Re: Clear coat a semi mirror finish enclosure. Will the clear coat stick to it?

Posted by nonost on Mar 02, 2018; 10:21pm
URL: http://guitar-fx-layouts.238.s1.nabble.com/Clear-coat-a-semi-mirror-finish-enclosure-Will-the-clear-coat-stick-to-it-tp41887p41994.html

Travis wrote

Generally speaking a finish will like to stick to a surface that isn’t sanded beyond like 220. Once you go past 220, the surface can become too slick for the finish

I've sanded one with 120, 240 and 400 grit and the other one with 120 and 240. And to be honest I don't see the former looking much prettier or nicer...I even went through 120,240,400,800 and 1000 with one of the enclosure's backside and I was a little dissapointed with the result...I  was expecting more shine from it. Maybe the Tayda enclosures have somenthing to do about it. Well, the good thing is that with 120-240 the enclosure looks good enough for me :)

I'll tell you how they both behave.

rocket88 wrote

Well I paint all my enclosures after being danced to  800-1000 grit. This goes for just clear or color. I haven't had an adhesion issue yet. The key is to make sure the surface is clean and oil free. So I wash the enclosure with soap and water, then go over it with alcohol prior to laying down a coat of paint. No special tricks or products. I do use automotive paint and bake each coat.

That sounds good. If the clear sticks well I will try to clear coat it with higher grits. I've wahsed it soap and clean it with acetone as usual before I did the drawings and used gloves in order to keep it clean for the clear coat.

BetterOffShred wrote

Yeah I use a 160 sponge

Works great.  It's nice enough to clear coat the bare aluminum for kind of a military box type vibe. Maybe not shiny enough for what you're looking for

With 240 looks nicer than I thought! Offtopic: are you from Arkham? ;)