Durable brush or roll on coating

[WoodShack]

I am going to be making a limited number of 19" rackmount cases for equipment. Similar to an "Anvil" type case. But I don't want to cover it with laminate. I have thought about Dura Tex, but I don't do spray finishes. Any other ideas?? Remember that this stuff WILL be mistreated to some degree and has to be tough. I also don't want to use carpet to cover it with.

[Barry_White]

Woodshack

I don't know where you are, if that is Kentucky USA or Kentucky NSW Australia the same as me.

If you are in Aus why not Wattyl Estapol. It is pretty durable and can be brushed or rolled on.

Also not sure what you mean by rackmount cases or even an Anvil case. Is that maybe a yankee term or is it like wooden suit cases sitting in racks.

[Bob Willson]

Almost certainly USA


See http://www.cases2go.com/html/anvil_rackmount_cases.htm

[Barry_White]

Thanks for that info Bob. It is a poor day that you don't learn something new. Although I have seen them before, I didn't know what they were called.

[WoodShack]

Yes, I'm in the USA. I find it a very good learning process to not only talk with woodworkers from my area, but also get ideas and tips from around the world. Sometimes, if your not carefull, you can get into a "rut" if you stick with the same mindsets and it takes new ideas to spark things. I'm not familiar with Wattyl Estapol. I'm going to do some reasearch but I'm assuming it's an oil based or catalyzed finish. This is for a PA system and would be used for to hold all their electronic stuff. But it needs to be custom made.

[Barry_White]

Hi Woodshack

Wattyl Estapol is an Australian Product and has been around for quite some time. This will give you a bit of information and there is probaly an equivelant in the USA.

http://www.wattyl.com.au/DIY/Product...e&Name=estapol

[soundman]

Estapol is a polyeurathane "varnish". I would not recomend it for road cases. Ok for a furnituse piece for the studio.

The finish of choice for painting road cases in AUS is "Rockhard" a very very thick water bassed polyeurathane texture finish. you put it on with a roller.
Emmerclad I believe is very similar. I am not familiar with a us product But I am shure its a similar product would be available.

If you are buying at the hardware store any black polyeurathane paving paint works well & I use that form time to time, no texture though.

If you want fast & cheap GMH flat black. A lot of hire companies use it & have a spray gun at hand always. Box a bit shabby.... squirt with GMH.... all black.... dry in 5 min.

the duratex may be somilar to Rockhard & you may be able to apply it with a texture roller.

Black stone chip coating can also be used but its durability aint as good as rockhard. usualy sprayed but can be tex rolled.

cheers

[Tympani]

Can you tell me where I might find the Rockhard road case paint in Perth Western Australia. Do you know any dealers or distributors. Thanks

Tymp

[marek61]

Does anyone know where to get this rockhard paint in Sydney? I want to paint some stage speaker cabinets and it sounds like the stuff to use, but this forum seems to be the only place on the internet in Australia where it is mentioned. The other paint which seems good is DuraTex, but the response from the American manufacturer is that they have had a lot of enquiries from Australia but have no distributors here.

[Petebass]

Does anyone know where to get this rockhard paint in Sydney?

http://www.cannononline.com.au/store...idProduct=1359

4 litres = $99, plus last time I looked at this several years ago, you also had to buy a hardener. It's a great idea but at that price, I'll cover mine in carpet thanks!

[soundman]

I wonder if smitthy has settled down on his formulation.

I got a couple of batches that would spray happily with a body deadner gun, then I got a batch that was so viscous the gun wouldnt lift it.

first couple of batches had no hardner, I got one batch that there was an optional hardner for, then there was no hardner.

I havent baught any for quite a few years now.

I like the life like high resolution graphic on the site

cheers

[Petebass]

I wonder if smitthy has settled down on his formulation.

I got a couple of batches that would spray happily with a body deadner gun, then I got a batch that was so viscous the gun wouldnt lift it.

first couple of batches had no hardner, I got one batch that there was an optional hardner for, then there was no hardner.

I havent baught any for quite a few years now.

I like the life like high resolution graphic on the site

cheers

Did you notice your cabs gaining any weight when you used this stuff? I ask because the Rhino Ute/Truck liner I used on one of my cabs added 3kg, much to my disappointment. It's indestructible, but 3kg is 3kg, especially at 2am and you're contending with drunks, stairs, and drunks standing on the stairs........

[soundman]

I don't think I noticed any particular weight increase.
See it all depends on how thick you lay it on too.

The rhino liner, being an automotive product is problay body deadner related and there for may be inherantly heavy.

I hve done light coats on 10mm ply for road cases & wouldnt say that there was a noticable increase in weight.......aplying light laminate I know does make a significant reight increase on 10mm ply.

Just from handling the product, I dont think the weight is a significant problem.

I have some 12& horn trap boxes that have a very heavy (spagetti roller) coat of the black they are 15mm radiata ply.....I doubt if the rockhard would be significant.

These days I would be laying up thinner coats, because I think it is more practical.
If you lay up heavy coats, like serious dimensional texture it takes days to harden off properly even with the hardner.
Those trap boxes took me 3 days to paint and another week before i could safely stack them on each other.
I did one light hard brushed in coat and 3 or 4 spagetti roller coats.

I find 3 coats with a standard roller over two days gives an acceptable and durable finish, with a reasonable texture.
then leave two days to harden in warm weather.
This gives a finish similar to what you would see on turbo's and martin's.
The light coat is then easier to patch up, you can just sand up naything uggly and give the patches a prime dab the roll over the whole cabinet.

If you lay on a heavy texture, then the boxes get knocked arround you have a lot of work to make the boxes look like they havn't been "patched up".

cheers

[rohbottis]

Ok, after hours of searching the web for speaker cabinet paints available in Australia and thanks to soundmans advice I found "Rockhard" as suggested by soundman only spelt "Rockard" available on ebay.com.au..it's cheap too ($270 for 15ltr) that's if anyone is still interested.

[Bob Willson]

And in two days time that post will be 5 years old. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.