Sorry, wrong track,...

[76nemo]

Not exactly the right chapter to place this, but I figure it's a legit question. I have tried spray painting a few panel covers and can't get them as purty as I would like.

I wire brush, sand and paint. I have tried Rust-Oleum, but I can't get them nice and purty like a new finish on a car. I have tried several thin coats, but they never completely shine like I would like them to.

Any pointers? Pretty sad I come to Mike's site to learn how to properly paint

 

[brantmacga]

i've only repainted covers w/ the square D grey paint and they come out fine. I start out w/ some gunk remover spray, steel wool, rough sand then fine sand. Its hard to get the steel wool scratches out by hand but you can't notice w/ the grey paint. You may need some kind of powered sander/buffer to get a nice shiny finish.

 

[ceknight]

....I wire brush, sand and paint. I have tried Rust-Oleum, but I can't get them nice and purty like a new finish on a car.....
Any pointers?

Have you considered taking them to an body shop for painting?

If I wanted a nice, car-like finish on a piece of metal, I'd take it to the folks who install those finishes professionally.

 

[76nemo]

Have you considered taking them to an body shop for painting?

If I wanted a nice, car-like finish on a piece of metal, I'd take it to the folks who install those finishes professionally.

No Chris, I haven't even thought of that route. I figured I was going about it the wrong way, or doing something stupid which is nothing new. I just spent the last two days running four coats on finished sanding and they came out as a 20% matte finish. I am doing something wrong!!!

 

[76nemo]

Chris, I am 2 hours north of you in Ogdensburg, which is very rural. You like the city life????????

 

[ceknight]

Chris, I am 2 hours north of you in Ogdensburg, which is very rural. You like the city life????????

Yeah, that's rural, there's not even a duty-free shop at the border crossing near there!

Syracuse is OK, as long as you like potholes and road salt. But my guess is you have those up there, too.

 

[cschmid]

OK are they new or used covers..if they are new all you need to do is wipe them down with paint thinner, I use rustoleum and a clear coat finish..if they are all rusty I take them to a friend who owns a body shop and he paints them for me, I sand them and he finishes them even use bondo on the rust pits..

 

[jrdsg]

color-match panel covers

color-match panel covers

a couple of years ago we were on a high-end residential where the low-voltage consultant had a brainstorm to send out all the cans to the local porsche shop where the body guys could color match them to the customer's car.

 

[ultramegabob]

Powdercoat

Powdercoat

I recently painted some panel covers that were in a commercial kitchen, they had already been repainted once before a nasty green color and were covered with years of greasy kitchen finger prints, I de-greased them and just bought some light gray enamel and rolled it on, it came out good enough for me, and the customer didnt expect me to do it, and was very happy with how it looked. If you want a really nice factory looking finish that will last for a long time, I would find a shop that does powdercoating. Powdercoat costs less for labor than a paintshop charges for small jobs like a panel cover. I recently had a half dozen bender handles re-powdercoated, it cost 25 dollars (the shop min charge) I would think 2-3 panel covers would be around 30 to 40 bucks...

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Why are you guys painting covers. I thought that was the painters job. I have never painted a cover and can't imagine that I ever will.


If I were to paint a cover I would use an enamel gloss spray paint from a can.

 

[JohnJ0906]

Why are you guys painting covers. I thought that was the painters job. I have never painted a cover and can't imagine that I ever will.

Everytime I see a painter do a panel cover, they just use the samr flat paint as the walls. You will leave prints all over it if you get your hands close to it.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Everytime I see a painter do a panel cover, they just use the samr flat paint as the walls. You will leave prints all over it if you get your hands close to it.

So-- that's not my problem. The homeowners usually want the panel to blend in so I have no issue with that.

I do, however, hate the fact that they paint the dang cover to the wall.

 

[augie47]

From what I've seen, the real secret is to put a really thick coat along the edge makeing sure to produce as tight a bond as you can between your cover and the surrounding sheetrock.

 

[ultramegabob]

Why are you guys painting covers.
QUOTE]


the only reason I painted the covers was they had so much sharpie, whiteout, stickers, masking tape, sticker dots, etc. etc. etc. I wanted a nice fresh surface to install my panel legend on without any confusion which labels were correct. the painters were long gone by the time I decided to do it. I already had the paint, all it took was a 2.00 roller cover, a disposable plastic roller pan and a couple minutes to make it look nice. Just going the extra mile...

 

[zog]

We powder coat all of our panels and breaker frames, thats the only way to get them looking new.

 

[JohnJ0906]

From what I've seen, the real secret is to put a really thick coat along the edge makeing sure to produce as tight a bond as you can between your cover and the surrounding sheetrock.

Unfortunately, that is not a secret. It is actually very widely known.

 

[ItsHot]

caulking

caulking

Don't you love it when a painter has caulked around a panel cover and you have to remove it!

 

[mdshunk]

I had a couple Siemens covers mad: ) painted at an auto body shop that I pass by nearly every day. Cost 45 dollars to do them both. The finish was top notch. I couldn't have painted them for 45 dollars.

 

[peter d]

I had a couple Siemens covers mad: ) painted at an auto body shop that I pass by nearly every day.

I'm guessing you're not a Siemens fan? (I'm not.)