Painting drive face question....

S

SilentNoise

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Sep 28, 2003
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Ok, I've dyed all of my drive bays black and all, and they turned out really sweet. The thing is, I still have to do the volume dials, so they aren't sticking out like sore thumbs. They can't be removed from the board, so how do you guys go about painting these things? Do you just tape everything off around it as best you can, and go from there, or what?
 
if you can pop the drive face off and tape off around it (and behind) then spray, let sit, turn, and repeat... if you cant take the face off, then just give it a try with the face on (though from what you said I take it you have the face off (god i hated that damn movie)

good luck
 
If you have any crappy old drives laying around, see if any of them have a black knob. Maybe you could desolder the assembly in your good one and replace it with a black one or leave it out all together.
 
Depends on your drive, but I completely disassembled mine and painted them the accent color of my case (black primary, blue accents). Damn, now that I think about it, my volume controls are actually push buttons, not a knob. Sorry.
 
use some sharpie markers that are fresh out of the box.

If you use some other brand or older ones, you'll get a greyish faded tone rather than black.
 
If you ever taken apart a drive (I have) most of the wheels screw on to the board volume part just unscrew paint and reassemble
 
ok, so i'm new to the modding thing here... you dyed the face plate?

is this just another term for spraypainting? or do you use special paint? or what is the deal with this? I'd really like to be able to do this with some drives I have, but I don't really know how to go about doing it. what do you use on it?
 
It's called vinyl dye and its sold at auto parts stores like auto-zone, etc... check the FAQ for more info.
 
Originally posted by meinzorn
ok, so i'm new to the modding thing here... you dyed the face plate?

is this just another term for spraypainting? or do you use special paint? or what is the deal with this? I'd really like to be able to do this with some drives I have, but I don't really know how to go about doing it. what do you use on it?
Click to expand...

Ya, it's spray on vinyl dye.... similar to spray paint, but I found it to be quite a bit thinner, and more forgiving - PROVIDED THAT you use multipul, very thin coats. Then main benefit I found with dye, is that you don't have ot prime the surface - only clean it off well with some rubbing alcohol.

You should be able to find it at stores like Canadian Tire, AutoZone, etc

My digi-cam's getting fixed right now (who knows when the hell I'll ever see it again), so I don't have any WIP or completed project pics.

If you go to any of these modding/computer board around the net, most of them have pics or How To's kicking around.

Here's a decent guide that I came across at ModTheBox.com: http://www.modthebox.com/vinyldye.shtml
 
Seems like the vinyl dye that was used in that article was glossy. I already put the case away in the box until my build next month, but do I want a flat vinyl dye for a white CD-ROM to match the Lian-Li PC-71 black case? In other words, if I do get vinyl dye, what would be the best color to use?
 
I doubt you'll find a dye to match glossy paint. On my comp, i have a plastic front bezel, and the dye matched the bezel perfectly (yes this was a fluke most likely, but whatever - I'm not gonna complain, right?).

Your next best bet would be regular old spray paint. it'll take some time, but if you go slow, give it time to dry, and use quite a few super thin coats, you should be good to go I'd imagine.
 
I'm not sure if you're talking to me, but the Lian-Li PC-71 doesn't seem to be glossy. It's an anodized aluminum thing. Anyway, I was thinking the dye or spray paint and am leaning toward the dye right now. OK, I see my error (I DO want a flat vinyl dye to match the case).
 
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