Painting stainless steel

Soldato
Joined
19 May 2005
Posts
18,140
Location
Lancashire
Hi,

I'm going to paint a hiper PSU, just wondered if ill need etch primer or something else so the paint will stick to the steel. I used some grey Hycote acrylic primer and Simoniz cellulose paint on the inside surface, it looked good but flaked really easily. I was thinking of getting some etch primer would this do the job?. Im not 100% sure if its stainless or not but it certainly looks like it.


Will this stuff be ok, i dont want to spend loads really.

Edit, i think its chromed acctually as ive sanded a bit away and its copper colour underneith. Can chrome be painted :confused: .

Thanks

Mark
 
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Right apparently the finish used on the PSU is chrome not stainless steel. Its a very thin layer of chrome though and some light sanding with 600 grit w&d has gone through to the copper? layer beneath. OK so what do i do now, sand all the chrome and copper away to the bare steel?, or just use etch primer on top of the copper/ chrome sanded finish?.

img1269cb2.jpg


This is the finish at the moment.
 
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ive tried and it just chips off with the slightest knock :( . Ive ordered the etch primer as id like to get this done soon but could do with some advice on what to do with the existing finish.
 
Soupyuk said:
If you have chrome or stainless this will need a very high etch to get your first key. The primer that you are looking at on bay only specs good etch to aluminium but if you have chrome or stainless you will need a more 'agressive' etch and you need to be looking for a acid etch primer really. However these primers do not really have any great build to them so will not hide any scratches.

How quick do you need to get this done?

Thanks for the reply. I dont really have a time limit as such im just itching to get it done to see what itll look like :D . Damit ive already ordered the stuff from ebay as well :( , i emailed the guy to ask if itll be ok for stainless steel and he said "yes perfectly fine", i suppose he just wanted the sale. TBH i dont even know if itll be stainless steel under the chrome, id imagine itll be mild steel?. But thatll mean removing all the chrome and copper layers to get down to the steel. Would etch primer adhere to the copper layer?.

If you know of a place i could get some proper acid etch cheap that would be great. I didnt really want to spend loads but ive already put a lot of work into it so cant stop now.

Cheers
 
Thanks for the advice Soupyuk, I'm hoping this stuff will work, should at least be better than the other primer i was using. Its just a PSU case I'm spraying satin black, it was red but was scratched all over the place so thought id tart it up a bit with some paint i had knocking about.

The chrome is very thin and i have sanded almost all of it off with 600g wet & dry to reveal a copper layer underneath which I'm assuming is a sort of base coat for the chrome plating?. Would etch primer adhere to the copper layer or should i sand back to the steel beneath?.
 
mauron said:
Chrome sticks to most metals (& plastics) it's put over copper because copper doesn't rust. Chrome doesn't rust it's what under it that does.
Ahh so itll be mild steel under the copper then?. I nthink ill sand all the chrome off and then test to see if the paint will stick to the copper, if not ill sand the copper away to the steel.

Thanks for all the help, ill report back with the results when i recieve the etch primer.
 
Thanks :) , what grade wet & dry would you recommend to provide the best key for the paint?, Ive used 600 grade so far to get rid of the chrome.

Ive painted a few things before but Ive always just rubbed the existing paint to get a key and painted over the top so Ive never had these problems before. Well once i painted a Alu silencer and had to use etch primer, that worked OK but like you say Alu is soft.



Will be painted up some cases in some outrageous colour shifting paints shortly so will post some pics. Not quite airbrushing like to chap on here but still very very nice effects.
Thats sounds great, i'll keep my eye out for that.
 
Thanks for your input R B CUSTOMS :) , it certainly is a lot more difficult than id of hoped painting directly to metal :( . The primer hasn't arrived yet but ill give it a go when it does and just hope for the best.

The title is wrong for this thread now as its not stainless but was chrome with a clear red laqure over the chrome. I thought it was stainless but then after sanding to key the surface some areas of copper showed up so then i realised it was chrome. So the paint will either be applied to the copper or if that doesnt work the steel. Most of the chrome has been removed now after a few mins sanding with a sanding block and 600g.

Thanks again and i'll post some pics if it works out :D .
 
samcat said:
Give it a coat of lacquer and slap it in like that.

Looks funky.

Sam C
LOL, medieval style PSU, hmmmm. Well still no primer, although i wouldn't of had time to do any painting today anyway as i had my first driving lesson :) .
 
My primer has arrived and according to the back of the can its suitable for priming alu stainless steel and bare metal. Ill try it out on a small area and leave overnight to see if it does what it says on the tin lol.
 
Cheers :) , whats the best method of degreasing?. Ive sanded lightly again just to get to fresh metal and wiped over with a dry cloth to get any dust off. Will i need to wash with water or white spirit or something?.
 
No not at all im grateful for all the help :) . Ok ill give it a wipe down and put a coat on, fingers crossed :D . Its got a different srpay nozzle than all the other spray cans ive used, its sprays the paint out in a line.
 
What i did was to leave it unplugged for a few days and then i was just very careful not to touch any of the innards. You may need to desolder the switch and kettle lead socket like i did so you will need a soldering iron. I dont think there is a way you can do it without voiding the warranty as you have to break the warranty seal in order to open the PSU.
 
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Hi, just thought id post a quick pic of my progress. Ive put 2 coats of this etch primer on and it seems to have stuck to the copper :) , i did the scratch with nail test and the primer just went shiny where my nail was scratching it.

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This is the grey primer, should i put a couple of coats of this on over the top of the etch primer or just put the cellulose black paint on over the top of the etch?. The etch primer ive been using says "fast drying acrylic filling - anticorrosive primer".

Sorry fopr all the noob questions but i just want to get it right after all this work :o .

Thanks

Mark
 
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:) this is after about 4 coats of black paint and 2 coats of primer. Im pleased with the result, i was after a similar sheen to that of the eclipse case interior and its a pretty close match. Im going to leave it a few days to harden now before putting it back together.
 
Lol, i think ill leave that to the experts :D . Ive put it all back together and plugged it into an old rig and it didn't explode \o/, and looks very nice to boot.
Here are a couple of pictures of the almost finished PSU.

img1467tj8.jpg


img1487zh9.jpg
 
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