I have a powder coated case. It is gloss smooth, almost like a car paint job.

My question was how were modern cases painted, to achieve that slightly gritty, semi-gloss finish , probably more to the matte side, and that was the reply I got. I thought maybe just maybe the person knew what they were talking about.

The powder coated stuff I've seen, mostly auto rims and such, had a similar finish to modern computer casres. I have 5 or 6 that were made in the last 5 years and they all have a similar finsih. I guess you can vary a powder coat finsih like regular paint. Yeah, dopey to assume that they all could have been powder coated. Unless the Chinese have developed a cost effective method. Doubt it. Perhaps it's a variant of the sloppy nozzle method, yet to be attempted 😀. It just spits more finely ... ? Or maybe there is a fine grit (or toiletries) mixed into the paint. What do I know.

Anyhoo I need approximate 6 more hours in a day to play w/all my crappola. And that's not coming off my sleepy time. Sleep is like a narcotic to me.

I sprayed one of my case. It was very yellow, pic don't show how bad it was. It did make case brilliant white again, but the surface is not nice when touching and in close it seems like it's too much ink in some places. It's hard to make it right. I wouldn't recommend doing this.

informatyk wrote on 2023-08-22, 15:37:

I sprayed one of my case. It was very yellow, pic don't show how bad it was. It did make case brilliant white again, but the surface is not nice when touching and in close it seems like it's too much ink in some places. It's hard to make it right. I wouldn't recommend doing this.

What kind of paint did you use? How many layers?

BitWrangler wrote on 2021-09-30, 15:06:

Chris had it right I think, they just twiddle the nozzle on the spray gun so it shoots bigger blobs, or turn the pressure down so it doesn't atomise it right.

This is how we use to do it when we sprayed prototype cases/servers we made for IBM. We had to make the finishes match very close to what it looked like on production products or they would get rejected and we would need to try again.

In my other hobby of model railways people use a spray paint product called Plastikote Suede to give texture for modelling stone or especially concrete surfaces (like bridges and roads).

It seems like availability comes and goes - it is out of stock at Amazon UK now, but there are some sellers on Google shopping search. It used to be sold in B&Q, and I think they actually had a similar Rust-Oleum product last time I looked.

There's a long discussion of it here: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/119853-plastiko … -suede-returns/

Modellers tend to use it for texture then add additional colours to weather it in, but actually the colour from the can is quite beige like!

ildonaldo wrote on 2021-09-14, 12:55:

Hi, I've got a beautiful, but old case thats hood I probably have to grind down to the bare metal because of some deep scratches […]
Show full quote

Hi,
I've got a beautiful, but old case thats hood I probably have to grind down to the bare metal because of some deep scratches and corrosion.
IMG_20210914_144344_1.jpg

How can I recreate or mimic the original surface structure (e.g. with a paint roller)?
IMG_20210914_144332_1.jpg

TNX & regards

I've had great results applying a basecoat of liquid filler (essentially really thick primer) using an undercarriage paint gun:

Then spray painting the case as normal.

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-08-22, 15:50:

informatyk wrote on 2023-08-22, 15:37:

I sprayed one of my case. It was very yellow, pic don't show how bad it was. It did make case brilliant white again, but the surface is not nice when touching and in close it seems like it's too much ink in some places. It's hard to make it right. I wouldn't recommend doing this.

What kind of paint did you use? How many layers?

One layer. In some places second layer. The color is great but still too white, it's looks like from factory. I'm not used to it.

informatyk wrote on 2023-08-24, 11:22:

One layer. In some places second layer. The color is great but still too white, it's looks like from factory. I'm not used to it.

some time ago I made a visiual comparison of the two colours that I use for spraypainting old cases ...
colour comparison RAL 1013 VS RAL 9002