# Corsair 800D Stripped to Bare Metal and Powder Coated Gray



## CyberDruid (Sep 17, 2010)

Tired of looking for your 800D in the parking lot? Not a fan of "in your face" paint schemes?

How about "Cream of Elephant Soup" Gray lol

I just unboxed the massive case my client sent and immediately recognized that I had been here before. Yes I sandblasted and powdercoated an 800D not that long ago...one that had numerour layers of paint on it...it was one of those jobs I thought would never end...the more I blasted the more paint I found under the paint...thank goodness this one is alomst to bare steel already.

The 800D is a brute of a case, heavy gauge galvalume steel with lots of crevices, folds, flanges, and creases that love to trap and hide paint. I am INTIMATELY familiar with them...burned into my psyche more like.

Anyway I will set about blasting the remaining paint residue from this monster and prep it for the coat.

Here are some pics. There are a lotta lotta parts..a lot of surface area really...it's a HUGE case.


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## CyberDruid (Sep 17, 2010)

Here comes some detail shots of all that lovely residue paint I need to blast.

































Bare metal means bare metal...so every little nook and cranny has to be bare metal. Sand is the way to go, brushes and scraper and scrubbbies cannot reach into those areas effectively.





A part like this must be hung from some sacrificial screws and washers since it has no holes.





A part like this cannot be coated because it has no holes and there is no way to hang it.

It's tedious and time consuming part of paint work, but good prep is essential if you want a pro finish.


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## CyberDruid (Sep 17, 2010)

Sand blasting...it's a great way to spend a Sunday. Crusted in sweat and sand, glasses misted over, gloves gritty, shoes half full of the crunchy crystals...what could be finer?





I managed to wear this one out...I don't have another ceramic snout handy so I stole the one from my blast cabinet and continued onward.





It is not a glamorous process. And you sure can't do it inside.





If you like the sting of sand pelting your face and arms this is the job for you..





Not just bare metal, etched, grippy, ready to paint metal.





All those well engineered, carefully punched and pressed features on the landscape of the metal panel are hiding places for paint residue. Residue that spoils the powdercoat.





What may not be apparent at first glance is the multitude of edges in the hex mesh section that need to be blasted to produce a clean looking finish. Any residue clinging to that 1/32" wide edge of each hex will burn up as the powdercoat is baked at 400F for 18 minutes or so and raise up through the powder disturbing how it levels out and bonds. Has to be mare metal.





Each one of these darlings loves to hold paint...there'ss the detent and horseshoe edge...and the nice little crease they form into the vertice of the flange...and te rolled lip of the flange. It's all gotta be blasted to steel.





The closer you look the more surfaces and edges and angle and lips and flanges you see...





Big flats I can work over by machine and hand rapidly, and then give them a cursory blast of sand knowing they are paint free, and blast for texture.





Sanded to 220 with my electric DA.





Ditto. The welded standoffs for the window are the dark spots...no paint there.





This piece is headed for the sand blasting process after being scraped and sanded every where possible first.





Ditto





Ditto





Ditto...many, many rolled edges on all those holes. Fun.





Compared to the HDD caddy this is a walk in the park...or sand pit.





These stand offs on the HDD caddy were probably the only unstripped area to give me a clue about what the original finish is like. It's damn tough is what it's like. My guess: powdercoat. But it's bare metal now.





I know these little features so well I should give them all names/





Just to refresh the memory, what it looked like before...





And what it looks like now.





Just lovely





A thing of beauty





Mmmm





SO fine





Oh yeah...Lets make a fabulously complicated stamping.





Frosty





Clean





Ready





to Coat.


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## CyberDruid (Sep 17, 2010)

Well it was not just the sand kicking my butt...the Wife went down with a sinus infection and it got me too, we're both on antibiotics and should be normal in a day or two. I still feel like crap, but I got the 800D prep work completed and the case goes to powdercoat tomorrow afternoon.





Last time I stripped an 800D I was sure I'd never have to do that again. I guessed wrong.





That there is a pile o parts.





So many flanges...





And detents...





Some designer at Corsair really has a thing for those little finger tine things...





did I mention flanges?





I'm sure there is a proper names for these type of creases...they too are prolific...





Backplane ready for take off...





That's how I felt when I finished the last part.





But the parts keep on coming.





Did I mention finger tines?





And of course let's have some folds that create areas you can't access. Not a modder friendly case...at least not for painters.





That's not exactly an easy place to paint properly.





The mobo tray has a lotta lotta holes in it. Holes with rolled lips. Joy.





And creases, flanges, detents...





And some tiny fiddly parts that are so thin they bend when you blast them. Sorry about breaking one of the antlers off one of these spring deals. I'll set you up with some tasty button head screws in case you decide to not rivet these back on.





This case designer doesn't like simple flat pieces of metal at all...not at all.





Clean as a whistle...now.





Again...the complex metal work...





Sanded to 320





Paint free everywhere.





Could this little thing strip of metal have any more goop on it?





Had to drill two small holes so the part can be hung.

So despite feeling like crap and it being 96F and humid as hell I hit it hard today and finished up. It was one of those things that I just wanted to power on through and get done so I I could wake up knowing I would NOT have to sandblast anything. Sandblasting is rough work my friends.

So tomorrow the parts get another look, in case the sweat and grit in my eyes made me skip anything, and then off to powdercoat.

More when they return coated in Pewter Hybrid.


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## CyberDruid (Sep 17, 2010)

Parts came back. Finish looks great. I took some pictures and a short vid before I packed them up to ship out. I included some black rivetsm some countersunk rivets and some black M3 screws to secure the devices in the optical bay. The little metal retainers took a beating during the sandblasting and look pitiful.


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## CyberDruid (Sep 17, 2010)

And the obligatory YT vid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqAsr2KpYpU


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## (FIH) The Don (Sep 17, 2010)

woooohohohoooo


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## CyberDruid (Sep 17, 2010)

Crazy huge case of very heavy metal with way too many features. And I keep getting people wanting them powdercoated. I need to find a way to purchase them in raw metal direct from Corsair.


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## Reventon (Sep 22, 2010)

I like the original color, but great mod nonetheless. Nice job. I love the 800D, so sleek.


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## (FIH) The Don (Sep 22, 2010)

this is one of those threads you open, then you get something to drink, and maybe a snack, and then you can read it when its done loading all the pics haha


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## garyinhere (Sep 22, 2010)

(FIH) The Don said:


> this is one of those threads you open, then you get something to drink, and maybe a snack, and then you can read it when its done loading all the pics haha



lol that's what i did


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## kenkickr (Sep 22, 2010)

(FIH) The Don said:


> this is one of those threads you open, then you get something to drink, and maybe a snack, and then you can read it when its done loading all the pics haha



Waiting for the pics to load takes me back to a long time ago...dialup:shadedshu

Nice work so far, as usual, and can't wait to see the finished product.


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## overclocking101 (Sep 23, 2010)

pics take me 10 seconds to load. i cant eat that fast


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## (FIH) The Don (Sep 23, 2010)

overclocking101 said:


> pics take me 10 seconds to load. i cant eat that fast



:shadedshu


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## robn (Sep 23, 2010)

CyberDruid, what had the owner been upto? Looks like they tried paint stripper gel on it first? On a $300 case


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## DonInKansas (Sep 24, 2010)

Have you gotten photos of it competely reassembled?


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