Keyboard painting

[Nagoshi]

Im in the process of painting an old ergonomic no-name PS2 keyboard I have lying around. Its gonna be all black (so no more keys! lol blank typing will inprove my skills). I know I have a can of black Krylon paint lying around but I cant find it right now, all I have under the hand is a cheap airbrush kit I bought for $20 that came with a 30-minutes air can and acrylic spray paint in pouches... hard to explain, its a cheap acrylic airbrush kit lol. Is it going to make a good job on the keyboard? The Krylon paint I have is latex-based if I remember, is that gonna be good too?

Would I need to sand it down a bit, or prime it? I dont feel like sanding all those keys one by one, I wouldnt mind applying primer but it's gonna be another thing to buy.

I also bought a can of Rust-oleum Reflective Finish as a clear, I dont even know if it'S a real clear coat lol will it make a good job clearcoating the keyboard even if it's reflective? will it holds well?

I was also thinking about putting lights under the keys, but didn'T want to mess with all the ELWire mess it would cause, I found a guide on the net where they propose to paint the keyboard first, then you tape the whole bezel and only keep the aera where the keys goes open - you paint it your color, then once its dry you put some plastic over it and put all the keys at their place, paint them, once its dry you remove the plastic and replace the keys. I was going to use the same technique, but putting LEDs at some place over these areas to really make it stand out well. Would white LEDs make reflect a blue paint well, or blue LEDs should be used?

[nevermind1534]

You *should* get a plastic primer for it. You should also sand it down if you want it to be smooth.

[Drum Thumper]

White LEDs are going to show white--use blue ones. Ledshoppe.com has 100 packs for $8 or thereabouts.

And the cheapest resistors I've found are (surprisingly) at Radio Shack. $13 for a 500 pk.

[Nagoshi]

Here in Canada, Radioshack has been bought by The source by CC, it now totally sucks. They sells like 4 standard LEDs of different colors for $2, no thanks... I dont need 100 leds ^^' but Ledshoppe.com right? Im gonna look into that - thanks!

Plastic primer, eh? Im gonna look for that. I would sand it down, but it would be quite time consuming, each of those keys...

[nevermind1534]

Or you could use the Krylon for plastics. Just make sure that everything, the keys especially, and wherever you touch a lot, are well cleaned off first.

[Nagoshi]

Yea, I drenched all of them in hot soapy water and hand-washed everything ^^

Latex Krylon works well on plastics?

[nevermind1534]

I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that there's a spray can that says "For plastics."

[Govtman]

I wouldn't use the Krylon Latex paint on plastics. The Krylon brand name to use is "Fusion". Clean well (can't be said enough), and you can paint without primer. Heven't had too much experience with it, but it seems to lay down a decent layer of paint, and if you let it cure for a few days, it *seems* to be pretty tough. YMMV

After all, Krylon made it to paint plastic toys among other things, didn't they?

The only issue I've really had is that the shops near me don't carry a large number of colors.

[nevermind1534]

Or you could use an automotive base paint. I saw a discussion about a durable paint that won't crack or chip in another thread recently.

[crazybillybob]

To get the paint to stick really well you need to sand every key and part to be painted with 400-600 grit sand paper, to give the paint something to grip. Also after you've washed everything in warm soapy water, rinsed it well, and dried it.... just before painting wipe everything down with alcohol (Rubbing will work denatured is best)....wear rubber gloves. NEVER touch what your going to paint with your bare hands, the oils from your hand will not let the paint stick as well!
If you put down a good primer the acrylic paint will stick just fine, but to protect it you'll need 6 to 10 coats of rattle can clear (rustolum, krylon, dupli-color, etc) any epoxy based should work... Stay away from lacquers when painting plastics... Some plastics can be melted by the solvents that are used in those paints!

Good Luck!
CrazyBillyBob

[Luke122]

I've had really good luck with Krylon Fusion paint directly on plastic (Xbox's) with no prep other than just a good hot/soapy wash and rinse. So far, no scratches or dings!

YMMV, and prep work just makes it look that much better. :D