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Painting MDF and plywood - questions

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MameMe:
I drilled from the outside and filled with putty, and YES some spots where I didn't sand perfectly came out a little "Rough" and bumpy.  I don't think it will be a huge deal for me personally because side art will eventually cover most of it.

All in all it doesn't look like crap, its just rough to the touch in a few bad spots where I must have gotten carried away with the sanding.

rdagger:
Here's another vote for water-based primer and latex paint.  I sprayed Glidden Gripper water based primer onto 5/8" MDF.  There was no swelling and I only needed 1 coat of primer.  They I sprayed 3 coats of satin black.  Next is a clear coat.  It's been about 2 weeks and everything looks great.

greywolf22:
I actually replaced a number of screws in my cabinet (since the one's that were there stuck out and did NOT look good at all), counter-sunk them, wood puttied over them, sanded, primered, sanded, painted..etc.  And it is very difficult to tell where the screws are...granted I have a large number of coats of paint on my cabinet (very long story), but if you sand the wood putty down to be fairly flush with the cabinet it should be very difficult to see.  Not sure if that answers the question or not though.

Darkstalker:
Lifted from this website (http://www.howelumber.com/paint.latexoil.htm):

OIL: Oil based paints, also known as "alkyd" paints, are generally thought of as a more penetrating paint. The oils that the paint uses tend to go deeper into the pores of the surface you paint, and bond at a deeper level. The down side is that they can yellow over the years, and that in order to clean it up, you need to have paint thinner, turpentine, or other mineral spirits at hand. And just because oils penetrate deeper into the substrate (i.e. into the wood or whatever), it does not mean that an alkyd paint will never peel. Most paints will peel if water gets under them, or from weathering through time.

LATEX: Latex based paints bond to the surface, and so are useful for a number of applications. They provide a good seal at the surface, and maintain their color well through time, without the yellowing alkyd paints are known to have. They clean up with water, and dry in a relatively short amount of time. These are the main reasons so many people have opted to use latex paints, especially inside their homes.

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My advice:  Fill in any holes with putty, get yourself a nice orbital sander (NOT a belt sander) with a medium to light grit paper to smooth it all out, then stick with the latex paint.  Oil looks nicer once it's done, but it's a pain to clean it up.  I've never painted on MDF, but I've never had a problem with water absorption using Latex paint, so I see no reason to primer since the cabinet is (I assume) indoor use only.

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