CD_Rom questions

[PP Mguire]

ok so im new here and everything and wanted to ask a few questions. First off anybody have pics of their painted CD-Rom? and what kinda paint/clear coat whould i use to paint mine. Also I need some opinions on something. i found a case painted on the inside and it looked really cool and was wonderin if i could do that to. I have this http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v701/pp_mguire/videocardincomputer.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v701/pp_mguire/Photo0004.jpg
i was wonderin if it would look good if i painted it blue considering i have 2 blue LED fans inside and the name of the computer is Blue Death lol. thanx ahead for the help.

[Frakk]

yes you can paint the inside of the case. do you think blue would look good? it would be better than plain white/silver but its really your call

[PP Mguire]

well i knew you could paint it but i was askin if blue looked good (or would look good) in my case w/ the components i currently have. BTW i also wouldnt mind on some help for hiding my cables.

[public_eyesore]

buy case sleeving and rounded cables or wrap them in electrical tape.

[PP Mguire]

well i have rounded cables for the IDE but what about the PSu cables? and wouldnt tape generate more heat because it conducts heat or something? ok nvm that thats a stupid theory. but what about the paint thing? would the blue look good and if so got any suggestions about what color blue? sorry for so many question, thanx again.

[temmink]

If you are going to have blue feature lighting you don't have to paint blue. But as Frakk said, there are other colours that can highlight your lighting better. Why not try some of the metallic chrome paints or something like that so that your lighting really stands out! Just my two cents.

[PP Mguire]

dude i so didnt think of that! Can i get uhhhh chrome in a can? That would work perfect and be better than blue even though i really like blue. ill Highlight some parts blue (or for kicks maybe pink? lol) like uhhh the fan grills or something. i know w/ case modding you gotta be creative so why not? Keep the thoughts coming cause so far im using all the ideas lol. i liek this!! thanx again.

[Zeus]

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/gold-chrome.html

[Frakk]

I used their instant chrome on my old case's top panel just to test my painting skills. let me tell you it is the worst paint ever. you cang get an even, smooth layer on the surface, plus you cannot sand it either because it will turn grey. and just when you try to topcoat it, it will wash the mirror-like paint away. after sending them an email about it, they recommended to use an other metallic paint and they dont have any clearcoat that works with it and i cannot sand it. please do not buy that paint

[public_eyesore]

if you have the budget tho, you can send it to a professional to get it chrome coated

[Rachel]

My suggestion would be to read the forum rules on picture sizes. And also sleeving isn't hard to do and it does look great. ;)

[PP Mguire]

ok sorry bout the picture sizes, those are from a long time ago. if i snapped them now i would have made them the appropriate size. anyhow thanx for the warning on that paint. and i do have a budget cause this is just something off the wall i figured i wanted to do so i just decided to look into it a bit. just something i can get from lowes or home depot will work cause they are pretty close to me.

[Cymae]

y'know what'd be cool? the silver colouring with tube lights at the top and bottom of your window, shining up, but out of sight. ive got these wicked sound activated ones on my case, if you chuck the speakers next to it, you're gonna get a kick-ass effect.

[PP Mguire]

ok so im thinking of getting this, would it be ok?
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=24805-000000090-7718-830&lpage=none
also i AM getting cold cathodes but prolly oly 2 small ones. and yet of course blue lol.

[pointedsirforky]

I might almost be tempted to suggest a nice Orange.

Only because I think that spray chrome is tacky and in my experience, exceedingly difficult to apply evenly and without blemishes.

And, with orange, you could get a can of orange-flourescent, too and mist the first coat, adding UV-reactive speckles to the paint finish.

Whichever you choose, I hope it goes well. I highly recommend doing some reading and test spraying before you tackle the final product.

Each spray can is a little different, and pooling, running, etc, would be fairly evident in the chrome finish.

dont forget to spray the side of the PSU, but, as stated in many other places on this forum and others, the dealies inside the PSU can kill you if you arent careful, so, be careful. -_-

[PP Mguire]

Hey that almost sounds tempting but i dont have anything for the UV speckles. Could you find an example of that? BTW im doing the PSU seperate and not in the case.

[pointedsirforky]

Right.

I just tried out the flourescent speckles on an old lighter-holder i had laying around.

"just add black-light"

The paint:

http://caddish.ath.cx/red/cans.jpg

1 - primer - its important you prime the surface first for too many reasons - better adherence for paint sprayed afterwards, color purity if painting objects that arent one color, or the object color is too dark to fully bring out the color to be put on top.

2 - Orange paint - Yup, its orange. lovely 70s color. was thinking of painting my old rotary phone with it, decided bright red was better. come to think of it, all that was a waste of time, I threw the phone out. -_-

3 - metallic (not chrome) paint for the speckles. misted onto the orange after it'd dried a bit (if you're handling the object carefully, you dont need to wait for it to dry completely unless you're using incompatable paints (oil base + acrylic paints dont like each other. paints with a high varnish content should always be used as a top layer as the solvents tent to react to the shiney finish of these paints)

4 - flourescent orange - similar to marking paint used by construction peoples on roads to mark where things are, these paints are generally black-light reactive. mist over the silver metallic paint, again, after its mostly dried.

then you let it all cure, over night, maybe a few days depending how thick the paint coats.

we'll ignore the whole process of sanding the paint down for the time being.

http://caddish.ath.cx/red/object.jpg

first image without blacklight, second with. sorry, my camera sucks a bit, but, hopefully you can see what I'm talking about.

I used a polyureathane clear cloat on top of the paints for this example, it tends to dull the flourescence.

Have fun experimenting with paints - and remember, try things out on a scrap piece of wood, metal, whatever, before you attack the actual object to be painted, saves a lot of headaches if theres a screwup of some sort or if you dont like how it looks.

Oh, and, do it outside. Paint smells. :P

[Frakk]

yes paint smells and makes you light headed like when you are sniffing glue :D

[PP Mguire]

haha thanx alot, i will try that myself and see how it looks. i went to a friends house to rock out w/ a coupla buddies but tomorrow im going to lowes to get the paint. im going to get somem primer, chrome paint, and the ornage and experiment to see what i like. if anythign worx i will buy the rest of the paint thats appropriate for the project.

[nil8]

FYI - Most cameras won't pick up blacklight reflection. Your camera doesn't suck, your lens needs to refract different light spectrums.

Still, interesting ideas. And please sand when painting. It makes all the difference.

[pointedsirforky]

Hee, thanks for the heads up. I was wondering if that was part of the problem or not.

However, the camera does still suck. An old 2.0MP Fujifilm battery muncher.

Also: I did some light sanding on what I showed in the images, I just didnt want to get into explanations about sanding.


Note to... whoever started the thread - orange flourescent paint isnt the only thing that'll work, I know that specific green and yellow paints work quite nicely. As of yet, I havent had much luck finding a blue one that looked any good, but, I could just be looking in all the wrong places.

*edit* and pink. though, that was pretty blinding.

[PP Mguire]

Ok sorry i had some things to do so i was offline for a day but i started the topic. anywho pink is blinding huh? well that sounds just awesome, blue and pink are my fav colors (no im not gay hahah) and w/ blue LED and UV fans w/ the pink paint should look good. anybody got an example? ive been tinkering w/ some chrome but im not liking it. BTW your not the only one w/ a crappy cam man, look at my pics they suck lol.

[PP Mguire]

ok so i went and got some stuff to toy w/ from lowes today. I got some primer for the real work ahead and a can of chrome and a can of pink flouresecnt spray paint. I decided to do this during the wee hours of the night cause there is no wind and no dogs to bother me. anyhow its 350 now and im outside (well was) and i painted the stuff on. I used some old computer parts that i sanded down and then i just painted it on. W/ the help of my great and lovely GF i am staying up waiting for this to dry. but now its time to check it out. the pink is actually pretty cool and tomorrow i will get a blakc light to see how it looks in the dark and i might just use this. the chrome was eh and ik. even on sanded metal it didnt really look that good so im glad i only paied 5 bucks on the can so i guess ill go pait somethign else w/ it :D. anyhow il lpost tomorrow whether or not i liked the pink in the black light. catch yall later!