Hardware 3DS XL Painting Concerns/Questions

[Shizno759]

Hey everyone, I just got a new 3DS XL and I want to paint it over via stencil. Im not a big fan of the colors available and I would love to make my own.I have done some stenciling before on thick paper and cardboard so I have a good grip on what I have to do on the handheld. Its been a while, but I have my old 3ds and some other pieces of junk to practice up on.


But I just have a few questions that my internet search hasnt been giving me on the project. This is my first time stenciling on plastic, and Ive heard that you need to sand it down and give it a special finish to make sure the paint doesnt come off over a long period of time. So I want to make sure I cover all my bases and not regret asking any questions.


First off, what brand of spraypaint should I use for this project? Ive been told Krylon Fusion for Plastic is the way to go and bonds to plastic the best, but should I still sand down the plastic and prime it before I use it to be safe?


Secondly, (This may sound stupid, but I have had times where this made a huge difference on the outcome of my previous stenciling on Paper) should I stand the system up on one of its sides when I leave it to dry, or just lay it flat? Because, its plastic, and I dont know if the paint will roll around and clump up if it lays flat or if it'll streak down on its side.


Lastly, what would I be expected to pay for a three color stencil with finish? I honestly never bought my own spraypaint since I would just bum it from my art teacher back in highschool. I have walmart and Lowes pricing this Krylon Fusion stuff at around $50 while other places like True Value only being six bucks a color.


Any tips or recommendations would be great. I have to wait a bit regardless for my next paycheck so this project will be on hold for a bit.

 

[Commoner]

Hey everyone, I just got a new 3DS XL and I want to paint it over via stencil. Im not a big fan of the colors available and I would love to make my own.I have done some stenciling before on thick paper and cardboard so I have a good grip on what I have to do on the handheld. Its been a while, but I have my old 3ds and some other pieces of junk to practice up on.

Personally I would really advice against painting directly on your 3DS XL or any portable electronic device for that matter.

First of all there is a small risk of actually messing up the paint job or even damaging the device. Secondly, it will probably void your warranty. Plus portable devices go through a lot more physical manual handling than what most paints are manufactured to take. Oil and moisture from your hands tend to take their toll on paints and once that paint starts to peel off or if you simply decide you want to change designs, removing the paint without damaging the device becomes problematic.

I think it might be a better idea to get some transparent sticker paper and either print the desired design on it or paint onto the sticker paper instead. That way if the paint starts coming off or if you just get tired of the design, you can just peel the sticker off and slap on a new one. It is also a pretty safe way to get the desired effect without voiding the warranty or lowering the value of your 3DS if you decide to sell it later on since transparent stickers are fairly easy to peel off.

Something like the one below should work fine :

http://www.amazon.com/Silhouette-Printable-Clear-Sticker-Paper/dp/B00B9Q9QY0

In case you do decide to use sticker paper instead of paint, I put together a template file for printing out designs for the 3DS XL quite some time ago that should help you.

Since I previously wrote a post in another forum about the template file, I will just quote myself here :

I printed out a couple of skins for the kiddies' 3DS XLs featuring their favorite anime characters. The final result is shown below :

The skin is actually laser printed onto a regular piece of paper and then simply slipped under a standard 3DS XL Protective Clear Crystal Case. Although, if you wanted to, you could use sticker paper as well if you don't like using cases.

You can download the template I made to make the print outs below. It's a zipped PSD file, so you'll need to have Photoshop to use it.

Download 3DS XL Template File

Take note that you may need to cut off the protruding top part of the skin depending on the type of crystal case you are using. I had to do so with my own print out.

Also, the holes for the cameras are much easier to just punch out with a hole puncher or binder puncher. I just used a blade to cut out the holes, but as you can see by the picture, I wasn't exactly able to do it perfectly.

Finally, the template is made to print out two separate skins just because I didn't want to waste paper.

To use the file, just unzip and open with Photoshop. Then you can just go ahead and paste whatever picture you'd like on a layer underneath template outline layers.

The PSD is in 600 dpi for optimal printout on my own printer but it should be fairly easy to adjust for your own printer.

Hope some of you find the template useful.

 

[hippy dave]

If the 3 colour design you're thinking of is solid with clear edges, maybe instead of painting you could cut it out of three colours of sticky vinyl sheets, the kind they use for decorative protectors for the 3ds already.

 

[Shizno759]

I think it might be a better idea to get some transparent sticker paper and either print the desired design on it or paint onto the sticker paper instead. That way if the paint starts coming off or if you just get tired of the design, you can just peel the sticker off and slap on a new one. It is also a pretty safe way to get the desired effect without voiding the warranty or lowering the value of your 3DS if you decide to sell it later on since transparent stickers are fairly easy to peel off

If the 3 colour design you're thinking of is solid with clear edges, maybe instead of painting you could cut it out of three colours of sticky vinyl sheets, the kind they use for decorative protectors for the 3ds already.

That sounds like a good idea. Im not a big fan of cases, but a vinyl sticker should work nicely. I was planning on making my 3ds white with three outlined squares inside each other and off-center with the colors of red blue and yellow for each respectively. Kinda like the border designs in Sonic Generations. Although I would still like to davel with spraypainting it eventually since I have no desire to ever sell the system.

But the problem is I wouldnt have any clue on how to properly measure and print out a design to fit snug. Plus Im worried that I may not seal it tight enought to keep out air bubbles.

 

[zeello]

I asked a similar question on forums.modretro.com once. Apparently you need to spray primer on it first, and afterwards you need clear finish so the paint doesn't crack. :/

 

[Commoner]

That sounds like a good idea. Im not a big fan of cases, but a vinyl sticker should work nicely. I was planning on making my 3ds white with three outlined squares inside each other and off-center with the colors of red blue and yellow for each respectively. Kinda like the border designs in Sonic Generations. Although I would still like to davel with spraypainting it eventually since I have no desire to ever sell the system.

But the problem is I wouldnt have any clue on how to properly measure and print out a design to fit snug. Plus Im worried that I may not seal it tight enought to keep out air bubbles.

If you download and print out the template file I posted on a piece of regular paper, it should give you a fairly good guide on how to cut out the vinyl sticker to make a snug fit. Then you could just paint on the vinyl sticker at your leisure.

Alternatively, you could buy printable vinyl stickers and just print the design on to those using the template file so that you wouldn't need to bother with the painting.

If you have a colored laser printer, the item below would be ideal :

http://www.amazon.com/20-Label-Outfitters-Weather-Proof/dp/B004QNWABE

If all you have access to is inkjet, then you could get something like this instead :

http://www.amazon.com/Cricut-Imagine-Adhesive-Backed-Printable-Sheets/dp/B0044WVV30

 

[GorTesK]

http://www.decalgirl.com/skins/Nintendo-3DS-XL-Skins
you can use their skins or use some pictures from the web or make your own pics and use them... costs 15$ (+ probably some shipping fee) and they send you the stickers and according from what I read, the quality should be quite good