How to paint MDF to a mirror finish worklog

Looks great man. I’ll be using this for when I’m ready to paint.

oh man that finish is hot! great guide.

Thanks guys. I actually had a few swirl marks left in that last pic that I’ve since fixed. I’m gonna take a few more glamour shots once I get my SLR back from my friend.

best guide i have ever seen. Did you use spray can or paint brush? For the last guide, did you finish it with clear coat after sanding with 1500g?

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Nope. After sanding with 1500g you buff it with rubbing compound and then a swirl remover. It was all done with spray paint. I couldn’t imagine doing it with a brush. You would have to sand the hell out of it to get all those brush marks out.

This is one cool tutorial Digital717. I am filing this away for future reference.

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Thank you for the tutorial, Digital717… I’ve learn a lot from this :slight_smile:

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as i was putting on my first coat of clear the paint immediately cracked, and ruined all my hard work. Could this have happened because the color coat was not dry enough or i didnt wait long enough after wet sanding it?

Thanks Kaytrim. Personally I would never use this method if I were selling the case. It’s so tedious and time consuming that I wouldn’t sell it any less than $150 at least for a blank case, and no one would buy it at that price.

Tracer1 - Thanks man I’m glad you learned something.

pkrstdnt - I don’t know why your paint is cracking. Usually that is due to moisture or improper prep work, like not using primer or not cleaning properly.

Hey Digital does this mirror finish work with any other color than black, or does black look the best?

You can use any color, but the darker it is the more of the mirror look you will get. Any color will look good though.

Amazing work, thanks for this.

Nah it wouldn’t be for a standard blank case. I would offer this as a premium option for custom stick orders.

If you plan on doing that you should consider investing in a high quality spray gun.

That is simply amazing. I will def. be trying this out on an arcade stick in the future! Thanks again for the great guide!

No problem man. It’s all worth it if it helps some of you guys get a great finish on your sticks!

For anyone who attempts this post up some pics in this thread so I can see your work.

Just as another reminder to everyone. This takes a LOT of patience, time, and work. In the end it’s definitely worth it though.

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Yes it’s very useless, but it looks so nice sitting on top of my dresser doing nothing! Maybe I can think of some way to use it for something.

Hey! Check out my result… but I cheated, I only wetsanded the primer and put the top coat on and then did the rubbing compound and scratch thing, cause I couldn’t believe how shiny it was… but look at it with only one wet sand procedure!!! Its actually shiner in real life though:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a362/mewimakitten/Uploads%20via%20Pixelpipe/th_pixelpipeexporter3266.jpg

I’m def. going to follow the whole procedure!

Rubbing compound is only for getting rid of scratches from sanding. If you didn’t sand that top coat you don’t need to apply rubbing compound.

I forgot to mention in the first post that all of the steps that I took are not necessary for a great paint finish. You only have to do what I did if you want the best possible mirror finish. You can skip the clear coat step altogether though and still have a really good finish.

is just having polishing compound sufficient, or do i need rubbing compound and scratch remover? thanks