Paint Color Problems

[ginno]

Hi all.

Trying to be cost effective with my cabinet I decided to buy my paint for my cabinet from the seconds pile @ Home Hardware

At the store these was a black spot painted on the top of the tin and when I opened it was black so I bought it.

[paigeoliver]

I bought a smallish $5 can of black paint 2 years ago and I have now painted 3 cabinets with it (multiple coats) an I still have almost half of it left. So I suggest just buying some black paint, you don't need the 1 gallon can.

Also, that color brown actually looks pretty decent on a game, I used to have a Pac-Man cabinet that had been painted that color.

[daywane]

are you saying balck is a rare paint?
were do you live?
wal mart, and home depot, and lowes have black here in KY

[DrewKaree]

Well, he calls a paint can a "tin", so I'm guessing he's from another part of the world.  They probably don't have as many angst-ridden teenagers wishing to paint their bedrooms black over there

[ginno]

paigeoliver: how big is the CAN you bought?

daywane: I'm saying finding black paint in seconds is rare because no one ever returns black paint to the store.

DrewKaree: There is actually some truth to your statement, I'm from Australia and once you turn 12 it is compulsory to join a life deveopment camp whereby you are sent to the outback for the majourity of your teenage life to learn how to ride kangaroos etc..
So you are correct in saying we don't have as many teenagers wanting to paint their bedrooms black.

[Silhouette]

That color would look pretty classy with gold or brass t-molding trimming it.

[ginno]

The color is ok however i have already designed a blue black and silver theme so unfortuantly the brown will not do in this case.

I think ill have to bite the bullet and go buy a new can of black

[ginno]

Painted the cabinet over the weekend,

Went and bought a color called Domino 1 litre can from Dulux, cost me 30 bucks and it is basically all gone. Oh well.

Here is a pic of the cabinet with the brown color i got cheap, used it as the first top coat then went over it with 2 coats of Domino.



Here u can still see the brown on the inside of the cabinet



Go to http://users.bigpond.net.au/ginno/ then click on the FINISHED PRODUCTS link to see some more pics

Thanks for your help guys

Ginno...

[DrewKaree]

Man, you can TOTALLY tell the difference, and I gotta agree with you, that color woulda looked like ass with your proposed theme....heck, even just by itself....that's not a pretty color, that brown!

One thing I might have done, mebbe you can go back and do it if you're a careful painter, would be to remove that tape (that is painter's tape, yes?) and paint the edges black as well.  At least cut in a bit so that wherever your t-molding slot isn't dead-on balls-accurate it won't stick out like a sore thumb, that unfinished stuff underneath it.  I'm betting you'll see what I mean soon enough, but mebbe use a piece of scrap to test it out and see what I'm talking about.

Looks VERY good, thus far.

[ginno]

Thanks for the compliments

As for the edging i have posted in another topic called

Painting Instead of T-moulding,

The corners of the cabinet have been routered so I have masked and painted the edges blue (You can see the blue in the above picture, the white is the surronding painters tape)

The big test will be when i remove this tape and see just how nice a finish i have between the 2 colors

CHeers ginno...

[elvis]

About 2 years ago I bought a 4L tin of Taubmans black gloss acrylic paint from Bunnings.  It cost around AU$70, and so far has done 2 cabinets, and I'm not even half way through it.  Obviously more expensive than your cheapy interior stuff, but worth it for the durability.

It's 85% gloss, and dries like hard plastic.  Very scratch resistant once fully dry.  The only bummer is it's turps cleanup, which means after 2 coats you probably want to chuck your rollers out rather than waste time/effort/money trying to clean them and reuse them.  Also, you'll need some decent fine weave or mohair rollers to really get the best finish from gloss paint.  Cheapy synthetic stuff will leave bubbles and/or fluff in the paint, which looks bloody awful.

[ginno]

The Dulux Weather shield 1 Litre tin I bought is apparently 'Hard Wearing' so we shall see how it goes. 

If I wanted a higher sheen finish i had to go with an oil base like the one you speak of, that was going to be even more expensive.

I bought a mohair roller but never got a perfect smooth finish which dosen't bother me too much as it will not show smudges and fingerprints etc as badly (i think)

Cheers ginno...

[elvis]

Yup, all the Dulux Weather Sheild stuff is tough.  It's exterior paint, so it'll take a beating without fading or chipping, and is especially recommended for tabletops if you've got mates drinking around them, or resting beers on them.

Mohair will give you an ever so slight texture to your cab.  If you want perfect mirror finish, then you've got no choice but to invest in a spray unit.  You can get airless spray units which make cleanup a heck of a lot easier, and give you less splatter.  Pressurised air units are far easier for large surfaces, however.

Also, if a mirror finish is your goal, then you need to do a hell of a lot of sanding in between coats.  Either that, or get your initial surface nice and smooth to start with, and head for two pac.  Of course, that stuff is pretty damned expensive, but gives a superb finish.

It's pretty easy to go overboard on your paint job.  Cost wise you can spend anything from $20 to $200 easily for a variety of finish qualities.  It all depends on how much you care about the finish, and what your budget is.

[paigeoliver]

Is paint really expensive in Australia or something? I can't ever recall spending more than $10 US on a medium sized can of paint. I have a black can (almost out now, just did ANOTHER machine with it), and a red can that have really been lasting me a long time.

[elvis]

EVERYTHING is expensive in Australia.  Low population densities plague us in every single retail field you could think of.  Not to mention the fact that our tax system totally sucks, which adds to the problem.

You American and European folk have it lucky when it comes to getting your day-to-day materials cheap.  We on the other hand have buckets of empty land at half the price you'd pay for it.  Pity it costs us twice as much to build a house on said land. 

[DrewKaree]

I'll trade you several buckets o land for a can of black paint

[elvis]

I'll trade you several buckets o land for a can of black paint

I only accept paint in tins, sorry mate. 

[DrewKaree]

Of all the blasted luck!

Well, let me finish off a few sardines then.  I'll get those tins in the mail forthwith, posthaste, or whatever means real quick-like.

That smell will go away after the paint dries.......maybe

[ginno]

Hey elvis just checked out your site,

Your finish looks to be alot nicer than mine will be, im a bit disappointed with mine after

Sand
Primer
Sand
Primer
Sand
Top coat Brown
Top coat Black
Top coat Black

i was hoping it would turn out a bit better

i think i stuffed up with the first top coat, the paint dried sligtly towards the top of the cab as i was painting the bottom 1/2 so as i rolled over it again to blend it in i think it became rough.



For example in this pic u can see the 'Roughness' in the top right corner of the pic

Anyone got any idea how long i should let the paint 'cure' before i remove the masking from the edges to avoid tearing this time?

[paigeoliver]

I dunno, but whenever I paint a cabinet I usually add colored t-molding, the colored molding stands out and makes the paint just kind of blend into the background.

[elvis]

Hey elvis just checked out your site,

Your finish looks to be alot nicer than mine will be, im a bit disappointed with mine after

Sand
Primer
Sand
Primer
Sand
Top coat Brown
Top coat Black
Top coat Black

i was hoping it would turn out a bit better

i think i stuffed up with the first top coat, the paint dried sligtly towards the top of the cab as i was painting the bottom 1/2 so as i rolled over it again to blend it in i think it became rough.

For example in this pic u can see the 'Roughness' in the top right corner of the pic

Anyone got any idea how long i should let the paint 'cure' before i remove the masking from the edges to avoid tearing this time?

My finish is thanks to the 85% gloss acrylic paint.  That stuff dries like a thin layer of hard plastic.  The best you'll get from a water-based paint will be 50-80% gloss, depending on the stuff used.

As for curing and tape removal: I usually wait double the time recommended on the tin for full dry.  Even more if the weather is cold/wet (which isn't often here in Brisbane ), or if I'm using a turps-based paint.

Then I gently cut along the tape edge with a very sharp stanley knife (not too deep, as you don't want to cut a bloody great gouge in the cabinet).  From there, gently pull back the tape, ensuring the paint splits nice and evenly along your cut line.

[DrewKaree]

If you use tape, you shouldn't wait until the paint dries to remove the tape.  It's kinda like if you covered it with glue.  It's all "connected", so to speak.  Removing the tape after the paint has dried requires more work to get it to come off without tearing off or ruining the edge you were trying to maintain.

Usually you can remove the tape fairly quickly with no adverse affects.  I say usually, because if the paint doesn't set up at least a LITTLE, it may run a touch and ruin your edge.  Painting rooms, I usually paint a wall, and when done with that wall, remove the tape from any windows or door frames.  When I'm completely done with the room, I remove the tape from all the rest of the trim.

[ginno]

Well my paint has been left to cure for a week so it looks like i may have to go with elvis's idea of running the knife along the masked edge first

My first masking job i got stretching and slight tearing because the paint was not yet cured but it was dry

Ill attempt to remove the masks from the top of the cabinet first without scoring the edges to see how that goes.

The masks come off tomorrow so ill let you all know how it went...

[elvis]

To make the knife cut easier, use a long ruler, or a nice straight piece of timber as your guide rather than doing it by hand/eye.