Replies

1. 
   nikkiwood | Jun 16, 2004 07:22am | #1

   Have you heard of a product called "Easy Surface Prep" (mfgrd by Flood)?

   I have used this stuff over the years when painting problem surfaces, and I ssem to recall the directions say it can be used on laminate. Basically, it is a mixture that promotes a chemical bond betwen the paint and your surface.

   I would definitely rough sand (80 grit) the laminate to give it some "tooth."

   Now that I think of it, I was browsing through a big paint store a couple of months ago, and I clearly remember seeing some sort of paint that was specifically formulated for plastic laminate. Maybe someone else here will be able to better identify this product, but if not, let me know, and I'll find out.

2. 
   bill_1010 | Jun 16, 2004 03:53pm | #2

   lightly sand to tooth the laminate.  Then get some XIM primer, its the 400 series(comes in white or clear).  Its a bonding primer, oil based. SUited for latex or oil top coats.  Once your bonding primer is down, sand smooth, and spot prime and lightly sand your spot priming then paint away with your desired topcoat.  S-W pro classic acrylic is great stuff.

1. 
   nikkiwood | Jun 16, 2004 04:13pm | #3

   Thanks Larry; now that you have jiggled my memory, it was XIM that I ran across.

1. 
   larrmartin | Jun 19, 2004 01:32am | #4

   Thanks for the help. I've passed on the suggestions to my daughter. Wonder how long it'll be before she asks me if I can do it for her?

3. 
   Kevin | Jun 20, 2004 05:17am | #5

   Yes, plastic laminate can most definitely be painted. In fact it paints very nicely since it's so smooth and hard... kinda like painting a metal car body. Roughing the surface is definitely recommended for adhesion. But, just breaking the surface is what's most important there. I use 320 grit sandpaper on a pneumatic sander to scuff it up. It honestly doesn't need to be rough at all. In fact, when using catalyzed automotive primer/sealers, using too course of a sanding grit on the P-Lam can actually interfere with adhesion rather than make it better. Incidently, the same applies to painting metal too. What happens there is that the chemical cross-linking by the catalyst can cause the drying paint to actually pull away from the deep scratches - leaving less of it actually sticking to the surface that was painted.

   With softer plastics like flexible bumper guards and such on cars... the paint manufactorers actually recommend not scuffing the plastic with anything courser than 600 grit sandpaper. So, that gives you an idea of how little roughing of the surface is really needed to give maximum adhesion between the plastic and the spray paint.

   If really awesome adhesion is really important to you, then you can buy some automotive refinish products that will ensure nearly perfect adhesion. My preference, and what I use at work all the time, is DuPont 2319S Plas-tik cleaner, both before and after scuffing the laminate. Then followed by a medium light coat of DuPont 2330 Plas-tik adhesion promoter.

   Another, cheaper and easier way to improve adhesion on P-Lam would be to use a pigmented or clear shellac primer. Zerolac is what I stock at work. But, there are a bajillion other companies out there selling the same exact product but under their own brand name. The adhesion won't be quite on par with the automotive method. But, shellac is definitely a very good adhesion promoting product. If you go this route, you'll want to only apply a thin layer. Too thick a layer of the relatively soft shellac and you'll end up with good adhesion as long as the pieces are treated carefully. But you'd also have a soft layer of shellac sandwiched between two harder materials - a recipe for adhesion failure from dings and other forceful impacts. Keeping the shellac layer thin will mitigate this risk.

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1. 
   Dave45 | Jun 20, 2004 04:09pm | #6

   I wonder if that new Krylon plastic paint would work for something like this?  I haven't used it yet but have been wondering how well it works.