Hobby of mine

[Awastatyme]

I have painted a few custom controllers for me and my friends.
My wife took the pictures on the first 2.

 

[nitesite]

Those look very impressive! I'm not nearly that creative or artistic. The blue flames are my favorite but I am just amazed at the carbon-fiber look!

Good job.

 

[Awastatyme]

Thanks Nitesite,
The carbon look was my fisrt try at hydro dipping.
I will be trying out a digital camo pattern hydro dipping on a xbox controller soon. I will post pictures after I do it.

 

[SHOOTER13]

Not a gamer myself...but the controllers look sharp !!

Good job...

 

[Rossignol]

Holy smokes those are sweet man! Nice work, and if I had to pick a favorite it would probably be the carbon fiber! Though theyre all cool, the camo, the guns, the transformers...

 

[ripjack13]

I'm going to need so me process pix of how you've done it. Because thats just awesome! Great job. I have a few Xbox controllers laying around. I've been wanting to do that do.

 

[Awastatyme]

I'm going to need so me process pix of how you've done it. Because thats just awesome! Great job. I have a few Xbox controllers laying around. I've been wanting to do that do.

What kind of process pictures are you needing? How to take the controller apart, or just the painting process?

 

[ripjack13]

How'd you do the flames and the camo ones? Is there a special paint you use? (krylon or other brand)
Do you use painters blue tape?
What do you use to clean them of the greasy hands?
Do I really need to take apart the controller? or can I just tape off the buttons?

 

[Awastatyme]

How'd you do the flames and the camo ones?

The flames was a mask that I bought. I just sprayed a couple of coats of metalic blue paint. Put the mask down where I wanted the flames to go. Then sprayed over all of it with a gloss black. Next, I removed the mask and clear coated all of it.
The digital looking camo was done buy a sponge. (I will make a tutorial on how it did that)

Is there a special paint you use? (krylon or other brand)

I would not say special but I like to use fignernail polish or automotive spay paint.
I use the fingernail polish because it cheap, comes in a tons of colors, it is a durable paint, and the jars are small for storage.
I use the the automotive spray paint because its point and spray. It just depends on my mood and/or if I have any on hand. Most of the spray paint I use is Duplicolor.
Both paints are Laquers which means I can spary just about any other type of paint over the top of it with out having to worry about a reaction.

Do you use painters blue tape?

I did on the urban (black and red stripes) camo controller. All I did was used an exacto knive and cut it into tear type stripes. but the flames, guns and transformer ones was done using masks that I purchased.

What do you use to clean them of the greasy hands?

I normaly just clean it with a degreaser and then wash with warm soapy water.

Do I really need to take apart the controller? or can I just tape off the buttons?

I belive it is so much easier to paint it while it is taken apart. But you do have to get a security torx to take the screws out.


I will try to post up a tutorial on my next paint job. I am thinking about doing the fishnet stocking snake skin design. (maybe with some chameleon color change paint)

 

[ripjack13]

^^ before..

^^ after sanding,primer and gloss black...

^^ all done....for now..

So..it didn't come out as well as I had planned. :?
the toggle buttons i dipped in liquid rubber. one side came out too big. so it had a hard time going back in the hole.
I also forgot to paint the select and start buttons.
the paint job came out great. (until i used the clear coat.) i used blue tape and peeled it and stuck it on like the tiger stripe.
I then painted red over it all. peeled the tape off.
The next day I sprayed lacquer over it. within 10 minutes the red started to blister. grrrr.

so now i need to sand it all down, peel off the rubber. blah blah ...

I can see how it takes a certain skill, to which I need to learn. I have four extra's but, I'll be experimenting with the one for a few times....

The job you did is awesome compared to mine. but hey...I try.
I'll get it... :geek:

edit: also..it doesn't work that well either. it keeps wanting to turn the console off.. :shock:

 

[Awastatyme]

^^ before..

^^ after sanding,primer and gloss black...

^^ all done....for now..

So..it didn't come out as well as I had planned. :?
the toggle buttons i dipped in liquid rubber. one side came out too big. so it had a hard time going back in the hole.
I also forgot to paint the select and start buttons.
the paint job came out great. (until i used the clear coat.) i used blue tape and peeled it and stuck it on like the tiger stripe.
I then painted red over it all. peeled the tape off.
The next day I sprayed lacquer over it. within 10 minutes the red started to blister. grrrr.

so now i need to sand it all down, peel off the rubber. blah blah ...

I can see how it takes a certain skill, to which I need to learn. I have four extra's but, I'll be experimenting with the one for a few times....

The job you did is awesome compared to mine. but hey...I try.
I'll get it... :geek:

edit: also..it doesn't work that well either. it keeps wanting to turn the console off.. :shock:

To help solve your reaction with the clear coat, I need to know a few things. What kind of paint did you use for your black and red base coats? ie. lacquer, enamel, acrylic.

There is an order of paint types in the painting industry to help eleminate the reaction that you had:
lacquer, enamel, acrylic. And what that means is if you base is lacquer then you can put lacquer, enamel, or acrylic over the top of it. If you use enamel then you can put only enamel and acrylic over it. If you use acrylic then you can only put acrylic over the top of acrylic.

It has to do something with the solvents in the paint.

Most of your basic rattle can paint are enamels.

If you are wanting to strip all the paint and start over then I suggest buying a bottle of DOT3 brake fluid. Pour it in a plastic shoebox container and sumerge the parts in it overnight. Then you should be able to use an old toothbrush to wipe off the old paint and try again.

 

[ripjack13]

Krylon enamel, and the clear coat was lacquer...duh. won't do that again. I'll be stripping it off later...

 

[Kodiak]

I'm impressed! Very nice work.

 

[GirlsLoveGuns2]

Freakin sweet! I missed this over the weekend, you could so start up a little side business via Craigslist doing this for gamers. You'd probably make some bank (depending on how long it takes to actually complete one from start to finish). I could definitely see lots of gamers spending $25, at least, for a custom controller.... At least the hard core fans. Anyway, you did great, I bet your buddies like having you as a connection. Lol.