painting

[flux01]

Hi all,
I've built a couple of speakers, and I've learned that I have my limitations. Basically, I'm not so good at painting. The speakers I've made look alright, but for my next attempt I'd like to have speakers that look great. As such I'm wondering if anyone has gotten speakers painted professionally, and if so could you let me know if you think it was worth it. I don't even know where to find someone to do this for me, and have even less of an idea of what it would cost. I live in the Toronto area, so if anyone has specific suggestions, that would also be welcome.
Thanks,
Dave

 

[richie00boy]

Look at Shinobiwan's Percieve 2.0 thread, for ideas, inspiration and how-to, if nothing else.

 

[ShinOBIWAN]

I had some lengthy email conversation with Vikash(another member on here) about spraying and whilst I'm absolutely not a guru on the subject I've found a finishing method that works well on MDF and produces professional and pleasing looking results. Since we're not spraying car body parts you've got to work a little differently when dealing with a nice finish on wood/MDF. There's a fair amount of work but its well worth the reward IMO.

Here's the bulk of the spraying info that I passed onto Vik:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=908703#post908703

There's also a few other good threads about spraying hidden away that could be turned up with a search on here.

Regarding getting someone else to do the work for you. I'm assuming you mean a car body shop. I looked into this when I realised that I couldn't get the results I wanted out of a spraycan. Here in the UK there's plenty of body shops and most aren't interested in spraying speaker cabinets, I did find one that was willing to do the work but I quickly realised that I was rather uneconomical ie. very expensive. The amount of work is pretty vast with many hours spent sanding, spraying and finishing not to mention the materials cost.
I decided that the best thing for me to do was to buy a compressor and spraygun then do the whole thing myself. I was surprised at just how easy it was once you've got the proper equipment, the bulk of the work comes from sanding and flatting the surface out which is time consuming.

Anyway if you need some more advice I'll try to help out. But I'll leave you with a pic of what my humble and basic spray setup can acheive with a bit of work:

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

 

[Bazukaz]

Hi,
I have tried to use standard spray paint.One of methods is to spray with very fast drying paint from a large distance(approx 30-50 cm).The paint particles dry out partially while flowing through air , and form a matt surface , which hides most of unregularities.The exact distance must be experimented with.
Many thin layers of paint applied with a parlon paiting roller(on wood type surfaces) give quite good results as well.

Regards,
Lukas.

 

[flux01]

Thanks for the responses.

The paint particles dry out partially while flowing through air , and form a matt surface

This is what I've been able to end up with. I've tried numerous to get a nice smooth finish, but despite going through a ton of sandpaper (wet sanding, 800 grit or more) I was never able to get a finish I was happy with.

Here in the UK there's plenty of body shops and most aren't interested in spraying speaker cabinets, I did find one that was willing to do the work but I quickly realized that I was rather uneconomical ie. very expensive.

I figured that may well be the case. I guess it'll just take more practice and some better equipment.

Thanks again,
Dave

 

[renfrow]

One tip, from a spray can painter: 'paint' the exposed cut edges of MDF with several coats of diluted wood glue (2-3 water to 1 glue). Otherwise the edges will SUCK up the paint. And keep on sucking it up. Probably also good for other painters .

Tom.

 

[BobEllis]

Thanks for the responses.


This is what I've been able to end up with. I've tried numerous to get a nice smooth finish, but despite going through a ton of sandpaper (wet sanding, 800 grit or more) I was never able to get a finish I was happy with.




I figured that may well be the case. I guess it'll just take more practice and some better equipment.

Thanks again,
Dave

At 800 grit you are almost halfway there. You should go to 1200 or higher before using rubbing compound and then polish and wax.

Better spray guns reduce sanding time, but sanding technique is still essential for achieving the mirror gloss. It does take some practice and lots of patience.

Did you add a few drops of dish washing detergent to your water? It helps prevent clogging the sandpaper, so the paper lasts longer.

Most importantly, did you use a sanding block? It is absolutely essential for surface flatness.

Nearly as essential as a sanding block is thorough cleanup between grits. A few particles of 600 grit will ruin your 800 grit sanding efforts.

Sand in straight lines. It helps both flatness and prevents digging in the edge of your block. Spend as much time with each grit as you did the previous grit.

See the gloss painting technique discussion thread for more ideas.

 

[BobEllis]

Another thing to keep your paper from clogging and to get better results - let your finish cure a week or so before you try to sand it out.

 

[ShinOBIWAN]

Did you add a few drops of dish washing detergent to your water? It helps prevent clogging the sandpaper, so the paper lasts longer.

I'll give that a try next time I sand.

 

[dnsey]

Aerosol acrylic lacquer gives a mirror finish if you can contrive to work with the surface horizontal and flood it. Touch dries in a few minutes, but beware that it's not really hard for several days.
I use it for refinishing vintage gear which originally had a cellulose finish - it gives a similar result, but is much more durable.

 

[Virtalahde]

One tip..

Start painting way outside the area you're painting. You're losing some paint but many spray cans shoot a bit bigger blobs of paint the moment the button is pressed. Also stop outside the painting area.

Has helped me to make more uniform looking paint works (front panels mostly).