Hello,
Where can I buy touch up and plastic paint.
I’m thinking gun blueing and parkerizing paint.
Maybe there’s something better. You tell me.
Also want to paint different colors in plastic Nitrolons.
Your help is very appreciated.
Cheers.
Biggest problem is most lights are made from aluminum and most paint doesn’t stick well to aluminum.
I’ve previously painted a few lights with Duracoat with mixed results:
- you have to be very thorough in your cleaning or the paint won’t stick well.
- I had to stick 5 coats on to get a durable enough coating
- drying time is 30 days. Yes, 1 month! You have to set the project aside for a month after painting.
- the stuff was quite expensive, especially with shipping costs. probably around $50 total for one can.
A better choice is Cerakote. Cerakote is made by the same company, but it is tougher than Duracoat and cures within hours instead of a month. The downside of Cerakote is it has to be baked in an oven.
And I read it releases smelly chemicals when you bake it, so don’t use the kitchen oven. If you want to Ceracote you should buy a dedicated oven for it and bake it outside where the odor won’t get in your house.
You have 3 methods:
1. Aluminium paint. Not really recommended since it doesn’t stick one.
2. Powder coating. More difficult.
3. Electroplating with different metals. Quite complicated and difficult, but a plating shop can do it for you.
Thank you guys. Great ideas all.
I’ll give it a try.
These lights are for me. Not for sale.
So if I can cover the metal, they will be fine.
Cheers.
If it’s aluminum, perhaps a small anodizer would help. Nothing beats hard anodizing.
I had a small test project and the guy threw it with his production runs for 20 bucks. He had a choice of colors depending on how long I wanted to wait until a particular color production run came up.
You might also look in to CeraCote it is some good stuff and it seems to stick to AL a bit better than most paints. I have not had a chance to compare it to Dura coat yet.
Maybe some rubber paint/coating?
RUBBERcomp -
Relatively cheap, easy to use and multiple color choices.
Painting with epoxy
This may not be the best solution for this flashlight but I thought I should mention it as a good permanent paint alternative.
You can add pigment to epoxy. I use West Systems marine epoxy and have painted objects using a brush with good results. The epoxy should be painted very thin soon after mixing and will self level. You might have to watch the surface and possibly rotate it to avoid slump but if it’s applied thin and allowed to set between coats it usually works out well.
The pigment can be added as a set ratio to the combined hardener and resin or make a color mix using only the resin and just add the hardener in small batches for each coat as you need it. You will get better color consistency adding the pigment to the resin alone.
For a small job the syringes at hardware and auto parts stores should work. Marine epoxy is great but you would have to buy larger containers and it is expensive if you don’t really need it.
I have heard that epoxy is not good for dissipating heat so it may not be the best idea for covering a hot light. But I also think this might be any easy way to add permanent color accents or simple customizations.
There is a link below with instructions on how to add pigment and what type to use, for the most part you can get what you need from an artist’s supply store or order online.
Thank you all for your appreciated sugestions.
I need to find the easiest method, since I’m all thumbs.
Cheers.
Well, do you have an electroplating shop near you?
If you don’t care about cost, that’s your best bet, as they will be able to plate your light with any metal you desire, anodize it with different colors, powder costing, etc.
Flash Bond is a specialized nano-technology liquid primer used as pre-treatment for the bonding of virtually all coatings and epoxies to porous & non porous surfaces such as tile, vinyl, linoleum, fiberglass, ceramic, composite decking, glass, glazed block, wood, metal, Cool Deck, etc. Off white in color, one-part no mixing formula.
I have painted a cheap flashlight with just regular spray paint. I used three coats of primer and three coats for the color. It’s was pretty durable. I could not flick any pieces off with a screwdriver. I had to sand it down to remove the paint.