Painting instead of T moulding

[ginno]

I have routered the edges of my cabinet to make them round as opposed to creating a slot to house T-Moulding.

I was wondering if anyone else has decided to take this approach and if so, what are the do's and dont's of masking and then painting the edges.

Should i paint the entire cabinet the base color (black) and then mask and paint over the edges with blue?

Or do i paint the edges first, mask over them and then paint the rest of the cabinet?

Or none of the above?

cheers,  ginno...

[Trimoor]

I painted the edges of my cab, but they are the same color as the rest of it.


Painter's rule dictates to always paint a darker color over a lighter color.  The darker color might show through if you paint the lighter color on top of it.

[the3eyedblindman]

if its black id make the whole thing black. How come you dont want to tmold? 

[Trimoor]

T-molding is expensive and time consuming to install.  It's a different look which some prefer.

[the3eyedblindman]

expensive? How much of it do you need? i payed like 24 bucks for 60 feet i think, not that bad.. Time consuming? You had to route out all of your edges, then mask them off, then paint them (this time also includes paint equipment cleaning) all you have to do is route 1 slot and pound in the moldin and your done.

[ginno]

I really want a different color around the sides of the cabinet so if it takes forever thats gonna b my problem.

[Witchboard]

I would paint the entire thing then mask the side and paint your edges.  Just seems less likely to rip your paint off your wood.  Speaking of which, what type of wood did you use?  MDF?  Plywood?

[Kremmit]

I know I saw at least one other cab where the guy did the same thing.  Haven't a clue where to look for it, but it has been done.  Looked fine.

[Arcadiac]

Another thing to consider: allow each coat of paint to dry completely and let the sides or whatever you are going to mask off "cure' for at least a couple of days so the paint won't rip off.  I got impatient when painting my cab and made some mistakes by not allowing time for proper drying/curing. 
Sounds like you have an interesting method going, how sharing about some progress pics?  Good Luck!  ARCADIAC!

[ginno]

Im using MDF, got a couple of good tips off the bloke at the hardware store about getting the finish to look good but it was a bit hard to explaing to him about the edges etc.

I think I will try to paint the whole thing, then mask the edges and do another light undercoat, followed by the blue.

Ill try it on the CP before i do the entire cabinet.

Is there a risk i can leave the masking tape on there too long that it could deteriorate and rip the paint ?

Thanks for the tips guys, ill try and get some concept & actual pics up to give you an idea of what i am trying to achieve.

Ill try and upload tonight...

Arcadiac did you mask the edges of your cabinet or was it for side art??

cheers ginno...

[Witchboard]

The Omega Race cabs didnt' have t-molding but were painted as well.  It will turn out fine.  Don't forget to pick up some of that MDF sealer so you don't have to use as much paint.

[ginno]

The cabs got 1 layer of MDF primer, the sand down and 2nd layer of primer will go on once the monitor is installed.   That should be soon... :S

Cheers, ginno...

[ginno]

Here is a pic of what i am trying to achieve (still a long way off)


Here is a pic of the bottom corner of the cabinet with the bevel i am looking to paint (undercoat # 1 on)



Ive just put up the beginning of my web site, very early stages not really worth a look yet, ill post it in the project announcements once it has a bit more content

http://users.bigpond.net.au/ginno/

Cheers ginno

[IMMark]

Im using MDF, got a couple of good tips off the bloke at the hardware store about getting the finish to look good but it was a bit hard to explaing to him about the edges etc.

I think I will try to paint the whole thing, then mask the edges and do another light undercoat, followed by the blue.

Ill try it on the CP before i do the entire cabinet.

Is there a risk i can leave the masking tape on there too long that it could deteriorate and rip the paint ?

Thanks for the tips guys, ill try and get some concept & actual pics up to give you an idea of what i am trying to achieve.

Ill try and upload tonight...

Arcadiac did you mask the edges of your cabinet or was it for side art??

cheers ginno...

As for leaving tape on too long, you should use painters tape (Blue), won't pull off paint or leave residue.  As for the whole concept of paint vs T-mold, I think that you will be fine.  Once completed, it would be hard to tell the difference from looking.  The T-mold is primarily for edge protection, however I assume that your machine is for home use, not likely to take the abuse of a commercial setting.  Like all things in Mame building, there are trade offs, and I am sure the purists would opt for T-mold, but there is nothing wrong with painting

[ginno]

Well guys went throught with the painting finally

Ignored most of your advice of course which cost me, still im quite happy with the results.

Ran into the following problems

- Used poor quality making tape so got bleeding
- Removed masking tape before paint cured resulting in some tearing

Managed to patch it up when painting the edges I hope (Haven't removed those masks yet...)



I masked the edges, did 2 top coats, removed the masking from the edges, remasked around the corners of the cabinet and then painted them blue.

If anyone is interested to see how it went go here

http://users.bigpond.net.au/ginno/

Then go to the FINISHED PRODUCT link

Thanks for you help all

Ginno...

[sodapopinski]

I think the t-mould may provide some protection to the cab as well. I work with mdf every day and large chunks can bust off like that.