New paint job

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aye29

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I'm considering giving my Inspiron 8600 a new color. Has anyone here painted their computer? I've never done anything like this before and I'm kind of unsire about where to begin. Any tips or advice would be appreciated.
 
Be patient. That is the best advice I can give you.

You need to know that this process (done PROPERLY) takes a few days. In the end youll end up with mirror finish.

A good guide can be found here. But the basics are:

-Sand (wet is prefered) the piece you want to paint. You dont need to expose metal, but you want a nice flush surface.

-Clean the piece with alcohol.

-Primer the piece then wetsand it to keep it flat. Repeat this process until you have done a few coats and it is VERY flat.

-Clean the piece with alcohol.

-Paint the piece with the color you want. Let it dry as long as possible (a few hours is what you want, overnight is great) then wetsand. Repeat this proces AS MANY TIMES AS YOU CAN. Paint, wetsand, paint, wetsand, paint, wetsand..... as long as you can bear it.

-Put one more coat on it and then wetsand in steps from 1000 to 2000 grit sandpaper.

-Polish with rubbing compound (as fine as you can find).

-If you feel confident in it, put a high gloss clearcoat on it. If not, thats okay but youll have to be careful near it. Be sure you wax it on occasion.
 
Wait, I'm a little lost.. is this your friggin computer or a '57 T-Bird?

Go to a hardware store, get a 5 dollar can of some jazzy looking spraypaint (they have metal flake ones that are pretty cool). Go to town with it on your computer. Try to cover it evenly, if not. Don't sweat it, cause it's just a COMPUTER : )

For someone that proudly advertises above average endowment below the waist, you sure know how to make the hunk of metal that sits next to your desk look awful purty :p
 
Total Immortal said:
Wait, I'm a little lost.. is this your friggin computer or a '57 T-Bird?

Go to a hardware store, get a 5 dollar can of some jazzy looking spraypaint (they have metal flake ones that are pretty cool). Go to town with it on your computer. Try to cover it evenly, if not. Don't sweat it, cause it's just a COMPUTER : )

For someone that proudly advertises above average endowment below the waist, you sure know how to make the hunk of metal that sits next to your desk look awful purty :p

Read my signature. Got it? Okay.

Point being, whats IN your computer is one thing but to me- I like my property to look good. Its pride. Letting your stuff sit there looking like crap is settling on being unhappy looking at it. Not having the cash to buy a new uberfancy PC is one thing, but anyone can enjoy their case with $20 in hardware and a bit of elbow grease.
 
If you want your computer to have a professional, smooth, quality look, do what Shrapnill suggested.

I painted my computer case black and didn't use primer or alcohol and it came out just fine, but the key is to make sure the pieces you paint are clear of dust and particles, and do at least 3-4 coats of paint, sanding with fine grit in between each coat.
 
Wow, thanks for the guide Shrapnill, that'll really help.

Total Immortal said:
Go to a hardware store, get a 5 dollar can of some jazzy looking spraypaint (they have metal flake ones that are pretty cool). Go to town with it on your computer. Try to cover it evenly, if not. Don't sweat it, cause it's just a COMPUTER : )

I'm should probably take the thing apart first before I spray paint it since I dont want any of the stuff to leak throught the cracks. And if I take it apart, it'll void the warranty so I'm probably going to do it sometime late summer after the warranty expires.
 
Shrapnill said:
Read my signature. Got it? Okay.

Point being, whats IN your computer is one thing but to me- I like my property to look good. Its pride. Letting your stuff sit there looking like crap is settling on being unhappy looking at it. Not having the cash to buy a new uberfancy PC is one thing, but anyone can enjoy their case with $20 in hardware and a bit of elbow grease.


Yawn. If you were truly as righteous as you like to think you are, you wouldn't even need a signature, tough guy.

There's nothing wrong with saying what your computer parts are. Damn near everything is so cheap now a days, it's not as big a deal as you like to make it out to be. Now if someone was going on and on about some stupid fancy case that they blew 300 dollars on, then that's one thing. But reading the sheer componentry configurations of people is fun to see.

Furthermore, all you are doing is convincing me of how shallow you are by placing so much emphasis on physical appearances. Get over it.
 
aye29 said:

I'm should probably take the thing apart first before I spray paint it since I dont want any of the stuff to leak throught the cracks. And if I take it apart, it'll void the warranty so I'm probably going to do it sometime late summer after the warranty expires.

I was hoping it was a given that you need to take some step to protect your computer internals. You could either gut it, or you could tape the openings with masking tape.
 
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