IBM 3278 powder coat color

[tron]

Trying to get a close match to the original IBM 3278 beige color and texture (color, texture and shine varied from batch to batch). Age and environment probably darkened the plastic doors and powder coat based on the images I've seen. I'll have order a few more swatches based on the first batch. It seems like I need to find a color in between light beige and hickory beige and a texture/shine level of the light beige swatch.

[John Doe]

Seems this is a fascinating work full of patience and tricks, I also need some restoration to do for my coming beam, hope this's the best reference so far. Thanks.

[tron]

Seems this is a fascinating work full of patience and tricks, I also need some restoration to do for my coming beam, hope this's the best reference so far. Thanks.

I think finding a close matching stock powder color/texture would help a lot of people looking to match the originals. Stock colors are much cheaper vs custom colors. I reached out to a local shop and was quoted 1k for a custom beige.

[John Doe]

Seems this is a fascinating work full of patience and tricks, I also need some restoration to do for my coming beam, hope this's the best reference so far. Thanks.

I think finding a close matching stock powder color/texture would help a lot of people looking to match the originals. Stock colors are much cheaper vs custom colors. I reached out to a local shop and was quoted 1k for a custom beige.

Geez, I even lost words for that quote.

I will do some digging after I receive mine, hope could save you some time anyway.

[adamcobabe]

Interested to see what we can all find. I'm debating whether or not to paint one of mine too. I want to match the original paint as much as possible. Need to paint the inside steel parts for sure, unless there is a way to recreate the heat treatment. I will probably just go with black on those pieces, though. I'm always hesitant to use paint in restorations, but sometimes it's necessary, eh.

[tron]

Seems this is a fascinating work full of patience and tricks, I also need some restoration to do for my coming beam, hope this's the best reference so far. Thanks.

I think finding a close matching stock powder color/texture would help a lot of people looking to match the originals. Stock colors are much cheaper vs custom colors. I reached out to a local shop and was quoted 1k for a custom beige.

Geez, I even lost words for that quote.

I will do some digging after I receive mine, hope could save you some time anyway.

Thanks . Let us know what you find. I'll reach out to Prismatic and fine tune the next batch of swatches. Hopefully we can get a few close options that aren't super expensive. From what I understand Prismatic is the only powder coat supplier that offers powder to small job shops in small quantities. If you sand the shell yourself a stock powder coat color should only cost $70-120.

[JP!]

$1k for a custom powercoat...damn. Sounds like that $1k was their "I don't really want to do it price" because it's such a small job and disrupts other more important jobs in their workflow. If custom color matching is a must and while still being economical check out some paint shops instead of powerdercoat. I had an entire rusty desk sandblasted and painted with a textured finished for less than $1k at an auto shop. They used a urethane paint.

[tron]

$1k for a custom powercoat...damn. Sounds like that $1k was their "I don't really want to do it price" because it's such a small job and disrupts other more important jobs in their workflow. If custom color matching is a must and while still being economical check out some paint shops instead of powerdercoat. I had an entire rusty desk sandblasted and painted with a textured finished for less than $1k at an auto shop. They used a urethane paint.

Yeah, I will look into textured urethane if I can't find a close matching powder. I called a few shops and they all quoted around 1k for custom powder. Apparently it's expensive for them to order it from Prismatic in a small quantity(perhaps a mixing and set up fee is involved). The same shops quoted around $100 for a stock powder so hopefully I can find a close match.

[SneakyRobb]

It might be worthwhile to look into this page of official ibm corporate colours.

https://www.ibm.com/design/language/ele ... r-families

Specifically looking at this one listed there.

https://www.color-hex.com/color/d7d2cb
https://www.pantone.com/color-finder/Warm-Gray-1-C

It seems awfully similar.

[tron]

It might be worthwhile to look into this page of official ibm corporate colours.

https://www.ibm.com/design/language/ele ... r-families

Specifically looking at this one listed there.

https://www.color-hex.com/color/d7d2cb
https://www.pantone.com/color-finder/Warm-Gray-1-C

It seems awfully similar.

Thanks, Pantone Warm Gray does seem close. It wouldn’t hurt to get sample chips for reference. I think there was some variation in color, gloss units and texture for different models and production dates/powder coat batches. Ideally we can get a few close powder options depending if people want to replace and powder coat/paint the flip out door or match the stock one.

[tron]

Quick update. I received a second round of swatches from Prismatic's color matching department. I'm still waiting on a few swatch samples to come back in stock before throwing in the towel and exploring other powder manufacturers and textured urethane paint. The internal white river is pretty close though.

[John Doe]

Seems you have got a good enough result, nice.

[JP!]

Looking good. I did have an issue getting all these pictures to finally load though. Seems like there are quite a few large sized images in this thread. I would recommend using a photo editor to resize images a bit or maybe use a spoiler tag.

[tron]

Looking good. I did have an issue getting all these pictures to finally load though. Seems like there are quite a few large sized images in this thread. I would recommend using a photo editor to resize images a bit or maybe use a spoiler tag.

Sorry about that. I resized all the images.

[SneakyRobb]

That looks like a close match! Unless you are really needing to cover up some scratches or something as others have said it is highly recommended to just get an off the shelf close enough. So it looks like you have done good

[tron]

Thanks guys. One of my full size 3278 shells is really chipped up so I don't have much to loose if the powder doesn't turn out nice.

I think it's worth mentioning an option Orihalcon suggested to me a while back. I'll make a sample swatch to compare with the powder options.

Base- https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum- ... /100674049

Top coat- https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum- ... lsrc=aw.ds

[darkcruix]

I have my 3278 also out to be powder coated. To get down to a color that is most harmonic, I sanded down the plastic latch with a 600 and 1200 paper, so I got down to the original color of the plastic. I then went with both to the company who does the coating and went through the possibilities. The closest was RAL 9010 Pure White Smooth Matt.
It sounds wrong, but was the closest I could find ...

RAL9010.jpg (122.73 KiB) Viewed 28392 times

[tron]

Thanks darkcruix. That looks very close to the original color and gloss level. I think the slight warm/yellow tint is important for preserving the vintage aesthetic IMO. I'm still waiting on a few more samples but I think this color is definitely a front runner.

[SneakyRobb]

Thanks darkcruix. That looks very close to the original color and gloss level. I think the slight warm/yellow tint is important for preserving the vintage aesthetic IMO. I'm still waiting on a few more samples but I think this color is definitely a front runner.

Hi,

This is why the warm pantone is important!

[Mary872]

It might be worthwhile to look into this page of official ibm corporate colours.

https://www.ibm.com/design/language/ele ... r-families

Specifically looking at this one listed there.

https://www.color-hex.com/color/d7d2cb
https://www.pantone.com/color-finder/Warm-Gray-1-C-myfirstpremiercard

It seems awfully similar.

It wouldn’t hurt to get sample chips for reference. I think there was some variation in color, gloss units and texture for different models and production dates/powder coat batches. Ideally we can get a few close powder options depending if people want to replace and powder coat/paint the flip out door or match the stock one.

[Wazrach]

What are these FUCKING BOTS?

[vyquad]

Necropost, but has there been any updates to finding the color?