Spray Painting Headphones?

[eriktheg]

So I was looking around google thinking how cool it would be to paint a pair of ATH-M50's and make them all fully white, and stumbled upon this.
http://www.jfunk.org/extras/labs/hphones.html
and this
http://customcans.daportfolio.com/gallery/227458#8
 
Although, they aren't M50's, I can certainly use the same technique they did right? You lightly sand the outsides of where you will paint, then spray paint your headphones with enamel based paint and then give it a few hours and give it a gloss finish and add varnish so it would be scratch resistant. Then you dye all of the pads to make them the color you wanted.
 
Has anyone had any experiences painting their headphones? I would really like to see some designs because after all, this is head fi. =]
 
Edit* Oh yea.. this is gettin my hype on real real bad.. Maybe I will try to paint some headphones later on. Just gotta test on a cheaper pair first similar to this..

 

[classakg]

Yeah, there are members here who have painted their hp's. Some are funny looking (i remember the barney headphone, lol) but others look very interesting. 

 

[ssavage]

I think I'm gonna do this if I ever get grados

 

[HeadphoneOutput]

I'd be too scared to take apart my headphones and try to paint them haha. I suppose I would practice on a cheap pair also.

 

[eriktheg]

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Yeah, there are members here who have painted their hp's. Some are funny looking (i remember the barney headphone, lol) but others look very interesting. 

You still got the thread for that? I wanna see some designs.
 


Quote:

I'd be too scared to take apart my headphones and try to paint them haha. I suppose I would practice on a cheap pair also.

 
Yea. I think thats everyones best bet cuz I would get freaked out if I messed up on a pair of $100 headphones...

 

[Roger Strummer]

Quote:

 
Yea. I think thats everyones best bet cuz I would get freaked out if I messed up on a pair of $100 headphones...

And here I am thinking of painting my HD800 once the (crappy) paint job falls off more

.

 

[buffalowings]

spray painting takes a considerable amount of skill. enamel takes too long to dry/cure (weeks at a time for EACH coat) giving the finish a large opportunity to attract dust and foreign particles. use lacquer based spray paint instead, drying/curing times are significantly reduced. any who, practice on some objects that won't be missed first, learn the distance, the speed/pace of the spraying movement, and recognize when there is a issue, spray on thin coats coat by coat, trying to cover in a single session is just asking for trouble. 
 
here's the procedure I would follow
 
mask areas that you want to avoid getting paint onto (foam earpads, drivers/vents/internals etc etc
light gray/white primer
sand off any flaws
one light coat of base color
sand off any flaws with fine grit sandpaper (2,000-3,000 grit)
x2
remove flaws
x3
remove flaws
a slightly "wetter" coat of
you can stop at this point and spray on a coat of high gloss clear coat
OR
you can polish the base coat with a polishing kit until it is mirror smooth and then a clear coat for the show car finish
 
for safety considerations/requirements, always work outdoors or in area with adequate ventilation and wear proper respiratory filters 

 

[eriktheg]

Darn... Why did you have to make it sound so hard! Now my hype is half gone after I read how much careful I gotta be and how much work it takes! haha.
Buffalo, you got any photos of your painted headphones?

 

[buffalowings]

Quote:

Darn... Why did you have to make it sound so hard! Now my hype is half gone after I read how much careful I gotta be and how much work it takes! haha.
Buffalo, you got any photos of your painted headphones?

ermmm....this is the procedure you SHOULD follow for painting plastic models (same as headphones...you know, plastic headphones) but i never actually followed the procedure written...and urm i'd rather not show the work i did do 

 

[GreatDane]

Some of those in the second link are interesting. What's up with the Tide paint job?? I think of Punslayer when I saw the Hello Kitty.

 

[WhiteCrow]

the HD25-II's made me sad......they look beautiful in black or the Adidas blue not that gaudy crap.

 

[buffalowings]

well, not a fan of all that glitter...

 

[eriktheg]

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well, not a fan of all that glitter...

as long as non of that glitter falls off and is coated with something to give it a smooth feel rather than grainy.
 Though It wouldn't suit a DJ at all will it? lol. A man walkin on the street with glitter on his HD 25's haha.

 

[Lurkumaural]

jfunk is the dude that made me get off my can (pun? help?) and grab some paint, after I saw his work on the internets.  His work is great, and from a technique and quality standpoint, his louder-colored work is some of his better work.  Also, viewing his designs helped me realize the importance of refining your brand when you're a working DJ or trying to get work.  In my opinion, nobody's gonna sweat a DJ for wearing some wildly orange or pink or glittery headphones if they're custom work cans.  I'd go so far as to say it can only help.  And this is from the guy who wears a lot of greys and browns.  ALL THE TIME.
 
I'm guessing jfunk's glitter or metal-flaked designs are coated in a few layers of varnish.  Same goes for any of the work that's been done with a marker.  I took a Sharpie to my cans just to see how it would last after rubbing and light exposure, not to look cool, I do know better.  It didn't look cool.  There's a whole market for pricey high-pigment paint markers.  If I were more serious about coloring my possessions (or city property

), this is the way to go.
 
Right now I've got some pieces of my first two spray painted headphones drying in the garage.  If you trust yourself with a screwdriver, you'll probably get better results taking your gear apart than trying to mask off some of the complicated bits.  HD 25 should be easy enough.  DJ cans, if they use springs to return to shape, will be a few orders more difficult.  (This is what I am dealing with.) Further, my space is less than ideal, and waiting till the tiny ones are asleep makes it interesting.
 
I've gotten some experience with vinyl dye on plastic last week (wanted to post pics then but didn't finish), and just used some Rusto yesterday.  Not that I haven't spray painted a wall before, but I do feel like I'm learning this stuff as I go.  Here's what I did:
- Tried to rub the surfaces with thinner, because there was a how-to that said this will prep the surface.  It didn't. so:
- Sanded all surfaces, especially if they had been given some sort of previous color, with 220 grit
- Sprayed vinyl dye.  Used this instead of primer hoping that the primed surface would not be a layer of paint, but fresh white plastic
--- A few thin coats.  Theoretically.  I don't think I did a great job at this.
- Sprayed color coat on some pieces.  I wanted white in my color scheme, and may pick up white paint to spray over the white-dyed plastic for better white saturation.
--- Need another coat or two of color.  Gotta sand in between coats with something finer.  800 grit?  1000? Trying to use what I have.
- Clear coat in maybe 2 thin coats
- Reassemble
- Wear.  Pose.  Pretend they're correctly reassembled and functioning.
 
Hopefully my new old cans will be ready to come to the Bay Area meet on Saturday.  I'll be sure to get pics up on head-fi in any case.
 
And now I'm reminded... gotta buy building-colored paint this week before my landlady notices the slight overspray.

 

[desktophifi]

I remember a guy who posted pictures of his modded AD700's (black color) he made an awesome paint job on them. I'll search for that thread and post the link.