Glossy Paint

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boobstar

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Jul 21, 2008
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Hey guys. I was wondering what kind of paint i would use in order to get a glossy finish.
I'm planning on painting my NXZT Blackline case with a glossy white paint.

like this
2423270360_62afa6360e.jpg


it'd be nice as well if someone can fill me in on the proper procedures of painting and the things needed before painting.
 
The paint doesn't matter as much as the prep work. For a glossy coat like that, it's not about a coat of paint and a coat of clear-coat, it's about prep-time and elbow grease.

Search a bit for "painting techniques", but basically, be prepared to put in long hours over multiple days to the tune of; sand, primer, Bondo (if needed), sand again, primer again, wet sand, primer, wet sand again, paint, wet sand, paint, wet sand, paint, polishing compound, clear coat, polishing compound, clear coat, buff.

Do-able? Yes, did it myself, with great results, but it took a week. I'd never do it again with anything other than a box case.
 
can you show me the results of yours?
i'm also a bit confused in the primer,sand, bondo thing.
isnt primer a paint? if so, wouldnt sanding just scrape it off again?
And what kind of thing do you use to clear coat something?
 
I don't have pics handy of my previous tower, sorry.

Yes, primer is a paint. It's designed to be the base coat. You sand it with 200-400 grit paper, and wet sand it, to get it as flat as possible. (Think lapping a CPU to a mirror finish, you want flat.) Starting with a flat surface BEFORE applying paint makes it that much better. Then, when you're wet-sanding the actual paint, you're using 600, 1200, 1500 grit paper and water. Incredibly small changes to the paint to make it flat. Sanding off the high spots, re-painting to fill in the lows, and making everything as mirror smooth as you can. Then the clear coat with polishing compound (2500-5000 grit wet polish) takes off the last high spots. That's where the shine comes from.

Primer fills in the low spots and sands quickly. Paint for color, wet sanding to take off the high spots. Clear coat for protection and shine, polishing compound for the mirror like finish.

Just search "painting techniques" here, and read up for a day or two.
 
Basically you want the surface flat as possible because that's basically what the gloss is... is a reflection.

If you ever looked in a non flat mirror (Think funhouse) it's distorted looking. Then when you get to your bathroom and look in the mirror, everything looks normal because the bathroom mirror is flat (hopefully).
 
Duplicolor Arcylic Enamel has a shiny finish. If you have to you could always just buy a can of gloss it's the same price as the actual paint(about 4 dollars).
 
Thanks for all the information.
So far, what i've gathered is that i'll be doing a lot of sanding and smoothing out the surface.
I've got one problem with the NXZT BlackLine's face plate and removable back plate. It's made out of plastic.
I dont think it would be smart to sand plastic. But the finish on them is really well and smooth and mirror like. Is it possible to just clean the surface for specs and primer it considering it's already smooth and apply the main coat and the clear coat for extra shine?

Also, I'm planning on cutting a 120m square hole in the front bottom face plate where the 120m fan is hidden. I want to increase the airflow. I'll plan to cover it with a nice fine mesh. The problem is i dont have those fancy cutters. Is there any other way to go about cutting them?
 
If you don't have a dremel or a power tool.. the only thing I can suggest is a hacksaw :p... but it would take forever (not that I would know ::shifty eyes::)
 
boobstar said:
Thanks for all the information.
So far, what i've gathered is that i'll be doing a lot of sanding and smoothing out the surface.
I've got one problem with the NXZT BlackLine's face plate and removable back plate. It's made out of plastic.
I dont think it would be smart to sand plastic. But the finish on them is really well and smooth and mirror like. Is it possible to just clean the surface for specs and primer it considering it's already smooth and apply the main coat and the clear coat for extra shine?

Also, I'm planning on cutting a 120m square hole in the front bottom face plate where the 120m fan is hidden. I want to increase the airflow. I'll plan to cover it with a nice fine mesh. The problem is i dont have those fancy cutters. Is there any other way to go about cutting them?
Click to expand...

you could go to home depot buy a dremel make the cut then take it back the next day saying it wasn't the right tool for the job...they have a 90 day return policy ... ;)
 
boobstar said:
I've got one problem with the NXZT BlackLine's face plate and removable back plate. It's made out of plastic.
I don't think it would be smart to sand plastic. But the finish on them is really well and smooth and mirror like. Is it possible to just clean the surface for specs and primer it considering it's already smooth and apply the main coat and the clear coat for extra shine?
Click to expand...

This is a tough call. Looking at the case, it's already a glossy/mirror-like shine. But I'm guessing it's not the right color, correct? If you want to attempt it, go for it. I would still lightly sand the plastic to give the primer something to adhere to. Then it's the same steps.

Remember: even with a smooth starting base, you're ultimately sanding the primer, paint and clear-coat. You don't see what's underneath. You could start with a mirror itself, and you wouldn't see it afterwards. So, starting with a glossy plastic surface shouldn't matter, you're after a glossy paint job.
 
In the video Kuyt provided the guy uses an electric buffer for the final stages of his paint job and implies that he's applying very light pressure while polishing the case. For those of you that have used an electric buffer, how light of pressure are we talking about? A tiny bit of force or just the weight of the buffer itself?
 
If you read the owner manual most times light pressure of the tool itself is sufficient. If you dont want to go all out and buy a buffer a nice substitute I've used is a buffer wheel attachment for a corded power drill. The pressure I used for waxing was fairly light, enough to move the wax residue into the surface (make streaks go away).
 
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