I got the cabinet and back box fully prepped and ready for primer.
All the seems on the back box have been filled and blended in so there will be no joins when painted.
All corners were also rebuilt and are now nice and straight.
I usually start with 120, followed by 240, 400 and lastly 600 grit. I do this to the entire cabinet, both inside and out. The reason I like to do that is I feel you get a much better finish once the paint has been applied, especially on the interior of the cabinet.
Because the underside of the cabinet has already been painted, ill paint it again, so I could use some filler to fix any damage, which I wouldn’t usually do if it was to be left as bare wood.
The first stage primer I like to use is a grey filler primer. Everything gets 2 coats of this. Before I do this though, I wiped everything down with a tac cloth followed by some panel prep to remove any grease that can react with the paint.
Imo this is an important stage, as when you fill a cabinet and rub your hand over it, it might feel silky smooth. However your finger tips will not pick up minor imperfection but when the decals are applied, they definitely will and by then it’s too late.
I learnt this the hard way when I restored an arcade cab a few years ago
This primer fills any tiny holes in the wood but more importantly highlights any areas that need more attention, especially those areas that have had a lot of work done to them, like the corners.
Once these are rectified, I spray only these areas again with some beige high build primer (rattle can) which gives you a final visual confirmation that these areas are now spot on.
For the transformer, I used a wire wheel in a drill to remove all the rust, then this gets a coat of primer as well.
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