How thick is paint?!

[megamuel]

I'll be routing the holes soon for my cabinets, but when I'm finished I plan on giving them a glossy white finish which will consist of a number of primer and paint coats, do I have to compensate for this when routing the insets for my drivers? E.g. an extra millimeter to the diameter? I don't want to spend hours finishing them only not to be able to get the drivers in. Cheers,

Sam.

[Landroval]

Well, each layer has a thickness, and the more layers there are, the thicker the paint will be. I'd say normally it'll be much less than a millimeter, just a bit more than nothing

[Gir]

If you can get those holes to such an exact size that a layer of paint ruins it, then my hat's off to you!

[jquin]

I'll be routing the holes soon for my cabinets, but when I'm finished I plan on giving them a glossy white finish which will consist of a number of primer and paint coats, do I have to compensate for this when routing the insets for my drivers? E.g. an extra millimeter to the diameter? I don't want to spend hours finishing them only not to be able to get the drivers in. Cheers,

Sam.

You may get some unfortunate responses to this question. Like "how long is a piece of sting". However in reality the question is probably moot. If you are using a veneer you may need to make some provision for its thickness. However you will be doing fairly well in your woodworking skills if the thickness of the paint makes a difference. A know people's projects look very precise in photos but in actual fact I doubt that the front of the drivers is flush with the front baffle to within the accuracy of paint thickness.

[ahaik]

I run into that problem on one of my builds, had to start scraping it off, NO FUN. I damaged the finish a little in the process.
Not sure how much it adds, but its a good idea to plan ahead and route a little wider.

[Martyn]

The obvious solution is to paint first and route after the paint has fully hardened, but you might feel that this risks damaging the finish. So why not mask the rabbets instead? If you don't like either of these options, if you allow 1/4 mm all around (i.e. 1/2 mm on the diameter) at least you should be quite close. A more significant problem might be the accumulation of paint in the corner of the rabbet...

[Dryseals]

Depends on the paint and how it's applied. Paint a piece of scrap the way you plan on painting the speaker and cut it in half and measure the thickness.

[Hdale85]

If you spray it on will definitely be thicker. Same with rolling.

[RobP]

just mask off the edge of the hole and shoot your paint.

[awm]

Ditto...

I've run into the very tight squeeze before and found that blue painter's masking tape worked perfectly. Fill/mask the rabbet and carefully razor-blade off whatever tape sticks out above the hole to make it flush with the baffle surface. One more thing -- once painted, be very careful removing the tape in case the paint pulls off with it and ruins what's on the baffle. A very careful razor-blade scraping, just inside the baffle/rabbet junction, can take care of this.

Andy

[megamuel]

If you can get those holes to such an exact size that a layer of paint ruins it, then my hat's off to you!

Hmm... Well I've cut everything else to the mm so I thought if I did the same with the holes and say the paint put an extra mm on then the drivers might not fit, and I was talking more like 6 layers of paint not 1. I genuinley did not know if paint would add much thickness or not, it was clearly a valid question due to everyone elses responses. Cheers for the suggestions guys :W

Sam.

[TacoD]

I add 1 mm to the radius of the driver cutouts when I paint the cabinet. Then everything fits fine.

[BobEllis]

As a reference, when contractors were painting the deck of my ship the Navy contract called for .0015" of primer. You'll probably end up with a bit more than that per layer in the corners of the cutouts.

I am too old to think metric , I add 1/32" for paint clearance. My old worn out Sears router was just about perfect for this. Now I have to think about it.

[jquin]

I am too old to think metric ,

This sounds to me like "I'm too old to start sleeping on a mattress, this bed of nails is much more comfortable." :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[littlesaint]

This sounds to me like "I'm too old to start sleeping on a mattress, this bed of nails is much more comfortable." :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Your analogy is a bit ironic since for anyone who has lived their whole life in the US, working in a non-science discipline, the metric system is the bed of nails.

If you're used to working with US measurements, it's much easier to visualize. I can eyeball a half inch fairly well. Can't say the same for 12mm. Now I will say the metric is much better for calculations, but for measuring, a person should just use what they are comfortable with.

[BobEllis]

Yeah! Why should I learn any language other than English, either.