New colors for your SATA cables

[blueonblack]

I'm working on a large project and realized much too late that I needed black SATA cables and all I had were the hideous red ones that come with a new motherboard. I had lots of those but no black ones. Being impatient and not wanting to spend more money on something I already had, I decided to change the color.

I just finished this entire case (the Cooler Master HAF Stacker with the additional 915 module, LOTS of case there) with black aerosol Plasti Dip. Turns out it's great for modding SATA cables also. Half of a $6 can and 15 minutes later:

This stuff is amazing. And as modders, remember that it comes in LOTS of colors, they have pearlizer and metalizer for it, clear coat, lots of options.

Two great things about it: With a heat gun a coat of this stuff dries in about 10 seconds, and if you screw it up you can peel it off and start over.

[TheMainMan]

Hmm, bet it would be useful for making the ends something other than black too. How durable would a coat of this be? I've got a bunch of Cooler Master tool-less drive clips that need a new colour but they do have to be able to move occasionally.

[blueonblack]

If you clean whatever you're painting well before hand it's pretty tough stuff. I wouldn't put it anywhere that regularly moves against anything else as it won't stand abrasion very long but the occasional move by hand shouldn't bother it at all. For clips (or even side panels), I'd mask off the contact area and spray the rest.

People use this stuff on their wheels with good results, it should last quite a while in the semi-static environment of a modder's case.

[TLHarrell]

I really like this idea. Very nice.

[blueonblack]

I needed to follow up on this. This doesn't work. The cables look great until they come up against the slightest abrasion and the Plasti Dip comes right off.

It might do better with proper dry time, but the way I did it doesn't work.

[TheMainMan]

Might want to give Krylon Fusion for Plastic a shot then. SgtM recommends it and I've had good luck with it, though I haven't used it on a surface that gets any abrasion.

[msmrx57]

I've used this on quite a few things with good results. On highly flexible plastic like cord/cables it takes a couple of days to cure completely. Not really sure why. It can be handled but it's very easy to put finger prints in it until it cures.

[blueonblack]

I had thought about Fusion, I love that stuff and have used it on acrylic a lot but I had no idea how flexible it would be, didn't want it cracking and falling off. I'll try that next time, thanks!

[d_stilgar]

Nice tip. Those came out looking really nice. I just sorted through a bunch of old computer and threw away a ton of SATA cables. It felt weird and I kept a few, but what am I going to do with 50 SATA cables?