downside of painting the inside of a case

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Shadey216

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 4, 2003
Messages
173
Hey guys. I been thinking about painting the inside of my case. I brought it up to a few friends, and there first reaction was it might hinder heat dissipation. When i asked them why, they couldn't really give me a good answer heh. More and more i think about it, maybee it is possible that painting the inside would be bad.

I was thinking about painting the inside black. Perhaps the layer of paint and clear coat over the steel would prevent the case from absorbing the heat as well as it would if it wasn't painted. The chemicals in the paint, the color black? I dunno, can anyone think of a reason why doing this would be a bad idear? Thanks.
 
If your case has enough airflow, then color will not inhibit the ability your tempatures. Only if your case itself was directly attached to a heat source would paint effet its ability to convect heat away from it. But seeings how steel cases are not known for their heat dissapation *and the BS about aluminum cases doing better is utter crap*

I painted "Blue Fantasy" white inside, and it really brought it to life. Check the before and after.

The only downside is that you can EASILY scratch the paint inside moving stuff. I have already moving my CDROMS and cables.

beforepaint.jpg

newinside.jpg
 
Go for it, you'll love the end result. Painted the inside of mine bright blue. It really adds a lil more sumptin to it nawmean?

damn, bout time i shed the newbie label heh.
 
go for it! if anything goes wrong, just get a big fan (like one u use in the summer) and put it up to the comp, or just take teh sides off,

ANYWHO, a while ago, i lined most of my case with white paper, because i thaught the u/v cathodes would make it glow, nothing happened, i was worried it would catch on fire, but i got a thermometer on my comp, so i can see if my heat goes up drasticly. the enermax model i have has an alarm that goes of, and you can set it to go off when it reaches a certain temp. right now tis running at about, ehhh, 82.5*f

try it out, its what modding is all about
 
c) the case does not absorb heat to begin with so: a) your freinds are crazy :D
 
i painted the inside of mine with a slightly shinier silver than it originally was, and i think it looks nice, if i were doing it again it would be full out chrome with a mirror finish
 
the only thing it affects is grounding. electriciry can not go through paint. so make sure you hard/cd rom drive are properly grounded throgh the PSU black wires. same as the MB
 
Originally posted by Icewindius
...Only if your case itself was directly attached to a heat source would paint effet its ability to convect heat away from it. But seeings how steel cases are not known for their heat dissapation *and the BS about aluminum cases doing better is utter crap*...
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Hear hear.
Have proper fannage, doesn't matter about steel / alum / paint.
 
The only component that might be slightly affected are the hard drives, as they are designed to pass heat out to the sides, where they attach to the case. However, that is such a small difference that you won't notice it. Go for it, its worth the improved look.
 
wouldn't it be hotter inside? since there is an extra layer inside...

but, like other people have stated, if you have proper airflow then you should be good
 
you should definately do it
i like the way "Blue Fantasy" looks and ur case should kick ass after painting the inside
 
Originally posted by pHatalbOom
wouldn't it be hotter inside? since there is an extra layer inside...

but, like other people have stated, if you have proper airflow then you should be good
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No.
 
Originally posted by Shadey216
I dunno, can anyone think of a reason why doing this would be a bad idear?
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Depending on the paint... static buildup. If the paint you use is non-conductive you will build up some serious static fields simply due to the air moving past the painted surfaces.

Any changes in case temperature (provided you are relying on forced airflow to cool your system) would be marginal.
 
nah i dont think painting inside would affect temperature... it does sounds like it would... how would an aluminum case sounds without any fans??? it will be hot!.... so most of the heat are sucked out by the fans and not through the case...
so PAINT THAT SUCKKA
 
ok, I have a question to add to this thread. Would I have to worry about the paint inside of the case with the heat. I've been thinking about painting the inside of my case but especially in area's around the mobo I feel a little insecure painting. I think my biggest concern is right underneath where the processor is on the mobo.. seems like it'd get raelly hot there, would I have to worry about that catching on fire or anything?
 
ok, I have a question to add to this thread. Would I have to worry about the paint inside of the case with the heat. I've been thinking about painting the inside of my case but especially in area's around the mobo I feel a little insecure painting. I think my biggest concern is right underneath where the processor is on the mobo.. seems like it'd get raelly hot there, would I have to worry about that catching on fire or anything?
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Well, if my [email protected] P4 isn't warping or making my paint catch on fire, I say you have nothing to worry about. It takes a tempature of about 200F or higher before paint will reach a point were it will smoke or discolor. Only temp that reaches that high in your case is your CPU die and GPU, which are NOT directly attached to the case. So don't worry about it!;)
 
Sorry, if someone already mentioned this, im at work and have little time to read all of the above posts, but if you're that conserned that heat could be a problem, buy industrial engine paint. Its good up to 500F...no lie.
 
I painted the inside of my case with no problems at all. It actually helped on case noise a slight bit since the panels fit a bit tighter on the case.
 
Someone wanna touch on the static issue mentioned? I'm thinking of painting the interior also but that post has me a little worried.

Can someone confirm on static buildup? (someone that knows and isnt taking a stab in the dark)
 
The static would be the same as an acrylic case. They are both insualted, non-conductive surfaces. There is always an issue of static with everything that does not share a common ground. If you use plastic stand-offs on your mobo, you can get an uneven charge. Unless you are ones of those people that wear a grounding strap every time you open your case, then it shouldn't be a problem.
 
Originally posted by Gargoyle_Hunter
The static would be the same as an acrylic case. They are both insualted, non-conductive surfaces. There is always an issue of static with everything that does not share a common ground. If you use plastic stand-offs on your mobo, you can get an uneven charge. Unless you are ones of those people that wear a grounding strap every time you open your case, then it shouldn't be a problem.
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more than likely the majority of the case and board will still share a common ground (the removable cover might not)
the PSU chassis is grounded, by using the typical machine screws to attach it to the case, you should get a ground, but its nice to augment that with a strap, and depending on the construction almost all steel panels will have a good contact, even with paint

and of course the mobo is grounded (where appropriate) through the PSU as well, as are the HDDs and anything with power, or screws, a little attention paid to screw holes will go a long way.
 
the only time id say id fux up you case is if you had that zalman heat pipe case. You know the fanless one where the gpu, and proc and thinks are on heat pipes to the case. ANd the cast dissipates head for you...............
 
Originally posted by Cloud15x
dissipates head for you....
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kinky :p


actually If I had a case that was acting as a heat sink, not only would I paint the inside, Id insulate too, so that convection and radiation occured on just the outside of the case
(obviously the mechanism isnt transfer via air convection to the case, but rather direct conduction, waterblock or heatpipe)
 
Originally posted by Ice Czar
more than likely the majority of the case and board will still share a common ground (the removable cover might not)
the PSU chassis is grounded, by using the typical machine screws to attach it to the case, you should get a ground, but its nice to augment that with a strap, and depending on the construction almost all steel panels will have a good contact, even with paint

and of course the mobo is grounded (where appropriate) through the PSU as well, as are the HDDs and anything with power, or screws, a little attention paid to screw holes will go a long way.
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The surface surrounding your static-sensitive components would still be an insulator due to the non-conductive paint. You can't ground an insulator.

Same static issues as with an acrylic case is correct.

Since I highly doubt the average modder will have access to a surface conductance meter, then I would recommend using a multimeter to check for conductivity (granted this method may show some surfaces an unsafe when they are in fact static dissapative). If you don't have continuity, don't use that paint.

And since somebody wanted to know that the info was coming from someone who knows and wasn't just taking a stab in the dark:

This is coming from someone who has been IPC-A-610b certified for Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies and has worked in a manufacturing plant that built products for Sprint, Raytheon and APC among others. My chief responsibility was ESD/EOS monitoring/control. I have a bachelors in Electrical Engineering and I am currently working on my Masters in Computer Engineering.
 
Originally posted by Magic H8 Ball
The surface surrounding your static-sensitive components would still be an insulator due to the non-conductive paint. You can't ground an insulator.

Same static issues as with an acrylic case is correct.

Since I highly doubt the average modder will have access to a surface conductance meter, then I would recommend using a multimeter to check for conductivity (granted this method may show some surfaces an unsafe when they are in fact static dissapative). If you don't have continuity, don't use that paint.

And since somebody wanted to know that the info was coming from someone who knows and wasn't just taking a stab in the dark:

This is coming from someone who has been IPC-A-610b certified for Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies and has worked in a manufacturing plant that built products for Sprint, Raytheon and APC among others. My chief responsibility was ESD/EOS monitoring/control. I have a bachelors in Electrical Engineering and I am currently working on my Masters in Computer Engineering.
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Still cant take your word. Could I see a scan of your certs plz? :D

Well from what you guys have said it looks like it will be fine and is paint dependant. I'll hit up a few stores today and see what I can find. I've been wanting to paint the insides for awhile as well.

Cheers
 
anyway, the conductive issue aside, you wont have any more heat for the simple reason that case manufaturers use all sorts of chemicals and sealants on the case anyway, so its not really bard metal to start with.
 
Originally posted by Ice Czar
thats good enough for me :p

so your recommendation is that if your going to paint use certified conductive paints?

http://www.applicoat.com/Conductive Paints.html
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Since the surface you are painting is allready providing the RMI/EFI shielding you do not need to be that concerned with it being _that_ conductive.

Your main goal should be to find a paint that will allow static charge to drain to ground. How conductive it really needs to be depends on how much air is flowing past the surface (causing static charge buildup).

A workbench or a wrist strap you want to be in the Meg-Ohm range... but since you are not going to be working on parts on the side of your case panel then you do not have to worry about it being too conductive (for a work surface, you dont want it too conductive because you want it to bleed off charge not zap).

So for a case panel anthing that provides a path to ground less than or equal to a MegOhm should certainly be fine.

If you have allready painted your case, there are conductvie waxes available.... They tend to be rather expensive though and don't give as high of shine as normal waxes. If you were to use a conductive wax you would want to make sure the conductive wax surface had a path to ground.
 
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