Powdercoating?

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firebug88

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 20, 2008
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Ok so I have a Xaser IV case which i want to paint the inside a gloss black. I dont really want to do it myself because this is my main case that i really dont want to screw up. So does anyone know any great powdercoating companies or will most car paint shops do this for me? Also, will i have to do any prep work in order for them to do this or do they do everything?

here are some pics of the case i want to paint. The inside is a definite yes for paint but i think i might leave the outside the way it is (any thoughts).

The black stuff inside the case is sound dampener
100_0467.jpg

100_0493.jpg

100_0478.jpg
 
Can't see your pics, but I went through the same thought process. I decided against powder coating because from what the guy told me it would add 2-3mm to the thickness of the metal. I have a P182 with removable drive bays and stuff adding that much thickness would have been a nightmare. I would have either had to remove the PC from the areas, or masked them off so that no PC got in those areas.

So I ended up painting the inside of the case myself. Now if I had it to do over again I think I would highly consider electrostatic painting. The run a current the case and the positively charged paint is attracted to the surface. They use this process on office furniture, display cases, etc. I never inquired about it, so not sure if it will add any thickness to the case. You might check that out. Here's the website of a local company that I saw, EPSCO. I know it's probably not local to you, but atleast you can see what the process is. And from what they told me, they can do whatever you want, but the more they have to do the more it will cost ya.
 
Fritzz said:
Can't see your pics, but I went through the same thought process. I decided against powder coating because from what the guy told me it would add 2-3mm to the thickness of the metal. I have a P182 with removable drive bays and stuff adding that much thickness would have been a nightmare. I would have either had to remove the PC from the areas, or masked them off so that no PC got in those areas.

So I ended up painting the inside of the case myself. Now if I had it to do over again I think I would highly consider electrostatic painting. The run a current the case and the positively charged paint is attracted to the surface. They use this process on office furniture, display cases, etc. I never inquired about it, so not sure if it will add any thickness to the case. You might check that out. Here's the website of a local company that I saw, EPSCO. I know it's probably not local to you, but atleast you can see what the process is. And from what they told me, they can do whatever you want, but the more they have to do the more it will cost ya.
Click to expand...

Updated pics.

Thanks for the information and how did your case turn out when you painted it yourself? Can you post pics?

Also, with powder coating being almost out, the question is can a car shop do a good job on painting a case - or rather will they?
 
I would assume they would do a good job, otherwise what are you paying them for? Best bet is to talk to someone and get an estimate. Are you able to take the case completely apart? I would bet that if you were able to strip it down to just the metal cage it would bring the cost down quite a bit. The more prep work they have to do that more it will cost ya.
 
Fritzz said:
I would assume they would do a good job, otherwise what are you paying them for? Best bet is to talk to someone and get an estimate. Are you able to take the case completely apart? I would bet that if you were able to strip it down to just the metal cage it would bring the cost down quite a bit. The more prep work they have to do that more it will cost ya.
Click to expand...

If i do strip it down, how far do i need to go? meaning taking out the rivets and tool less drive bay clips. Also, do i need to sand anything down that may be in conflict or will they do that to? (new to all this painting cases thing - other case didnt turn out the way i really wanted).
 
Depends on who you are going to have paint it. Talk to some people in the area and see what they have to say. You will either need to mask off the areas you don't want painted or remove them. It would be easier if you removed any plastic, just to make things easier. As far as surface prep I would leave it up to them. Don't think you would need to remove and riveted panels. I would just strip it down to what you want painted.
 
Fritzz said:
Depends on who you are going to have paint it. Talk to some people in the area and see what they have to say. You will either need to mask off the areas you don't want painted or remove them. It would be easier if you removed any plastic, just to make things easier. As far as surface prep I would leave it up to them. Don't think you would need to remove and riveted panels. I would just strip it down to what you want painted.
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Thanks - I will let you know what the outcome is. Also if anyone has pics of the inside of there case painted by spray paint or something please post.
 
My previous case (a Lian-Li PC-6085) and my current case (a PC-A16) are powdercoated. It does add some thickness, but I would say it's 1mm at the very most. The hard-drive rack is powdercoated, too, and it fits fine in the drive bays. There's no wiggle room, certainly, but it's not difficult, either.

​
 
very nice case - where did you buy the paint - at autozone or some place like that or did you order it?
 
dont powdercoat it. It would be a big waste of money. Here in race city USA it would cost you about $60 an average from all the shops to powedercoat your case. It takes $40 to powerdercoat a dirtbike rim and those dont have a lot of surface area and a case would be a lot more surface area than a dirtbike wheel.
If you do it right you can paint your case and make it turn out as good as PC. sand it, use some acetone all over, prime it, 2-3 coats of some ultra tough spraypaint. cost you $20 instead of about $100 depending on your local PC.

Keep in mind they do a lot more to prep it for powder coating than what you have to do for spray painting. they will sandblast it and everything.
 
Lt.Col.Dehler said:
dont powdercoat it. It would be a big waste of money. Here in race city USA it would cost you about $60 an average from all the shops to powedercoat your case. It takes $40 to powerdercoat a dirtbike rim and those dont have a lot of surface area and a case would be a lot more surface area than a dirtbike wheel.
If you do it right you can paint your case and make it turn out as good as PC. sand it, use some acetone all over, prime it, 2-3 coats of some ultra tough spraypaint. cost you $20 instead of about $100 depending on your local PC.

Keep in mind they do a lot more to prep it for powder coating than what you have to do for spray painting. they will sandblast it and everything.
Click to expand...

The whole reason that i wanted powder coating was because I cant paint a case very well. I started a worklog of a small (trial) case to see how it would turn out. It look pretty good but I know I could have better. Plus the case im wanting to do this to is my main computer that i will have to keep for a long time so i dont want to screw it up. Also its a birthday present so im not paying for it!!
 
Lt.Col.Dehler said:
Keep in mind they do a lot more to prep it for powder coating than what you have to do for spray painting. they will sandblast it and everything.
Click to expand...

Not so,I just had my LanCool (steel Lian Li) chassis powdercoated. The only prep it got was med stripping it down - removing all the outer panels which were left stock, removing all the plastic clips and stainless drive slides. The motherboard and hdd trays unscrew so they were done seperately. That's it. No sandblasting required. They may have dipped it in acid to etch the few aluimium parts on it, but I'm not sure on that, but either way that is no biggie.

Mine turned out pretty good given that it only cost me a 6 pack or beer. There were a couple of parts where the top fits on that I needed to scrape back the powder on slightly where it had dripped down during baking. I haven't had to do that on the other two cases I've had powdercoated, so I'm pretty sure it was just that they were in a rush (so it certainly shouldn't be a problem if you're paying them good money to do it).

The finish is very good, and extremely durable - moreso than any painted case I've seen/done.

If you want to get a good finish with spray paint, you're going to have to sand, clean, prime, sand, spray, sand, spray, sand, clear, etc - a whole lot more work than simply stripping it down and handing it over. Not too sure what the paint would cost you in that part of the world, but it would come to more than $60 here!

I say go with the powdercoating. You won't regret it!




 
At Legion - Thanks for the advise. Also, would you post a pic of the case (or cases) that have been powder coated?

I believe I am going to go ahead and powder coat my case. I think it would look so much better. However, my birthday is in May so it might be awhile before I can post pics of the finished case.
 
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