Enclosure finishing; what the best paint to use..??

[Bullet79]

what normaly people use to paint enclosure... i'v tried a lot,.. but i cannot decide.. sometimes a spray can is handy.. but i also got a spray gun with 2.5hp air-compressor..   

[jasperoosthoek]

I painted an aluminum Hammond enclosure before with a spray can. First a few coats of primer then some good quality finish. I gave that box to a friend who used it on stage. After a few gigs the paint chipped. Maybe I didn't prepare it right.
I can recommend a powder coat finish as it is extremely tough. I'm going to order some new boxes soon from www.smallbearelec.com/Categories.bok?category=Enclosures. You only pay $2 extra for a powder coat finish. But he only sells plain colors. More fancy boxes can be bought here: http://pedalpartsplus.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=PPP&Category_Code=ENC12

[FlyingZ]

I've had good luck with Motomaster Touch Up Paint. Looks really nice and it's hard to chip or scratch.

[m-theory]

It's really not a question of paint type or brand.  It's a matter of adhesion.  All paints will chip.  Adhesion determines whether or not those chips become "peelers."  

Aluminum is very tricky to get adhesion to, and beyond that, I've found that some enclosures, specifically the 1790DD and 125A (I believe) boxes from China/Taiwan/etc are exceedingly challenging.  I suspect that there's some sort of mold release incorporated in the metal that I've yet to find a way to remove entirely, and it leeches out and causes delamination issues.  The BB boxes don't seem to have this problem at all, in my experience.  

Proper substrate prep and product selection and application is the key to good adhesion.  You don't really need to use a spray gun and apply automotive-type refinish products, although it would offer you the benefit of being able to apply a far better line of products that you can apply with spray cans.  Two part products, either catalyzed acrlyic urethane or epoxies, are immeasurably superior to non-catalyzed products. They're also remarkably expensive, and, for our purposes, entirely unnecessary.  If you have a body shop or a buddy with one, by all means, use automotive refinish products and application equipment and techniques.  If not, spray cans work fine for what we're doing.  

Properly clean the bare metal with a good prep solvent, scrach it up good with 120g - 180g paper on an orbital sander, clean it again, either acid etch it with an acid wash product, spray an etch primer on it, or spray an alkyd (sythetic) enamel primer (rustoleum), allow it to dry completely, sand with 320g or so, clean it again with your prep solvent, apply an adhesion promoter, apply your topcoat.  I like to let that sit overnight and then apply envirotex clearcoat, for additional protection and for a truly wet look finish.  

Powder coats are very durable as well, though they'll definitely chip, if struck.  You will have outstanding adhesion throughout, however, because the powder coat process itself brings about outstanding adhesion.  

[Ice-9]

I now use powder coat for my enclosures, It's not hugely expensive to get into and you can buy a small hobby kit. The big benefit i find using powder coat is there is no need for any primers or second coats etc,, it's all applied in one coat and takes 10mins to cure in an oven. You can have an enclosure done start to finish in 30 mins.

On the painting route i would say that using an "etch primer" is one of the most important stages to do, the etch primer bites into the metal giving excellent adhesion for the top coats to be applied to.

[Mark Hammer]

In recent years, I've been using automotive engine paint, intended to hold up in high heat situations.  It stinks a bit, but I find it to hold up nicely.  I think what I like best is that you can bake the daylights out of it without having to worry too much about burning it and resulting discoloration.  That's not to say you can shove it in your toaster oven, dime the heat knob and ignore it, but personally I get more consistent and less disappointing results with it.

Tractor paint also seems to do well for the same reasons.

[Earthscum]

I said it in another thread, and I'll say it again:

Acetone is your friend! (HEED ALL WARNINGS! BAD THINGS CAN HAPPEN IF YOU DON'T).

Especially when it comes to Aluminum. Al is very porous. Acetone gets all the oil out of the pores. I use acetone before I even sand. The small scratches can fold over the pores and lock oils in, then when you do your etching coat, the oils are released into the primer.

Powdercoating Aluminum is another thing. If you don't do some kind of acid etch first, your powdercoat peels. You can argue with me all you want on this, but it's a fact. You may not have problems with stompboxes, but anything that is going to see weather and abuse will start to show off it's lack of adhesion. I know this because my dad powdercoats his own metal art. Steel isn't so bad, especially if you've heated it up (like when my dad color-treats his steel) to the point that oils are carbonized. Aluminum doesn't seem to work that way, so you still have to do an acid etch.

My 2c.

[Philippe]

In the past I have used Duplicolor automotive body primer + color color coat & like any car door, it will chip over time depending on exposure/usage.

Those Hammond powder-coated enclosures appear to be pretty durable...been starting to use them as it is cheaper & less time-consuming than priming/painting on my own.

Another possibility...if you know someone who works in an autobody repair shop, have them paint it for you. There's always going to be a little surplus paint left over after a repair job & depending on the color, it's just as easy for them to blast a couple of boxes, one of the reasons some of my fxs colors are similar to what we commonly see on the roads these days...metallic heathers, metallic charcoals, midnight blues & light metaliic blues.

[amptramp]

I would be interested in knowing if any of you go the Alodyne / Irridite route for aluminum.  These are chromate conversion coatings that are very good paint bases and certain classes are conductive so you can use it to give some protection to the edges that mate together without creating a gap in shielding.