how many coats of paint is enough on the back of my plexi for cp

[struby]

I'm painting the back of my 48 inch wide cp plexiglass black, I'm impatient, how many coats is enough?  I'd like to start putting my buttons in asap, and the paint says like whatever hours to touch    5-9 to handle and 24 to fully dry, it's rustoleum gloss black

[Jeff AMN]

I don't have an exact number for you, but my general rule is two coats more than you feel like doing or than what you think looks good enough.

I put like 5 coats on my control panel box.

[struby]

well I feel like 0 coats is enough , so 2?  is it possible to think negative coats are enough, it looks like i'm just gonna have to start wiring tomorrow night, how long do i have to wait to put on another coat and another, like what's the wait in between coats

[javeryh]

If you are sanding between coats I recommend waiting at least 24 hours before putting on another coat otherwise your sandpaper will gum up and layers of paint will come off.  Otherwise, I'd say 4-6 hours is enough time to recoat.  I'm planning on 4 top coats of paint after 3 coats of primer on my cabinet for what it's worth...

[struby]

is it good to sand your coats on  plexi? or necessary,  i think i'm gonna go with as many coats as i can get on today/tonight before i go back to school.

[javeryh]

Is the top layer of paint going to be visible on the plexi or are you painting some plexi and turning it upsidedown so the unpainted surface faces up?  If you are doing the latter then I'd imagine one coat of paint is enough because all you want to do is make sure no light gets through (the smoothness of your paint job would be hidden, right?).

[struby]

ah best thing i read all day, correct, the underside gets painted, so maybe one more coat tonight, then i'll do my wiring and button putting in tomorrow etc and i'll be good to go

[FrizzleFried]

ah best thing i read all day, correct, the underside gets painted, so maybe one more coat tonight, then i'll do my wiring and button putting in tomorrow etc and i'll be good to go

I've always busted out two coats...cuz the one time I did 1 coat,  a small area of the CP was slightly visible through (of course the pain was blue and the CP under was black).

[NoOne=NBA=]

For anybody else considering this, you can buy black plexi at most plastic stores.

[struby]

it comes out fantastic, and I don't think it really has the same look black plexi would, here's what happened, I put one coat on, got impatient, put a second coat on before the first coat dried and the second coat ???krinkled??? in spots, I dunno the word for that, but I don't think it will show through, and I sprayed over another coat like 3 hours later and went over the krinkled spots and almost did another coat, but I ran out of paint, so I think, though messy on the bottom, the top will still look fine.

[bfauska]

No need to be dainty when painting the backside of clear plexi.  I did two even but thick coats on my CP and it looks great if you ask me.  Think about all the non-artists that paint signs in their store windows and how clean they look from the outside compared to the inside, same thing, coverage is about all that matters, the finish is going to be even and smooth as long as it's opaque.

 

I'm going to paint the clear one tonight.  I thought about leaving it  clear but then I would want to make the inside of the box look cool and make the wires real clean, which I figure would need soldering and I don't like that kind of commitment.