BillFitzmaurice.info

Hi all,

It's been a while since I've been on the forum.

I'm currently having one of the approved builders make some subs and tops for me. I'm asking him to keep them unfinished as I intended to paint them myself. I'm now toying with the idea of taking a different approach and I'm wondering if you all have thoughts on the matter.

Instead of painting them myself I would ask an artist (actually a sign painter) I know who lives in Jamaica to paint on 1/16th inch precut plywood sheets. I would then bring them back home and laminate to the sides of the cabs. I'd sand down the edges, touch up with paint, give it a coat of untinted duratex, and then put on the hardware. My understanding is that untined duratex will dry clear. Obviously this will add some weight to each cabinet. I'm assuming that the bracing inside the cabinets would negate the need for a backing veneer to counter act the warp.

Thoughts about durability of this approach? The best thing of course would be to have the artist come up and paint the cabs directly but the expense of that is huge and visas can be an issue. Other ways of going about this? Sheets of some sort of vinyl covering seems possible but would need a flexible paint and I'm not sure of how well they would adhere or stand up to abuse.

Your comments and suggestions would be most appreciated.

Regards,
Jacob

I'm assuming that you are just doing this for cabinets that you use yourself. If you plan to hire out - it might not be appealing to the customer. But, adding a veneer isn't going to cause any issues with the cab. I have no idea how clear duratex will look.....didn't know they even offered it. I'm sure it will make the artwork look blurry as its not a slick finish.

I'm sure others might have some input...

I'm pretty sure untinted tintable paint does not dry clear. The website for DuraTex does not offer a clear product. It's available in black, white, and custom color. In my experience, tintable paints are usually pretty white before tinting. It sure would be worth your time to call or email them and ask if they can make it happen though.

Cool idea BTW! Creative. I like it. I can see it in a restaurant/bar setting, painted to blend in to match other decor bric-a-brac.

I just realized this board is under the sub category of electronics - might not have been the most appropriate place for this conversation.

Anyhow,
Yes, these aren't going to be rented out or used much by different parties and I'm okay with limiting myself like that - good point though Bruce.
I was surprised that the Duratex would dry clear since it looks milky when you get it untinted but I asked and that's what the sales person at Acry-Tech told me when I reached out. They noted:

Ultra Deep Tint Base version of DuraTex (un-tinted) dries clear.
It looks best when it’s sprayed on.
If you roll it on, don’t use textured foam rollers as the texture will obscure what's underneath (less clear looking).
I might want to use the spray grade version which is thinner. The roller grade is thicker for creating a textured look.

I am going to be moving these around quite a bit so they will get knackered some. That's just going to have to be part of their charm but I wonder if there's any advantage to using duratex given this application or if there's some other polyurethane-type top coat I should use.

Seth, I could totally see this working in bar/club/restaurant setting as well. It's all folly but hopefully, good fun.


Jacob

That's great Jacob! I can't think of anything off the top of my head. If you follow through with it, please let us know how it goes.

Had no idea duratex would dry clear, but that seems pretty cool. Otherwise, perhaps the clear coat that you use over the garage floor epoxy/vinyl chip coating would give you a nice, hard and glossy finish.

@himhimself Yes, I'm imagining there are alternatives worth exploring as you're suggesting. I'll probably try doing some small test.

@SethRocksYou So I'm still working out the logistics of this but my plan on sending panels down to JA and then shipping them back is looking cost prohibitive unless I do the travel myself. Having vinyl or something flexible like that painted is a possibility but then I fear I would need something ever more serious in terms of protective coating on the cabs. Maybe I could apply an epoxy resin of something like that.