Mic bodies - finishing questions...

[alk509]

Hey guys,

What do you all do in terms of the finish of your mic bodies? I'd like to paint some bodies a matte black with a wear resistant paint that's cheap and looks "professional".

I've been looking at cheap powder coating kits online that you can get for a couple hundred dollars... Has anybody here used anything like that?

What about spray paint? What kinds work on the polished brass tubing most of us seem to be using?

I'm telling you, I'm stumpified! :?

Peace,
Al.

 

[Guest]

Watching with interest...
I really love this finish (on the SE ICIS)
How do you do this???

 

[AudioJunkie]

If I can ever find a machine shop to do the mic body for me, I'm going to have the mics powder coated. Contacted 4 machine shops in the Houston area that supposedly do small jobs, but never get a response past the initial "thanks for contacting us, we'll get a quote to you asap."

I tried spray paint using the industrial Krylon stuff. Looks okay, and three coats letting it dray a day between coats seems to be pretty resistant to chips and stuff.

Daniel

 

[scott_humphrey]

Go to http://www.emachineshop.com and download their free software. They will machine parts based on your design. You can then specify the finish e.g. powder coating, chrome satin finish, etc.).

 

[alk509]

[quote author="scott_humphrey"]Go to http://www.emachineshop.com and download their free software. They will machine parts based on your design. You can then specify the finish e.g. powder coating, chrome satin finish, etc.).[/quote]

Yeah, emachineshop is great! In fact, they are making me 20 microphone end-caps and 100 tube-socket-holding-thingymajigs...

But having them make and powder coat the bodies would cost 60 bucks per body if I get 20 bodies. Prohibitively expensive, considering I can buy the powder coating setup and several feet of brass tubing and make them myself, for probably half the price...

Plus they say they can't make the square holes on the round body, like this:

Hey Daniel, do you have any pictures of your spray-painted mic? I'd love to see what that looks like!

Peace,
Al.

 

[Scodiddly]

I've been using copper pipe, and doing all the work myself with a Dremel tool. I just recently figured out a cool way to do the openings on the sides, too. I used to mark on the pipe with a Sharpie, which is of course tricky and time-consuming. So now I have some removable 2x4" labels from the office supply store, and I use my laser printer to print the cutouts onto the label. I then stick the label onto the pipe, which also serves as protective masking while I'm doing the cutting. Neat, eh?

For a finish, I've been using hardware store brand clear spray lacquer. I spend a fair amount of time sanding (and then steel wool) the bodies beforehand, with a final alcohol wipe to make sure there's no skin grease.

On my todo list is to see about having the bodies bead-blasted and coated/painted. Supposedly a friend knows a shop that will do this at a reasonable rate.

The machining is really not that much work, once you've done a few bodies and figured out a few tricks and techniques.

 

[alk509]

[quote author="Scodiddly"]I've been using copper pipe, and doing all the work myself with a Dremel tool.[/quote]

That's what I did for the one in the picture. It actually came out pretty good, but it took forever! (4 or 5 hours).

[quote author="Scodiddly"]So now I have some removable 2x4" labels from the office supply store[/quote]

That's a GREAT tip!!! I'm sure I can somehow adapt it to larger bodies/cutouts. Thanks! :thumb:

[quote author="Scodiddly"]For a finish, I've been using hardware store brand clear spray lacquer.[/quote]

I just don't like the "this-used-to-be-a-pipe" look :wink:.

Peace,
Al.

 

[asm]

[quote author="uk03878"]Watching with interest...
I really love this finish (on the SE ICIS)
How do you do this???

[/quote]


thats sand blasted or bead blasted aluminum.

someone could do that in 10 minutes. shouldnt cost much. if you didnt have access to one, you could do it with stages of sandpaper, but it will have more of a 'brush' look than a pitted one then.


taylor

 

[alk509]

Sweet! I just found a powder coater 5 minutes away from my home, who can coat a bunch of mic pipes black for $2.50 each!!!

Peace,
Al.

 

[maxwall]

Has anyone tried the vintage coating finish used on the older silver bodied vintage mics
Correct me if I'm wrong , but I understand the coating process as nickel sulfamide ? It's a dull matt silver finish with a ruff surface. It's sprayed on the mic body using electricity and polarization. The body turns on a polarized jig while the nickel deposits bond to the body or shell of the mic. More sophistocated plating companies offer this finish as a option. Then the bottom bell and grille go in for polished chrome.

Also, what is the most accepted way to cut out the mic body for the screen. It seems if you do it by hand its pretty hard to keep a squared straight line. I have a small benchtop milling machine I was thinking of using for this cutting process. Downside is I have to fabricate a jig to hold the mic body without any twisting going on while I'm cutting out the two sections out of the tubing. Has anyone tried the milling machine approach ?

 

[Scodiddly]

For doing the mic windows, the cutouts on the side of the pipe, those little Dremel cutoff wheels work best. You use the thin variety, not the "heavy-duty" wheels - if you break them, you just need more practice.

Anyway, the trick is to just cut slots around the edge of the windows - having square windows makes this easier. Cut right on the edge - starting inside and working outwards to the final shape just takes too long.

It took me a few mics to get used to using a Dremel this way. When I'm cutting, I have both arms resting on a stable surface, and my hands are touching for further stability - maybe I've got a couple fingers that can touch, or my Dremel-hand thumb can rest on the workpiece, etc. No vise, just very careful and stable hands. The main thing is to not let the cutting wheel grab, since then it'll jump and nick the workpiece. At this point I've done maybe a dozen mic bodies, and it's second-nature to me.

 

[Scodiddly]

[quote author="alk509"]
I just don't like the "this-used-to-be-a-pipe" look :wink:.
[/quote]

I kind of like it... if I've done a decent job, most people can't see the pipe at all, but people who are more mechanically inclined will recognize the pipe and be impressed by that aspect of it.

 

[MARTYSOUND]

Hello there.
Here is a weblink to a cheap powder coating system.
I have no experience with this but know that a oven is required to
bake the paint.
Hope it helps.
Newbie.
J. Marty

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=42802

 

[asm]

problem with powdercoating is that it was designed to replace painting for industrial type applications. so the nice aspects is that its cheap, fast, and crazy durable. the negatives is that you dont get a super wide color range as you do in paints, and the finish isnt like paint.

i dont know if it will look to professional, but for 2.50$ its worth an experiment!

 

[tubemonkey35]

Scodiddly, you did that mic with a dremmel? Was it tough to cut through the copper?

I'm interested in how you did your mesh; maybe you already posted that somewhere though.


Alk is emachiene going to make bodies for you too?

 

[AudioJunkie]

I've looked into eMachineShop.com but 1: the software doesn't like running on VirtualPC and 2: they can't seem to do tubes. Only solid materials.

There's a powder coating shop just down the road from me too. That's why i'm planning on doing that instead of spray painting.

I only spray painted parts of a screwed up body to see which style of black i wanted. I can take pics tomorrow when there's some daylight, if you still want them.

Daniel

 

[AudioJunkie]

[quote author="asm"] the negatives is that you dont get a super wide color range as you do in paints, and the finish isnt like paint.
[/quote]

the place near me seems to have alot of choices for powdercoat colors.

http://www.southtexascrosslink.com/

 

[alk509]

[quote author="tubemonkey35"]Alk is emachiene going to make bodies for you too?[/quote]

Not likely... The price their software spits out is too expensive, plus I don't think they can even cut the rectangular holes out...

[quote author="AudioJunkie"]the software doesn't like running on VirtualPC[/quote]

I'm running it on Win98SE over VirtualPC with no problems... :?

Peace,
Al.

 

[alk509]

[quote author="asm"]you dont get a super wide color range as you do in paints[/quote]

What are you saying, man!?!? They have tons and tons and tons f different colors! :grin:

[quote author="asm"]the finish isnt like paint.[/quote]

No, it's not, but considering we're talking about microphone bodies, I think that's a plus...

In any event, I'll keep you all abreast of what happens next here... I'm waiting for quotes for making a bunch of bodies...

Peace,
Al.

 

[BYacey]

Couple of comments - If you want the glass bead / sand blasted look on aluminum, it should be anodized after. This protects the aluminum from discoloring and oxidizing. ( Anodizing is really creating a layer of aluminum oxide that is very tough.)

Another paint that can be tried is epoxy paint, a two part system. Another is 2 part spraying urethane that the auto industry uses. I sprayed my bass guitar with clear coat 2 part urethane, thats14 years ago and there aren't any scratches or cracks from abrupt temperature changes. (Any musician from northern climates know what I am talking about, -38C outside to +20C inside!!)