Tips for Painting Selective parts of cases

[SinCrisis]

Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips on painting a design on a case without sanding the entire things down and painting it? I want to make the pattern as smooth as possible on the case, but I also want the original case color. Anyone have any tips?

[x88x]

Masking, sandblasting, and spraying? ..something along those lines anyways.

Alternately, you could always paint on top of the current coat, then lay on a clear coat over everything.

[SinCrisis]

OK, well i covered the entire surface of the case with masking tape, and I cut away the tape in my pattern and I was planning on just sanding those areas and painting. However, if I went and used primer and then paint it would leave and edge so the top of the case really wouldn't feel very smooth and you would be able to see the white of the primer. I was wondering if there was any solutions to just getting that paint on the area i have sanded? Also with this design there are some parts I cant sand so is there any painting techniques that will allow the paint to stick without sanding?

[slaveofconvention]

Is there no way you can recreate the original finish around your artwork? The key to any decent paintjob is always preparation, and one of the main parts of that is giving the paint a key to stick to (I appreciate from what you're saying that you already know this)...

You can use a scotchbrite pad instead of sanding to create that initial key, but to be honest, I can't really think of anything you could key with a scotchy that you couldn't key with wet n dry sandpaper

The only way you're going to get a truly smooth finish, is to clear over everything, and you'd need to apply several coats so you could sand down the clear on top of the paint to make it thinner than the clear around it - effectively using clear to bring the rest of the surface up to the same level as the paint, then another coat or two to actually give you your final surface

[SinCrisis]

Well i am using 600 grit wet/dry right now because im sanding really carefully to avoid destroying the masking tape and my design outline. The thing with primer is that its very thick and even after sanding it down a bit i think it may leave too much of an edge.

Should I just take all the tape off and sand the entire top? I only plans to paint the top of the case right now. Will I need to sand the entire case to paint this one design on the top?

[silverdemon]

maybe a bit late, since you already started sanding, but wouldn't it have been easier if you just ordered a vinyl-sticker-thing of you design?

[SinCrisis]

O.o

Oh ****.. I didnt even think of that... Probably would have been wise, but its too late now. And I think it would be nicer to have paint than vinyl.

[slaveofconvention]

Well i am using 600 grit wet/dry right now because im sanding really carefully to avoid destroying the masking tape and my design outline. The thing with primer is that its very thick and even after sanding it down a bit i think it may leave too much of an edge.

Should I just take all the tape off and sand the entire top? I only plans to paint the top of the case right now. Will I need to sand the entire case to paint this one design on the top?

Look into fine-line tape - it's got a better, less porous edge so will leave a sharper line.

Decent primer is thick, yes, you can sand it down though to minimise it but in the end, you will get some kind of an edge.

I'd sand the entire top - but only if you realistically think you can get a decent colour match to the rest of the case. It might sound a little silly but black isn't always black. I work in an automotive paint shop and we have formulae on the mixing computer for at least 100 different blacks, from solids to pearls to metallics. You might want to think about an utter contrast - paint the entire top of the case a TOTALLY different colour to the rest of the case. This way you will be able to get away with not touching any of the rest of the case. There may even be a relatively simple way to continue that colour in the rest of the case without masses of work - look to see if you have removable grilles or panels anywhere, things like USB port covers, fan grilles, spare bay covers, and consider painting those the same colour as the top. That way it'll look more like its a congruent theme, not just the wrong lid on the case...

[SinCrisis]

I will look into that tape. I totally get what you mean by black not being black, this case is suppsoed to be black but its really a super dark gray, black paint wouldnt match. I was thinking of leaving the original texture of the original finish because it would contrast a bit with the smooth coated design, but I was hoping to be able to get something like the HAF logo on the Cooler Master HAF 932 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160&cm_re=HAF_932-_-11-119-160-_-Product) case, where its a diffrent texture but still kinda blends into the rest of the case.

[slaveofconvention]

I think, from pictures only (I haven't actually seen a HAF yet - but I want one lol) that it's just a matt black as opposed to gloss. That may well actually do the contrast thing fairly well as it's different enough that it doesn't look like you're trying to get it to look exactly the same...

Black is, technically, the absence of all light so is impossible to create in a paint - blacks in common usage are almost always very dark greys or very dark blues.

[SinCrisis]

The case has a matte black coat but the HAF logo is in gloss black. Although I plan to use red and not black against the matte black on my case, I was aiming to have that look where you can tell that theres paint on top of the base coat but the edges aren't rough. Is there some tool i can use to remove that rough edge after i paint it perhaps?

[msmrx57]

If you don't sand through the original finish of the case you don't need primer. Primer is a bonding agent for bare metal. The 600 grit will provide plenty of "tooth" for the paint to adhere to. As far as the rough edge if you paint in very light coats you should get very little edge. Apply just enough paint to get the color you're after. I'd also suggest doing a test panel to practice on, the way you can try a couple of different ways of spraying and find the finish you're happy with.

[SinCrisis]

I do not have a test panel to work with.

I am mostly done with sanding it, but the edges right next to the tape still is not as sanded, theres about a little under a mm thats still the same finish as the rest of the case and I do not think the paint will stick there. Will it be ok? or will it chip off later and ruin the design?

I could not find any fine-line tape at the ace hardware near my apartment so im sticking with the masking tape.

[SgtM]

Check out http://www.tcpglobal.com/ for fineline tape. You could bury the paint in some clear to hide the edges a bit. Build up the clear, and then sand it smooth. Also, you won't have to prime your mask. Just sand lightly, and spray.