you be able to use this kind of method for painting a monitor too? im thinking about repainting my case (too cheap to buy a new one :P ), but i dont really wanna paint it if i cant make my mouse/keyboard/monitor match (yes i am THAT vain).

is it possible to take the shell off those things without damagingi them so yo ucan paint?

[Yamiyanazz]

Originally posted by CrystalMethod



Another thing you can do is to take and exacto-knife and very carefully scrape the paint off raised symbols and letters.

Sounds like wat too much work...I'll stick with sharpies.

[SewerBeing]

sharpies work very nicely when coloring the drive face-plates, they are cheap. Its easy to do, no need to remove everything, and it looks great. Oh yeah no need for sand paper.

[DeAtH07]

Great Great Great guide, im am giong to do it when i get my new drives. wOot

[Tnick24]

just did my dvd, cdrw and rec cd drive. also i did my flopy, which was a bit harder. but now they look sweet.

[dead_man311]

Very Nice , i just pulled the face plate off mine the other day and tooks some black spray paint to them , lol i was lazy

[syberspy9]

ya nice but i just grabed some black stove paint taped up my cd drives with them closed stuffed cotten in the headphone hole and sprayed them (can virtical) mabey 6 thin layers then it was done (stove paint works soooooooooooooooo good i mean sooooooooo good

[Prot]

I am thinking of getting some of those paint markers from Hobby Lobby. It seems like that would be less work for painting drive face plates. They could also be used to draw designs on the case itself.

[BPM]

Not a great picture, but the 2 drives up top were originally beige. I used the Krylon Fusion paint and was very impressed. The only surface prep I did was to thoroughly clean the surface.

I could not remove the bezel for one of my drives, so heres what I did:
-(very carefully) Put masking tape over the volume dial to protect it from getting glued stuck with the paint.
-Used a toothpick to plug the emergency disk-release hole.
-Cover the drive LED with a tiny piece of masking tape.

[wildbilly2k]

Originally Posted by BPM

I could not remove the bezel for one of my drives, so heres what I did:
-(very carefully) Put masking tape over the volume dial to protect it from getting glued stuck with the paint.
-Used a toothpick to plug the emergency disk-release hole.
-Cover the drive LED with a tiny piece of masking tape.

Does that drive's front cover stick to the tray when it comes out?

[BPM]

Originally Posted by wildbilly2k

Does that drive's front cover stick to the tray when it comes out?

Ahhh yes, forgot to mention how I prevented that.

This thought crossed my mind before painting, so I tore a strip of paper and placed it in the slot between the tray and the bezel. This kept the paint from getting in the cracks.

[2FastFX]

I have disassembled a few CD-ROM drives, and removing the faces on them can sometimes be tricky. Lite-On is one that had me stumped for a few minutes. The cover over the CD slot is attached to the tray and doesn't fold open like some drives do. It appears to be permanently attached to the tray, but it isn't. If you slide this cover straight up it comes right off.

A word of advice... If you're building a new system and know you are going to mod the case try to pick out drives that are black. The buttons will be the same color as the face and will go with whatever paint scheme you decide. And the black never wears off since the buttons are solid black plastic. Silver works good too if your case has any chrome or silver trim anywhere on it, but sometimes the silver drives are just white plastic painted silver, and the buttons are painted on these too. Ever seen an old car stereo when the paint starts wearing off the buttons? =)

[RedScare]

Originally Posted by alinosa

FYI: testors model spray paint works great because it coats thin with good color coverage. and... 1246 (silver) matches the silver color on chieftec cases to a tee. my drives look like they were painted by chieftec.

GREAT advice. i went out and got some Testors 1246 a couple of days ago. i primed my drive with Krylon Fusion (white) and then painted with the Testors. and the drive matches my Lian Li PC-60 exactly. easy as pie and a perfect match. ill post a picture later when i have my system all set up.

[firebat45]

has anyone tried the adhesive metal on a whole case? how big strips can you get? is it possible to join them on the side of your case without leaving a visible seam.

(bet nobody can guess what i'm thinking of doing )

[orionlion82]

I
Am Ghetto.

i just pulled out the whole drive, ( actually, a cd-rom drive and a 1.44) stood it up in the basement and attacked it with cheap spraypaint.
not a perfect match, but its fine for me. Caution: would consider this the ultra-barebones version for that spare drive that you probably wont use anyway.
yeah, i got paint in the headphone jack, but who uses them? ( at least i never knew what to do with the things, used one once in like '95...)
that being said, i am at a loss to explain how the paint stuck to the plasitc,
or how i diddnt cause problems getting paint where it shouldnt be ( get things stuck, drip in there whatever.) -
thats the ghetto way i guess...probably as cheap as it gets if youre lucky.