I would like to color a plastic ball with a purple+metallic (reflective) basecoat and a skin-safe clearcoat or epoxy. Any suggestions on manufacturers to make use of?
Hiya,
I’ve a small ball (roughly 1.75″ in diameter) that I need to paint with some type of purple metallic basecoat and a few kind of clearcoat that’s secure for pores and skin contact. The basecoat must be pretty reflective however to not the purpose of being gritty, perhaps one thing like automotive paint.
Basically I’m portray a trackball for a trackball mouse (therefore the need for being skin-safe), so I might want to have the ability to sand and polish it down as a lot as doable. The ball itself is a snooker ball, so adhesion to resin/plastic can be a should.
Any suggestions? I see Duplicolor has some colours which may match the invoice, however feedback say it is runny on plastic (perhaps a prep subject on their half). For clear, I did discover this however wasn’t positive whether it is what I wanted: https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-s-2k-aerospraytm-high-gloss-matte-clear.html
Comments ( 9 )
Baffled- Difficult request.
Tamiya model paint should work well.
I think no matter what you use you’re gonna end up with paint/finish coming off at some point. Have you investigated just buying a snooker ball that is the color that you want? That seems easier, cheaper, and more durable than any paint job.
Automotive paint. Use a good primer, base cost and clear coat. Snooker balls are very hard so you don’t need a ‘plastic’ paint as those are meant for flexible plastics.
Sand with 80 grit then prime. You want the deep scratches to act like teeth. From the time you start sanding before paint, wear fresh vinyl gloves. Wipe with ‘final wipe’ to remove any oils then take it down to a fresh layer of material and de-oil it again.
Sand w 120-180 then to multiple layers of the colour coat. Sand w/ 220 to remove fish eye then hit it with clear. Build the clear in layers, get the top coat wet. Don’t be afraid to wet sand it with 220 and do another coat. Don’t make things too smooth or nothing will stick. The idea is the wet layer of paint fills the low spots and wet sanding removes the high spots.
You should make a holder with 2 needle points to pinch the ball. You can fill those points later with the clear coat.
Body shop suppliers sell the ‘real’ paint supplies. You aren’t buying any of the trash home depot sells.
If your trackball is of the optical type, then using a single reflective color is most likely going to make the trackball non-functional.
In particular the ball on the Logitech trackball that is connected to my old Mac in the corner has speckles on it. The Kensington orbit trackball has a sort of a candy apple texturing cast into the plastic itself.
Optical trackballs work the same way as optical mice: you need a pattern on the ball for the optical sensor to get a reading.
Crafsman has a video on making paint adhere to plastic:
Not sure what this “ball” is for but as far as “skin-safe” do you mean safe to handle or safe to be inside a person?
My guess is that this is a cost prohibitive rabbit hole to go down unless you’re really committed to this exact ball. Can you buy a different tracker ball mouse and harvest it for your project? Painting things for durability is incredibly difficult especially on such a small scale.
Are you sure it’s not 1.34 inch. Those are the most common and can be found in all colors on Amazon.