Best way to paint rads ?

[paulstung]

For my new build I'm going to be painting an XSPC AX360, at the moment it is silver, and I'm either going with black or white. I'm leaning towards white as the case is white, and my fans are the Alpenfohn wing Boost 2 all black with a white inner ring, so white seems like a good idea.

I went with the AX as it easily comes apart for painting, and the silver was a really good price. I've got the prep done, and am about to get the primer coats on, but the my problem is orange peeling, it always seems to haunt me.

I usually get around 3 - 4 primer coats let that dry 10 min between each coat, then wait an hour before applying the first top coat. Before starting I always shake well, then place the can in warm water with a weight on top, then a little shake again. Then I go about spraying about 4 coats, first up and down then the next coat side side, and so on, but no matter what the orange peel still shows it's ugly head. Then after about an hour, I place the item or items, in a warm oven for a good few hours, turn it off then leave over night.


With every precaution I take bloody orange peel, is there anything I'm missing ? The only other thing I can think of is as well as what I do, put the ran in the oven for a bit to get it warm the same as warming the paint ? Any ideas guys ?

 

[Wraith]

Wet and dry rub down between coats dude, then a nice laquor coat.

 

[shambles1980]

orange peel happens a lot due to humidity. you need to wait for better weather.

just google perfect weather for spray painting or similar.
You should find its something dumb like 21c or something.

 

[paulstung]

I haven,t got any wet and dry, will those sponge sanding blocks do, I use them for everything, and they are oK wet too ?

 

[Davva2004]

What grade blocks are they?

 

[paulstung]

I've got very fine, fine, and medium mate.

 

[Wraith]

Take a look at this old thread fella, same problem as you. TTL gave some top advice and helped him immensely http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=46777&highlight=Paint+guide

 

[paulstung]

Will do mate.

Right I got 2 coats on perfect, with sanding between each coat, it was looking great, until the 3rd coat, one of the end plates and one side of the rad has flacked it looks like that crackle glaze paint you can get. All I can think is, I'm doing it out in the shed, and the metal might have been too cold to take the paint ?

So what was going to be the final coat, it now needs another one to finish it off.

I'm going to be painting the 4 claws off the MSI gaming 5 motherboard, is there anything special I should consider ?