My computer desk

[Iwant1]

Hi Lee,

you're welcome. Here's a link to my introduction page where there are pictures of the kitchen I made. It's over a year old with kids battering it senseless, one kid kicked in the cooker door and the perspex was fixed so good that it cracked rather than pop off. Seriously they don't have any respect for our efforts. But I'm glad to say the paint looks as good as it was on day 1. Will try to take some close ups to show the reflections, and the type of finish possible with mdf. The colours are funky as I wanted it attractive to children. Everyone who see it, say, why don't you make loads of these kitchens and sell it to celebrities, probably because they got the dosh for this kind of quality. The write up was my version of many hours of trawling wood working forums for painting mdf. A lot of people try to get piano gloss shine to custom speaker boxes using this method, so I used the best bits, and wrote my experiences.

While I'm at it I'll post a vid of the electronics which make the whole kitchen come to life. its Picaxe based.

Adil

[audioandy]

Guys

Just a word of warning, I used to be in the vehicle repair industry and 2K paint is carcinogenic, this was used in a fully filtered low bake spray booth with air fed full face spray mask.
Here is the HSE recommendations from the product linked above.

Respiratory protection: Air-fed respiratory equipment should be worn when this product is sprayed. Other people nearby should be similarly protected if exposure cannot be controlled to below the
occupational exposure limit and engineering controls and methods cannot reasonable be improved.
Dry sanding, welding and/or flame cutting of the dry paint film will give rise to dust and/or hazardous fumes. Wet sanding should be used wherever possible. If exposure cannot be
avoided by the provision of local exhaust ventilation, suitable respiratory protective equipment should be used. Further information on respiratory protective equipment is available in HSE
publication "Respiratory Protective Equipment" Third Edition ISBN 011 886382 7.
Hand protection: When skin exposure may occur, advice should be sought from glove suppliers on appropriate types. Barrier creams may help to protect exposed areas of skin but are not substitutes
for full physical protection, and should not be applied once exposure has occurred.
Eye protection: Eye protection designed to protect against liquid splashes should be worn.
Skin protection: Cotton or cotton/synthetic overalls or Coveralls are normally suitable. Grossly contaminated clothing should be removed and the skin washed with soap and water or a proprietary skin
cleaner.

[martin54]

Andy is that true of the acrylic paints as well?? I know the old 2 pack paints have pretty much been replaced with safer options & had assumed that the acrylic paints were a part of that along with the water based paints they now do. Although I have used 2K paints in the past that was many years ago before all the health & safety stuff came along, back then you were lucky to get just a dust mask lol.

[Iwant1]

You beat me to it Andy.

Was just about to mention how dangerous the paint can be once atomized. The auto paint supplier I bought my paints from recommended this 3m mask for occasional diy use. But you can also get this mask specifically for this paint with replaceable filters. I suppose when using 2k daily for a living then a its vital you use a air fed mask with positive pressure, but for my use which is once in a blue moon, I used the mask in the first link.

Also in the kit should be goggles, gloves, and a full body suit, which should be taken off before entering your home. Also try to spray as far away from your home as possible and away from passers by. I did it at the end of my garden under a cheap collapsible pergola with open sides. The more fresh air around you the better. I have asthma and didn't find any difficulties breathing what so ever. This is just my experience and I'm not telling anyone to go for it or saying its safe, but each should do their own research and come up with their own decision.

Adil

[D.C.]

Iwant1 merry christmas mate and awesome work by the way.

If you are going to do another post about the paint finishing, could you post it in a new thread in

METAL & WOOD WORKING - Material Finishing Tips & Techniques

That way we fight stand a chance of finding it again when we need your very useful advice. :)

[Iwant1]

Merry Christmas and no problem, maybe a MOD could split this thread and we could carry it on there. Then Wilfy can carry on with his desk build. Sorry dude, lol

[m_c]

I'm glad somebody pointed out the hazards of 2K paint.

I'm not sure what the current state of legislation is regards to 2K paint, but there is a big push towards waterbased/acrylic paint due to emissions/polution.
Acrylic paint isn't as bad for you, however I wouldn't want to be breathing it in on a regular basis.
I know the justification for cellulose paints still being available, is for restoration work, as no modern paint can match the finish (if you've seen celulose finish, you get a not quite gloss finish)

HVLP is the way to go now, as more paint ends up where you want it, instead of in the air!
For smaller items I find gravity fed is better, and even a cheap gun can produce good results. The last major item I painted was this -

237_PaintedWing by mc_mtb, on Flickr

However that was with tractor enamel, which is an oil based paint.

[wilfy]

i'm happy for you to talk paint finnishes in here tbh as its relevant to my desk, but if you want to split it out again i'm happy with that, i can easily follow the other thread.

i got lucky today whilst at the parents for dinner, found half a 5l tin of lacquer and half a tin of activator that i used previously on my dads build that i linked further up.. so all i need now is primer and colour.. knowing that i can just polish this lacquer back until i'm happy with it, it's possible i may primer and gloss with rattle cans, but i will certainly price up a tin of primer/thinners and the black as i'd rather have some spare primer lying around.. i'll post pics up of it later on as i thought i used cellulose but u guys got me thinking now.

as for mask i used the 3M one as linked above to do the build and thats about the only protection i used, i wasnt aware my paint needed any special kind of ventilation