need painting suggestions

[theob42]

hey guys gonna finally start painting my cabinet. Ive read around that rollers
(specifically high density foam rollers) are much better than the old material kind. also using a paint sprayer is best but that a bit out of the bidget. ive picked up some of the foam rollers. the big question is what kind of paint!

i want a nice black paint finish, perhaps semi-gloss black or something like that. so finally to my questions.

I am painting 3/4 MDF. what kind of primer should i use? i read that its best to seal the mdf. some people used some primer + glue mix? I was thinking of maybe a black melamine paint. is that harder to work with, and would that require a different kind of primer? if not melamine then some other oil based paint or water based?? would water based paint not work well with the mdf? i've never painted anything before so wanna get it right the first time  

thanks in advance!

[Sardu]

I just painted mine with one coat of rustolium without primer. 

I wanted a matte finish though. It looks nice. 

[ghettodish]

For my first cab I rolled on fast-dry oil-based primer (tinted dark gray), sanded, then rolled on 2 coats of black oil-based paint (50/50 mix with thinner). I used foam rollers. It came out pretty good, with minimal orange peel. It smelled horrible and you have to work quickly. The paint dries to the touch after an hour or so, but it doesn't fully cure for weeks. On the plus side the finish should last me for years without problems.

My second cabinet was spray-primed with quick-dry primer from a few rattle-cans, sanded, the painted with 2 quarts of rolled-on Rustoleum. This was a fast, cheap way to go. The finish came out very nice (for being rolled on) and was done in 2 hours.

When using foam rollers make sure you saturate them very well with paint. If you don't you will end up with bubbles in your finish.

Before priming I filled all the screw holes with Crawford's (green can) spackle. Home Depot sells it. It is high-density and sands easily. Use 100 grit to knock it down, then use a dry rag to "sand" it smooth.

[Todd H]

A lot of people here swear by Kilz primer for MDF. Search for "kilz" and you'll see a good number of posts praising it.

[theob42]

thanks guys, ill look into it