painting my cabinet...few questions

[severdhed]

first of all, here is the cabinet in question...


i need to tweak the button layout a little, so that means a new control panel.  the sides of teh cabinet are not exactly in great shape.  i dont know what this cabinet originally was, but there is clearly some vinyl side art that has been painted black.  during the process of customizing it, i touched up a few scrapes and scratches with some black paint.  however you can clearly see where these spots are since they paint i used has a different finish.

so, since it is nice out now, i figured i'd gut the cabinet, take it outside, sand it a little and put a few coats of paint on it.  I just dont know if i should just paint it black again, or maybe go with something a little more colorful.  i would also like to replace the black tmolding with a bright color...probably either blue or yellow....more than likely yellow, since black cabinets with blue molding seem to be so popular.   painting it black would be the easiest...but i cant help but think it might look good in blue.  i wouldn't have to stick with blue and yellow, but those just seem to be the best options to fit in with the marquee artwork. (plus i already have the blue and yellow buttons)

i'm not sure i want to do control panel artwork, i kinda like the plain, simple look.  if i paint the cabinet blue, should i leave the control panel black? or make it blue as well? 

i just need some advice...and maybe pics of non black cabinets that you may own. 

also, if i paint it something other than black, i am assuming it will take quite a few coats...what do i do? sand and then use a white primer?

[KapnKerfuffle]

Yes, use a primer.  And have the store tint the primer with your finish color.  Even if it is black.

[Malenko]

first of all, here is the cabinet in question...
[img]www.severdhed.com/images/arcade/zak-trackball.jpg/img]

-1 to your image link-fu

LOVE the marquee LIKE the chuck-e-cheese cup, lol

[garnerb350]

Have you thought about vinyl?

[javeryh]

I would strip the vinyl side art before repainting.  All you need to do is prime with a few coats and sand to 220 and then put on a couple of top coats (sanding in between).  Use a decent quality foam roller.  The key is keeping the coats thin and having a lot of patience.  Wait until each coat is fully dry before sanding and applying the next coat.  It probably takes a few days to do it right.

[fatfingers]

Yes, use a primer.  And have the store tint the primer with your finish color.  Even if it is black.

I have never understood the need to tint primer.  You're going to cover it up.  With probably three coats of paint.  It's not going to show through, especially if you're going to use a quality paint (which you should be doing).  In any case, it's not a big deal either way, but I just thought I'd mention that you don't have to tint the primer if you don't want.

[bkenobi]

That's true, tinting the primer is not required.  However, if you are using a white/light primer and you have a dark cabinet/painting project it will take more coats of paint to finish.  If you have a white primer and are using a light colored paint, then it will NEVER match the paint chip since the primer will bleed through.

My wife used a white primer in one room of our house and then painted it light blue.  After 4 coats, the paint is still not the same color as the chip because the primer was white.  Had we tinted the primer to be light blue (even a different shade), we could have finished with 1 or 2 coats of paint.  Oh, and the primer and paint were both good quality, so it's not the paint that was used, it's the non-tinted primer...

[fatfingers]

My highly technical and thought out reply is ...


bah


[And now back to the regular scheduled programming]

[garnerb350]

I agree with Jav & fat....

Patience, patience, patience is key....

Also 3 coats over one color primer or not...I've never understood.

I bought a brand of paint from Lowes...Valspar Duramax...the guy there told me that it was self priming...I did 2 coats, sand, coat, sand, coat...Im satified with that....

Are you still wanting to go with the "zak-man" scheme or try something totally different?

[severdhed]

heh...fixed the image link...i was in a hurry last night....

i want to keep the zakman marquee, that's why i was leaning towards blue and yellow.  i wasnt sure about the light colored primer...i just assumed that if i wanted to pain the cabinet blue or something, if i just painted blue over the black, it would be too dark.

[garnerb350]

Severd, take this lightly, but if i had your cab i would...

(looking at the photo)
Keep the buttons, but change out the player starts (make them blue or yellow, not black)

Painting the cab: you could stay with black , BUT if you are wanting something different than the others...stick with a pac-man theme...go yellow cab / blue t-mold or do the oppisite.

Control panel: I would overlay the cp with vinyl using the same as your marquee but without text...(that pac-maze)

Switch out the bat handles on the joysticks with ball tips...(red? maybe)....I would make it overall look like an overgrown pac-man cab...anybody, yound or old would spot it and know then and there, "Hey that an arcade"

Maybe also on the side place vinyl side art of the pac-maze with "Zak-Man" on it...(possibility)


When I was creating mine, I had the same issue of trying to create a theme that i thought would "complete" my cab...In the end I went with black. I have the x-arcade and I had to do something to blend that ugly X on the cp...So I went black, red, gray, white color scheme when i was creating my marquee.

But look at this also...do what makes you happy, both ways it seems to me that your kid is happy regardless of what color it is...(looking at photo)

[severdhed]

i plan on redoing the start buttons with novagems eventually, like the pause and exit buttons.  i just wasnt sure how i would like them, and at $5 each, i didnt want to buy a bunch of them and not like them.

i eventually want to do control panel artwork, but i'm just not 100% sold on the button layout yet, so until i find one that i am absolutely happy with, i wont do artwork...that stuff is expensive and i dont want to have to keep doing it.

i like the look of red balltops, and they are great for classic 4 way games, however i just can't stand playing fighting games on them, they just dont feel right. 

yellow sides with blue molding could look cool too....i have yet to run any of this by my wife yet...she may not be too keen on a giant bright yellow box in the family room.

thanks for teh suggestions guys...keep em coming