CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

MYoung · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 369 Location: Madison, WI

I was just wondering what's recommended for painting chassis plastic. I'm actually looking to paint portions a CRT monitor black for a homemade arcade I'm building. I assume the same applies for painting a plastic projector chassis as for painting a plastic monitor chassis. I seem to remember something about dying or staining plastic (it's white and I'm looking to make it black). Any ideas?

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 4:56 am Post subject:

Use a plastic adhesion promotor on the plastic first, the kind that's designed to paint car bumpers. Then use a flexible bumper primer and put your pain on top of that. It won't chip or peel as easy. Check out your local yellow pages for body shop supply places. They often have this in spray cans or can mix it for you.

XANATOS · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 130

Mike if your lazy like i am try a spray can of krylon fusion

XANATOS

jkruger · Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Posts: 2435 Location: Carlsbad, CA

Clean the surface with a quick wipedown of lacquer thinner, then shoot it with some Krylon Ultra Flat Black. It will stick forever.

dropzone7 · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 1069 Location: Charlotte, NC

AFryia · Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:05 pm Post subject:

MYoung · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 369 Location: Madison, WI

Thanks for the suggestions, guys!

hailtoby · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 99 Location: Cook County, IL

Did you take everything out of the chassis to do the bottom, or did you just mask it off really well?

jkruger · Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Posts: 2435 Location: Carlsbad, CA

I pulled the covers off...

MYoung · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 369 Location: Madison, WI

The Krylon Fusion worked pretty well. I need to do another coat as some of the paint peeled off at the edge of the screen, showing some white. Damn, I think I'm going to abandon my black cardstock mask and just mask off an area for the screen on the plexiglass and just spray paint the back of the plexiglass! Much cleaner!

My first crack at a MAME arcade...

It's a little boxy, short, and lacks a marquee, and is still very much a work in progress, but is still cool. I kinda want to take a crack at making a quarter scale arcade with a small CRT monitor. That would be pretty sweet!

lovebohn · Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 181 Location: Wisconsin

I used the same paint and it needed to sit for almost a week before it hardened and won't chip off. After a day of drying i put the pieces in the afternoon sunlight in my kitchen for a week, tough as nails now.

ecrabb · Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:31 pm Post subject:

Mike, do you mind me asking what you have into materials for that thing? I want to build a MAME machine so bad. I have FOND memories as a kid in the early 80's playing my two favorites - Ms. PacMan and DonkeyKong - at Pizza Hut on "pizza nights".

It seems like you have to spend at least $200-300 on controls, wood, paint, hardware, etc... That got me thinking about one of these:

http://www.dreamarcades.com/3s.shtml

Even the kit is a little pricey at $799+s/h, but I love the idea of being able to play side-scrollers (Xaxxon, Defender, Double Dragon, etc.) AND all the great vertical games. Plus, it's all finished melamine, pre-wired and ready for assembly. Just add monitor and computer.

I'm currently using the MAME cabinet as a "carrot." Along with the popcorn machine and bar fridge, they're my "just rewards" to myself for the work that will go into finishing the basement.

SC

MYoung · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 369 Location: Madison, WI

SC, I was thinking of going the kit route initially. I guess in the end I figured it would be more fun and a bigger achievement to make one from scratch. Plus, I got a 21" Trinitron monitor for a steal ($15 off Craigslist) and I wasn't sure if it would fit in some of the kits out there. I figured custom was the way to go. A kit is going to look nicer than my first attempt, no doubt.

I probably have between $350 and $450 invested into it so far, in addition to lots of time and planning. I still need to finish the monitor masking, paint it, install a coin door and coin mech, get a computer, and setup MAME. Though I was also considering putting FreeDOS on it and programming my own simple arcade games, and of course, charging my friends 25 cents to play them! The coin door and coin mech won't be cheap! I want to get all new parts and getting those new is going to run around $160! It really adds up! It's a lot of fun though. I figure it will end up being around $700 when all is said and done. So after 2800 plays at 25 cents a pop it will turn profitable! Part of me wants to build another and see if I can get a local bar or pizza joint to host it or even buy it. It would be a riot making some crazy ass locally themed game or even some adult themed games for a dive bar! Better yet, it would totally rock if they could be networked so bars could compete against each other! Yet another pipe dream of mine!

If you're interested, here's a link to a Facebook album I put together showing construction progress up until recently...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2292006&l=6f897&id=8623623

banzairun · Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 129 Location: NJ

Just 1 stick? You can't play Robotron! Sad