Painting Case Interior

C

crowat

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 15, 2009
Messages
231
So I am trying to understand how successful people are with painting a case interior black?

Referring to a all steel case.

Is it possible to paint it with a primer then a black coat or should I not even try it and just get it powder coated?
 
Painting it yourself is a time consuming process, the better you want it to turn out, the more time you will spend. That said, once it's complete to your satisfaction, you will know, and can tell everyone that comments on it, that you did it yourself. Maybe even play up the effort it took.
That said, Powdercoating, done right will look better, and most likely be more durable. It's still not easy, as you will most likely have to take it completely apart, including drilling out the rivets, and then reassemble and re-rivet it. Unless you want to pay the shop extra to do it for you.
As far as costs go, I would think they would run about the same, depending on the amount of supplies and tools you have on hand already for either job.
 
Do you have to fully disassemble the case for regular paint? Can you paint the case interior without de-riviting?

-Cool-
 
Cool1Net6 said:
Do you have to fully disassemble the case for regular paint? Can you paint the case interior without de-riviting?

-Cool-
Click to expand...

If you don't want it to look completely terrible, you will need to fully disassemble it.
 
Get it powder coated. Paint is applied with a static charge so it's attracted to the metal like dust to a tv, then baked on to make it tough as nails.
You can powder coat yourself with an electric oven and a decent powder coating system from Harbor Freight.com

If you paint it with the cans, just spray it from a distance to get into the tight spots, the movement of air will cause the paint to travel and land in those spots.
Don't do that method with gloss paints, only flats.
 
You can paint alot of cases without deriveting, but results may vary... some cases are more open or have fewer nooks and crannies. Sanding an assembled case is a serious PITA tho. :D
 
I might try it just to see how it works out. I have some really cheap cases I can practice on. It just sucks how the majority of the cases are not painted on the inside. I guess it is a matter of preference.
 
Thanks for the tip. I might dabble with it for a while. If it comes out anything successful I will post the work log. It will most likely be a giant failure, but oh well we live and learn.

I do have two or three old Dell/Compaq cases that the family disposed off. So that leaves plenty of stuff I can ruin while learning different techniques.
 
Possibly, but unless you use something like Rhinoliner or automotive undercoating, there shouldn't be much of a problem. Most cases have such high airflow, that heat dispersion due to chassis is minimal, esp in the case of watercooling. If you want a silent HTPC or something like that, anodised aluminum would probably be a better choice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top