Question on painting a cab

[badgerjohn]

Hi all,

nearly done my cab and now at the point of decoding on finishing touches. I know laminate is the method of choice on cabs however as this is my first (I can picture it lasting 6mths then me selling it to build a new improved version now that I have caught the bug!) I've decided on painting this one. Going for a glossy black finish

Wondering for those of you who have painted your cabs, what type of paint works/worked best for you?

P.S. - not sure if this was for general forum or artwork!

[milkit]

i always use behr premium SATIN black with a 1/4" roller over killz primer

[HaRuMaN]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=87756.0

Check out javeryh's piano finish

[kronic24601]

Glossy black finish? Let me tell you. I had this exact same idea as well originally. I thought hey ... it won't be that hard right?  WRONG! Now granted, I'm not all that great at painting, but I used the guns, sand-able primer, etc.. thought it would all work out. This was and has been the biggest pain in the butt for me. If I could go back in time I would smack myself in the face and tell myself to use the Vinyl wrap. It can be cheaper, and much much easier. http://www.happ.com/vending/acesor/49057200.htm

Seriously, the primer/ paint I used to get that "gloss" finish (that I'm not getting) turned out to only be a little cheaper. Then I had to upgrade my spray gun, mess up the paint like 30 times, sand down, bondo, mess up the paint, sand, bondo ... you get the idea. This is one painful way to learn how to paint, but seriously ... you should consider the Vinyl ...

[CheffoJeffo]

Decent quality oil-based paint, patience and elbow-grease (sand, sand, sand, sand).

Here in Canada there is a true-black base available from Benjamin Moore that works well.

[gryhnd]

My upright, whose finish I had to finish in a hurry, was automotive primer over MDF, lightly sanded, then sprayed with Rustoleum Gloss Black Enamel (spray cans, not using a spray gun),two coats I think.  Maybe three.

Piano finish? Hardly. However it came our far better than I would have imagined. Some more attention paid to sanding and I bet it would have improved quite a bit.

[tommyinajar]

After painting materials, durability and time spent plus the results I got, I doubt I'd ever do anything but laminate on something I planned to keep.

[Hewskie]

Decent quality oil-based paint, patience and elbow-grease (sand, sand, sand, sand).

Here in Canada there is a true-black base available from Benjamin Moore that works well.

I used that exact paint and it turned out like this:



The bezel around the monitor is plexi but the rest is oil based paint from Benjamin Moore. I think this was only 2 coats. I got  impatient and decided to just finish it, I really should have done at least 1 more coat possibly 2. It looks pretty good but there's a finger print or 2 that bug the hell out of me and I should have fixed while it was still unfinished in the garage.

Good luck with whatever you choose, on my next build I'll probably go with laminate.

Hewskie

Hewskie

[TheGameFan]

As has been said, oil based and sanding. I really don't think the rest matters.
For automobiles, the main reason to use a good paint is durability (spray can jobs don't last long in the weather), but for an arcade machine that will remain inside, any oil based paint will last a very long time.

Five years ago I painted a PC case with krylon primer, purple paint (5 coats), and clear (5 coats). I sanded between each coat up to about 1000 grit on the final coats. It came out to a mirror finish and still looks that way (even though it's collecting dust in my garage now).

I've been using rolled on Rustolum on my cab and so far it seems to have the exact same results, though I'm not really going for a mirror finish on this one. I'll probably just use about 3 coats of paint with no clear.

The main key is just multiple thin coats of paint and tons of sanding.