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[Bromance]

So with bandit redoing his case, brought up an idea to post a few how-to that may help anyone else who may want to undertake this project. I have googled around and found a few, but most of them are pretty top end and expensive. So here we go!

Generally speaking you have to common materials that manufactures use to make their cases with, of course plastic is always used, steel and aluminium. It is important to know the difference as the steps will differ.

Aluminium cases= Generally on good to top quality cases and is the preferred material. Light weight, strong, and easy to work with. Draw backs are price, and more apt to corrosion with in the manufacturing process. Almost no product will be made with pure aluminum as it would be to soft to do much with. So they put alloys into the aluminum to make it more ridged and increase tinsel strength. This process can induce inter-granular corrosion and over time your case will have issues, but this process takes years to fester and degrade the product enough to matter. Usually the types used are 7075 and 6065 (Google them if you would like more information of the material used, but is way out of the scope of these posts) with varying hardness, ranging from "0" to T6. T6 would be about as hard as you can get aluminum and still able to work it past a flat shape. T3 is the most common, and 0 is used for many configurations and major bends and twists but is then oven baked to a higher T (or hardness) as 0 is a step above foil (depending on thickness).

Steel cases= Generally on cheap to inexpensive cases. Not desired for a few reason. First and foremost, generally used at a really thin gauge and flimsy, causing flexing and exaggerates vibration through out the case. This can cause premature failure of your PC components, including, but not limited too, GPU as the vibration on your mobo, and the GPU acting as a lever (the way it is installed, plus the huge size now days) so the vibration is multiplied on the outer edge of your card. If your running a large CPU cooler, same effect, but coolers are a lot heavier and have a smaller contact point, plus the added factor of the cooler fan. Your PSU can also be effected as heat can weaken the soldered joints and connections with the vibration frequencies causing them to pull out or apart. Bottom line, get a quality case! So we will go the way of aluminum!

Plastic= Used in all cases. quality can range drastically, even in the same case. Even the poorest of quality is refinished in the same way though. To achieve an out standing quality finish will take more money then elbow grease though. I will go over this first as it may be the most unknown to properly re-finish plastic, rubber, or other composite/man made material.

We must assume your plastics are undamaged and in good shape. With damage of any kind the requirements change drastically. Also keep in mind I am use to having the required hazardous material readily available, so you will have to do some research on what material is available to use and follow directions on the product, which may very slightly or a lot, as some are more earth friendly and generally don't work as well.

Take your un-assembled plastic parts and wash then very well, water would shed off and not bead up, to remove any oil and containment. Insure the plastic does not have a finish all ready, even just in sections, as this will require further steps if they do. With then washed, use a clean towel to dry then, do not touch your plastics with your bare hands, or other body parts as this puts oil back on to the plastic and can cause bubbling in your paint finish.

If your plastics have no finish already, use a chemical clean/prep for the area you would like to paint as per the directions. You should NOT have to sand or scuff the area as this will leave gouges and marks that you will see through the painted finish. Painting on plastic only leaves a thin layer and any surface damage will be seen. The chemical cleaner should prep the surface for you causing the plastic to "soften up" so your paint will "stick" better. If you require more then one color, now is the time to tape areas off. Use top quality painters tape, going cheap here will cause major issues and you will hate the results. You may once again use the chemical prep if the time between use and paint has expired or to insure cleanliness. try to use a quality plastic paint, as it has chemicals that allow the outer shell of the paint to harden but still pliable so it will not crack. But any top quality paint will work if you can not find the colors you want, and to insure proper color match to the aluminum part of your case.
*NOTE= If you are using a 2 part kit (mixing your paint) and a sprayer, try to mix all your paint for your whole case at once, with the required color, as slightly different mix, temp, batches(cans), and humidity will affect the color of your dried finish, and might be noticeable!****
If you have taped of areas, spray a fine mist, not a full coat, over your area. This misting will help seal the edge of your tape and reduce the chance of "bleed through" causing a horrible edge. Allow to dry at least 15 minutes NO MORE THEN 30 MINUTES. If your unsure if your misting was good enough, re mist the whole area (doing the whole painted area vs just the edge insures uniform paint color). then apply a full coat, wait 15-20 minutes between coats for the paint to set up. Once you are done, and happy with the color and coating. Pull your tape as soon as possible. This makes sure you don't pull some of your new finish with your tape. and you then can clean any bleed through if required, and judge your misting, for your next job you'll have a better idea how much more to mist the areas. If the taped area is getting painted a different color, the bleed through is not an issue. If it is NOT, you need to clean the bleed paint ASAP. Using the cleaner, or mineral spirits (test the mineral spirits on a piece of the same plastic where you can't see to insure it doesn't damage the plastic).
**** NOTE= if your painting multiple colors, like white with black accents, and your plastic is red, paint the whole thing black, then tape of the black areas, and paint your white color. But typically you want light colors as your base, and dark over your base. Dark colors hide light colors better that are underneath, requiring less paint and time. So if your case is white and you want black and yellow. Paint the yellow first, then tape of the areas you want black and paint them black.*********
Wait at least 48 hours for your paint to dry (some paints actually take up to a year to fully dry) even if the directions say 12-24. This hopefully will insure that your tape will not pull of or damage your new paint when you remove it. Insure your area you will apply your other colors is clean again, take special care to insure any tape residue is removed and cleaned. If you had major bleed over, you will need to scuff the painted area with very fine steel wool or 2000 grit sand paper, and re clean. If the tape residue will not come off bare plastic, you may need to use steel wool, though not preferred, or mineral spirits. Tape and paint again. Misting, misting, then apply the required layers to achieve the desired finish. Remember to gently pull tape as soon as you can.

Allow to dry as long as you can, 24-48 hours before assembly.


Aluminum refinish with in the next few days!