The end result of any kind of paint job is the sum of it’s prep work. The amount of time you take doing these steps right is direct in proportion to the quality of your paint job. Plastic parts need to be washed thoroughly. I use Ajax dish soap because it will cut grease very well. I like to get the washing and scuffing done in one step. Take a red scotch bright pad and give your plastic parts a good washing in warm soapy water. The scotch bright will scratch the surface enough to allow the paint to stick better. Sanding won’t be needed and really wont do much good on parts like the tray, but you will need to sand the front bezel with 600 grit if your bezel is textured and you want a gloss mirror finish in the end. If you have hard water in your area don’t let the parts air dry, dry them by hand.
Now we must do a little masking. The bottom of the tray has some areas that touch moving parts. It is important to keep paint away from these areas. In the photo below you can see The gear teeth and some “tracks” that must be masked off. Your drive tray may vary a bit, but you should be able to pick out these areas quite easily.
The front open/close button must also have a little masking done. The design of this drive calls for it, some may not. Sticky open/close buttons are a common error when painting cd/ dvd drives. You can avoid such a fluke by filing the hole for the button a bit prior to painting. This will remove enough plastic so there is room for the paint and the button to live happily ever after. You may also want to file the inside area for the door. This to can become sticky because the paint layer makes it too tight. If, after all your careful work you still end up with a tray that sticks here is an old cabinet makers trick for sticky drawers.(..and get your mind out of the gutter). Get some bar soap that is not wet or damp and gently rub it on the area that is a bit sticky. The soap acts as a no drip and safe for paint lubricant.
The last bit of prep is simple enough. For multisided and complex shapes like our DVD drive tray you are going to want to hang it while painting. This allows you almost 360 degrees of movement so as not to miss any spots. This is where your 99 cent bailing wire comes in. Find a spot that is not going to be visible when the tray is installed and loop your wire through it. Leave yourself about a foot of wire after the loop so you can hang the part easily when you are done spraying it. If you are short on places to hang parts you can make a high-tech drying stand like the one pictured below.
At the last minute I decided to paint the 2 door tabs pictured below with the same blue anodizing spray I used on all the hardware of the Fractal Shuttle mod. Small parts can be a major pain. I like to stick them to a piece of tape and then stick the tape to my painting area so the parts done get blown away when spraying.
