Painting a PC case

[RobertVanGilder]

Hi everyone. I was just wondering if i need to remove the paint from my pc case before i spray paint it black. (The case is grey on the inside)

[Salmiakbal]

Complete removal of previous paint is not necessary though recommendable. You can probably buy paint removal chemical goo (don't know what's it called in English) at any hardware store, it works wonders, especially for ''cheap'' computer case paint (ie not 2k or powder coating). Otherwise you can use fine sandpaper (400 grit) to sand down the original paint. After that make sure it's dust free, using some alcohol with a paper towel is not a bad idea either. After that apply a primer, and after that probably 2-3 layers of paint. Make sure temperature is alright and if possible do it in a relatively dust-free environment.

This may seem like a lot of stuff to take into consideration, but it's to ensure optimal result. If you don't care as much, you can skip some stuff.

[Kev]

The relatively non-dusty room part in the OPs post is important. Also use spray paint if you hadn't planned on doing that already.

[Guest]

With spray paint, keep a constant distance from what you're painting If you change then you'll start applying uneven amounts of paint that can pool into drops which look ugly and get messy to remove.

[Protoss]

There is no need to strip down the paint, just sand it down enough so it's not glossy anymore. The sanded paint will serve as a primer and allow the new paint to stick better than if it was the bare metal.

[Puppet]

When you say grey on the inside do you mean bare metal? If its already painted then no need to remove the old paint, just key it down with wet n dry 800-1200 or you could use grey scotch brite.

If you are going for a matt finish, aerosol spray paint is okayish. If going for a gloss, definitely go with a 2k clear over base as aerosol clear coat is useless and will not last..If you don't have the equipment to spray COB then recommend paying to get it done

[RobertVanGilder]

Thanks guys for all the tips. I used sandpaper and a scotch brite to remove some of the old grey paint and it turned out great. Then I spray painted with black matte paint (3 layers) and I waited for it to dry. I then installed all of the hardware and it doesn't look too shabby.. I will upload a seperate "Case Mod" thread to show off my finished PC after I install my CPU liquid cooler (I'm between a Cooler Master 120mm cooler and the Corsair H60. It wont be a custom water cooler because it can't fit in my case and it's basically just too much of a hassle for a 2 year old machine with two different GPU graphics cards (6970 and 5850))... I forgot to take pictures of how the rigg looked before the re-paint and hardware installation but what can you do...

[Aphexx]

you sprayed it with a layer or 2 of primer before your color top layer right?

[RobertVanGilder]

you sprayed it with a layer or 2 of primer before your color top layer right?

Yup