To Paint or Not to Paint...

[Windshadow]

the edges... That is the question.
I see lots of folks have painted the edges of the melamine parts of their printer... Is this a must do ? a should do? or a do it for the cool factor?

I can see a reason for all three for the last it is obvious from the photos i have seen here there are lots of very cool looking machines... the bright orange one with the orange display is amazing though not a color that I would choose it looks amazing.

if it is one of the first two I am guessing it is to control the effect that changes in the humidity of your environment might inflict on the dimensional stability of your rig and I understand that Deltas are very sensitive to things like the towers going out of parallel And here on the Maine coast we do get wide swings in Humidity between summer and winter. you should see the way my wide pine board floors that are face nailed have their gaps close in the summer and then in the heating season they open up.

so if it is a must or should do item that means I will be delayed a bit in the assembly of my printer by the both the need to select an edge color and the delay engendered by the painting
also the instructions say to leave the pieces in their matrix until i am at the point in the assembly that I need that part... so painting means extra care in organizing the parts if I do them in a batch..


I t occurs to me that if I paint the edges as Ineed them (with a brush and some oil base trim paint I have rather than a rattle can) I just have the drying time for each batch to consider but is it needed to fill the burned edges with wood putty or bondo and sand before painting? that will add a lo too time to my build I see a suggestion to use Killz as a primer as the edges have a tendency to suck paint but I have lots of paint on hand so if I do paint I can afford that factor if it saves me from needing to do two coats..

I am not sure if I want to delay my build to paint if it is just for the cool factor as amazing and envy worthy many of them are.

so the question is needed or nice?

[Outsider]

It's nice but not needed. I never painted mine. I like the all black look.

[tcat007]

I only painted the 4 main part edges. Used a 6" roller, just took 15 minutes and makes it look cool (even though it's HOT).

[Windshadow]

I only painted the 4 main part edges. Used a 6" roller, just took 15 minutes and makes it look cool (even though it's HOT).

Since the paint is only cosmetic I like your idea a lot. those 4 edges can dry while I build the hotend
Thanks TC!

my concern was it might be necessary to paint all the edges to control possible environmental effects on the geometry of the printer.

[U.S. Water Rockets]

the edges... That is the question.
I see lots of folks have painted the edges of the melamine parts of their printer... Is this a must do ? a should do? or a do it for the cool factor?

The edges of the laser cut melamine will stink like a forest fire for many weeks or months, but if you paint them, it will seal in the smell and the printer will smell as good as it looks.

I painted the main outer edges silver but was careful to paint the "tabs" and interior surfaces where the edges of me melamine protrude through the flat surfaces in black (my unit is a black one). If I had white melamine I'd paint the "tabs" white. I also painted the Logo and Lettering silver. It looks really nice.

I went crazy with the paint, but it adds to the custom look, and keeps the smell away.

[Windshadow]

thanks had not thought of the smell it is rather strong... a very good point

[Mac The Knife]

If you do decide to paint the edges, start with a primer first. The melamine soaks up the paint like a sponge if you don't.

[ccavanaugh]

A dewaxed shellac works well for sealing the edges as well. The nice thing is you can slop it on and clean the excess of the melamine with denatured alcohol.

It's not going to add any bling, but it keeps the stink down.

[Eaglezsoar]

A dewaxed shellac works well for sealing the edges as well. The nice thing is you can slop it on and clean the excess of the melamine with denatured alcohol.

It's not going to add any bling, but it keeps the stink down.

See this link for the Shellac based primer. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_ ... sed+primer