Painting suggestions..what not to do?

[Bill]

I'm considering giving my makerbot a nice paint scheme and I'm
wondering if anyone has any experience with what works best in terms
of what kind of paint, etc.

I'm mainly concerned with how, or if, paint will affect how it all
fits together.

Any helpful words would be appreciated.

Cheers

[TeamTeamUSA]

I copper gilded my entire Batch V bot which entailed four coats of
material: base red paint, gilt sizing, copper leaf, clear finish. I
tried not to apply anything other than base paint to the tabs. The
only holes that needed slight enlarging due to the gilding were the
ones for the X and Y stage support rods.

Go!

=ml=

[Ian Fischer]

That sounds pretty awesome -- did you post pictures of it somewhere?

Ian

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[jet]

I used a water-based stain and sealant on the "good" side of the plywood
and flat black spray paint on the "bad" side. No real problems with
fitting as the coats of stain/paint were very thin:

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/allartburns/4044956724/in/set-72157622538335109/>

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--
J. E. 'jet' Townsend, IDSA
Design, Fabrication, Hacking
design: www.allartburns.org; hacking: www.flatline.net; HF: KG6ZVQ
PGP: 0xD0D8C2E8 AC9B 0A23 C61A 1B4A 27C5 F799 A681 3C11 D0D8 C2E8

[Steve Conklin]

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I painted mine, using a couple of coats of auto primer and a couple of coats of
white gloss, all from spray cans with a light sanding between coats. Here are
some photos a friend took at a demo:

http://smackerelofopinion.blogspot.com/2009/10/makerbot-open-source-3d-printer.html

Since those were taken, the lettering has been filled with black and it looks great.

You will have to trim the paint out of the slots in the plywood before the tabs
will fit in and out of the bearing holes and slide holes, etc because the
tolerances are very close. I think it is easier to trim out the paint with a
craft knife than to try to mask the slots. I used Rustoleum, and it stays soft
for a couple of days, making it easy to clean out.

Steve

[Tox]

Used oil stain on finish side, brushed white paint on off side. Next
time I may use self-stick veneer on off side.

--
Scott Small

[TeamTeamUSA]

Here's one: http://makerbot.wdfiles.com/local--files/lineage/Curio.jpg

I'll post more later. I decided to do a steampunk bot. I replaced all
the provided M3 nuts with brass ones, added a modified knife-switch as
an emergency stop switch, and plan on adding some brass shaded
lighting.

Go!

=ml=

On Dec 16, 1:51 pm, Ian Fischer <ian.fisc...@post.harvard.edu> wrote:
> That sounds pretty awesome -- did you post pictures of it somewhere?
>
> Ian
>

[Matthew Wilson]

That is seriously bling. It looks like it's been cut from plates of copper.

[MikeP]

I'm a staining mine with a water-based wood stain and then spraying on
some clear coat. The stain is 'rosewood', so I'm hoping to go for a
steampunk kind of look as well. I tried filling in the etched letters
with brass, but that hasn't worked so far. I'll try again after all
the sealer is on. However, I really just want to get the machine
together, so I'm likely to start skipping steps (like brass
fillers...) at least until some later date.

I'm a cabinetmaker, and I will second the comment about working to
keep the holes clear. This is why I'm using stain and spray sealer.
Cleaning out all those holes would be a royal pain, but if you use
something thinner than regular paint (anything that sprays, basically)
this won't be such a problem. There are pictures of the process, but
I'm waiting until it's all done before I post them.

-mikep

[Bill]

Wow. Very cool work!

So, it sounds like I need to just get some ideas, paint, motivation,
time, and
get going....

Thanks!!!!

Bill
:-=>

[Bill]

I guess using a dremel would risk making the holes all wrong, so,
it seems much better to just keep them clear in the first place.

Thanks!

[Jerry Isdale]

GoldBot is in process of build now.
After Day 1 it looks like this:
http://picasaweb.google.com/isdale/CrashSpaceMakerbotMakein#5420123394202874514

I painted the outside with Krylon 1701 Metalic Gold and the inside a
flat black.
After a quick test assembly, I found some of the black sides needed to
have their tabs and some edges painted gold, as they stick out. That
required using some painters tape and spraying again. Then there was
some overspray with gold so I had to re-black some parts. (sanding a
couple spots and touchup required too.)

I neglected to paint some of the bar stops and internal stage pieces,
but fortunately I brought the paint with me to CrashSpace and we did a
bit of back alley painting.
http://picasaweb.google.com/isdale/CrashSpaceMakerbotMakein#5420123204096898050

On Dec 16, 10:53 am, Bill <bigp...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Dave M.]

I went for the simplest protection available, though now after seeing
what the rest of you guys have done I wish I had tried to do things
differently. :)

I used a cherry-colored wood stain. It was really easy to apply and
didn't stink up the room too badly. :)

Pics in this blog post: http://bit.ly/8oMdiH

[MakerBlock]

I primed my bot and then painted the exterior gray and interior
silver, without regards to the effect of layers on the fit.
I found that I had to lightly sand some of the tabs (maybe 3 total?)
and two of the X axis guide holes. This probably took less than 30
seconds for all sanding all together. You'd probably do better to
paint the whole thing and sand later than to spend too much time on
not painting some parts.
Good luck!
MakerBlock