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I would like to spray the inside of my case black(matt) to gat rid of the shiny bare metal, and to make it look more interesting. So I would like to know what the best way to do it is and what prep work has to be done to the metal. I have alraedy made a cutom side window (neptune blue tint) and aded blue fans and CCFL's.

What is the surface coated with? Galvanised or zinc plated metal with require a zinc primer. Steel can be primed with Coast Coat etch primer. Alu will require something else as a primer. IT might be easier to disassemble it and have it powder coated.

Yeah, I'm with Prime on the powder coating. Doing a professional looking paint job on a case takes time, and skill. It's really not a matter of shaking a can of spray paint at the case. And I say this with personal experience

Powder coating looks absolutely professional, and it's cheap too.

DAE_JA_VOO wrote:Yeah, I'm with Prime on the powder coating. Doing a professional looking paint job on a case takes time, and skill. It's really not a matter of shaking a can of spray paint at the case. And I say this with personal experience

Powder coating looks absolutely professional, and it's cheap too.

+1 HAving done internal paint jobs myself and had it all peel and blister and had to spend a small fortune repainting it, next time the insides go to the powder coaters.

The problem with the existing internal coating still remains though. You can anodise Alu and powder-coat both alu and steel but zinc and galvanised finishes will need to be pickled.

Though that's not to say rattle can paint isn't good. It's excellent, hell its petrol and diesel proof. But it scratches really easily because the layers are so thin.

Hi Stig. If you are just doing it as a hobby not "professional modder" contest then use the grey primer that you buy from Game after you lightly sanded the surface. Then apply your matt paint in light coats every 30 minutes or so, let it dry and finish it up with a matt lacquer to protec it.

I did it on my case and all is well after 2+ years the paint did not flake or anything. Post the pics when you are done!


By the way, what kind of modder calls himself professional if he sends the parts out for the modding to be done by someone else???

japie_my_skapie wrote:Hi Stig. If you are just doing it as a hobby not "professional modder" contest then use the grey primer that you buy from Game after you lightly sanded the surface. Then apply your matt paint in light coats every 30 minutes or so, let it dry and finish it up with a matt lacquer to protec it.

I did it on my case and all is well after 2+ years the paint did not flake or anything. Post the pics when you are done!


By the way, what kind of modder calls himself professional if he sends the parts out for the modding to be done by someone else???

You are welcome to shell out for a powder coating setup. What, its probably well over 20K?
Why not build an anodising bath while you are throwing money down the drain?

Prime wrote:
You are welcome to shell out for a powder coating setup. What, its probably well over 20K?
Why not build an anodising bath while you are throwing money down the drain?

WHAT? Did you have one too many tonight

1 can of primer - R20
1 can of matt black - R20
1 can of lacquer - R20
Some sanding paper - R20

japie_my_skapie wrote: By the way, what kind of modder calls himself professional if he sends the parts out for the modding to be done by someone else???

You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Modding isn't about how a result is gotten, its about what the end product looks like. And if you decide to powder coat a piece of metal because you feel it will look better than when you paint it, then that is what you have to do. If you rather laser cut because the end result looks far superior too hand cut, then thats whats going to be done. The decision to have something done by someone else who has the equipment doesn't mean its not your mod or that you're not a professional.

@THE_STIG: Another way of doing the spray job is too sandblast the entire inside so you have removed all the paint and you can see the shiny bare metal. Paint with primer, wait till absolutely dry (24 hours at least), paint coat 1 of required colour, wait till dry - 24 hours, paint coat 2 - wait 24 hours, repeat process until you are happy with the result.

But honestly, if you don't have a sand blasting device, go to someone that can do powder coating and have them do it for you.

Samaya wrote:

japie_my_skapie wrote: By the way, what kind of modder calls himself professional if he sends the parts out for the modding to be done by someone else???

You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Modding isn't about how a result is gotten, its about what the end product looks like. And if you decide to powder coat a piece of metal because you feel it will look better than when you paint it, then that is what you have to do. If you rather laser cut because the end result looks far superior too hand cut, then thats whats going to be done. The decision to have something done by someone else who has the equipment doesn't mean its not your mod or that you're not a professional.

Correct. Also, having something powder coated has almost nothing to do with modding, seriously. While it is a form of modding, it's almost always the smallest aspect of a MUCH bigger picture. Furthermore, powder coating is an expensive process, that no end user like you and I can afford to do ourselves, so how else are we to do it? Should we stick with doing crappy spray can jobs as opposed to highly professional powder coated jobs?

The end product of a mod is what's important. Whether or not you cut every little hole by hand doesn't matter, as long as the finished product is a customized item.

Spend a few more years doing case mods and you'll understand this

I'm dropping my car off at the autobody shop to get re-sprayed. See, I'm a professional car-restorer now. After that the tuning shop will drop in new exhaust and various other performance part. Because according to you, I'm also a professional car tuner after that.

Nice try, but only a true modder can call himself a professional modder. Sending and receiving packages calissifies you as a professional postmaster, not modder. LMAO

Wow. Just wow.

What you just described and what I do for an income are two completely, completely different things. That example doesn't apply at all.

Okay, so go ahead and define a "true modder" for me.

Let's say I had my OWN powder coating equipment, or my OWN laser cutter - would that be okay? Because, in case you're unaware, whether I press the "go" button, or whether the guy at the store with the R300 000 equipment presses the button, the same thing happens.

So go ahead and define a "true modder" for me

japie_my_skapie wrote:I'm dropping my car off at the autobody shop to get re-sprayed. See, I'm a professional car-restorer now. After that the tuning shop will drop in new exhaust and various other performance part. Because according to you, I'm also a professional car tuner after that.

Nice try, but only a true modder can call himself a professional modder. Sending and receiving packages calissifies you as a professional postmaster, not modder. LMAO

Still you are clueless. It would seem you are a jealous little whatever. The skills that other people have shown they posess does not mean they cannot make it easier for themselves. Whether you paint a case by yourself or have it painted does not matter. You have taken a conscious decision to make a change to a part that you want changed.

If you have ever modded something -please post a link- I would gladly look at it and give you my opinion. But as I haven't seen anything you have claim to fame of, I cannot understand how you could be an unobjective judge of anything.

There is in anyway no such thing as a "purist" do-everything-by-hand type of modder.

ownd

What ever you lazy newbs. True modders do it all themselves, and by themselves I mean ELBOW GREASE not CNC MACHINES or whatever paint machine your dad bought. Please make the distinction between modding and manufacturing and why do you become so emotional about it? Because it's TRUE!

Be warned this thread is heading for a temporary lock. If you have nothing constructive to say don't say it.

DAE_JA_VOO wrote: Correct. Also, having something powder coated has almost nothing to do with modding, seriously. While it is a form of modding, it's almost always the smallest aspect of a MUCH bigger picture. Furthermore, powder coating is an expensive process, that no end user like you and I can afford to do ourselves, so how else are we to do it? Should we stick with doing crappy spray can jobs as opposed to highly professional powder coated jobs?

You might be interested in this.
I was seriously contemplating getting myself a kit about a year ago but having a dedicated oven proved to be beyond my abilities. And them powder is darn expensive.

japie_my_skapie wrote:What ever you lazy newbs. True modders do it all themselves, and by themselves I mean ELBOW GREASE not CNC MACHINES or whatever paint machine your dad bought. Please make the distinction between modding and manufacturing and why do you become so emotional about it? Because it's TRUE!

/in before the lock.

Japie, my buddy...

Dae is modding for a living, NAG (the gaming magazine, before you confuse it with a female hobby) commissioned him with an unlimited budget to build the rAge PC prize.

Samaya have been modding since friken Noah allowed mosquitoes onto the ark.

As for your comparison's to car modding, even those guys take their "jobs" to professional painters / upholsterers to have a professional finish.

/sigh

I sort of see japie's point. DAE, take your water cooling mod. Would you consider yourself a modder if you just sent the water cooling bits off to a 3rd party to assemble for you?

On the other hand, if you haven't got the tools/skill to mod something the way you want, then would you settle for a less than perfect outcome?

Its a gray area to say the least, but japie, you might get a better response by improving you attitude.

GreyWolf wrote:I sort of see japie's point. DAE, take your water cooling mod. Would you consider yourself a modder if you just sent the water cooling bits off to a 3rd party to assemble for you?

On the other hand, if you haven't got the tools/skill to mod something the way you want, then would you settle for a less than perfect outcome?

Its a gray area to say the least, but japie, you might get a better response by improving you attitude.

This brings it back to Dae's question to Japie - define what qualifies as modding or being a modder.

I'd say having 3rd parties involved to supply a professional finish using expensive equipment that is just not feasible to have yourself, like laser cutting / powder coating etc - does not disqualify you as a modder, in fact, that should be in your favor.

Sojourn wrote: laser cutting / powder coating etc - does not disqualify you as a modder, in fact, that should be in your favor.

I disagree. I don't think they should count for or against. What should count is if you went to the powder coater and worked the machinery yourself.

GreyWolf wrote:I sort of see japie's point. DAE, take your water cooling mod. Would you consider yourself a modder if you just sent the water cooling bits off to a 3rd party to assemble for you?

Exactly my point Guys don't get all emotional, I'm just saying that if you have someone else do the hard work, whether they use machinery or not, does not make you the modder of that project even if you are the one to assemble it. Maybe you're then the designer, the assembler, the production manager maybe yes, but not the modder.

Sojourn wrote: /sigh

Wat jy sigh sal jy maai

GreyWolf wrote: I disagree. I don't think they should count for or against. What should count is if you went to the powder coater and worked the machinery yourself.

Don't worry be happy

I get annoyed by your comments because I feel that all the work I have put into my mods are being dissed by someone with no experience in modding. I made all my mods, I had stuff laser cut, painted things by myself but also had some stuff CNC'd. I consider myself a good'ish modder.

DJV asks for my help on electronics but it is his idea to make something and I call him an excellent modder. He is still a modder (and his approach to modding is absolutely professional) and very good at it.

And going to the powder coater to paint the part and working the machinery yourself is usually not allowed in anyway. And if you really want to snowball this argument, then you should also not use any power tools as they do all the work even though you are only controlling the motion of the tool...

japie_my_skapie wrote:I'm just saying that if you have someone else do the hard work, whether they use machinery or not, does not make you the modder of that project even if you are the one to assemble it. Maybe you're then the designer, the assembler, the production manager maybe yes, but not the modder.

Sorry guy, but you seem to be mistaking a paint job for the entire project. You are making a BIG mistake by thinking that the guys here don't put in hard work.

Japie, You've pretty much insulted the entire modding community.

It's still your work of art regardless of how you produce the parts. And you should use whatever means at your disposal to produce the best results. And if that means getting someone more competent to cut the parts or assemble the water cooling, there is nothing wrong with that provided its still your idea. We pride ourselves as an unselfish and nonjudgemental community where anything goes.

Samaya wrote: my mods are being dissed by someone with no experience in modding.

No offence to you, but I have plenty experience in modifications of various types, including computer cases. And no, I don't create picture threads or give them fancy names so I cannot put links up. Plus I find the idea of naming mods very strange

GreyWolf wrote:Sorry guy, but you seem to be mistaking a paint job for the entire project. You are making a BIG mistake by thinking that the guys here don't put in hard work.

Nope. I never said that, sorry if that's the vibe you got

Prime wrote:Japie, You've pretty much insulted the entire modding community.

I sincerely apologize

Prime wrote:It's still your work of art regardless of how you produce the parts.

Production manager

Prime wrote: And if that means getting someone more competent to cut the parts or assemble the water cooling

Assembler

Prime wrote: there is nothing wrong with that provided its still your idea

Designer

Prime wrote:We pride ourselves as an unselfish and nonjudgemental community where anything goes.

Nonjudgmental? Not this community, flaming left right and center because they don't want to try and understand what I'm saying, sending me warnings and what else to try and intimidate me. You must be referring to another community .