Pimp Out Your Showpiece

 

Why would you want to spray paint your router? My wife was asking the same question. I’m not exactly sure.

A part of it is the joy of customizing your gear. You can pimp it out metallic gold or if you are into eighties crap you can spray it with rock texture paint.

Another compelling reason to paint the router is to blend it in the surrounding which is the main reason I painted mine semi-gloss white [Fig. 1].

It’s very easy to do. All you need is a can of paint, an old newspaper to protect from overspray and patience.

You could use a brute force approach and slap the paint over the assembled router. This is easy enough to do but the results do not look very professional. On top of that covering the face decal with paint is not the best idea. What we really need to do is take the WRT54G apart.

First we have to learn how to open the WRT54G housing. [LINK]

When done remove the face decal by inserting an exacto blade or another pointy object under one of the corners. Carefully peel the decal off and place it in a safe place with the sticky side up. You can also place the sticky side down onto a slick bumper sticker backing.

To remove the rubber feet insert a screwdriver into the hole and pop the feet off.

Prepare for Paint
If you are interested in preserving the decals on the bottom of the router tape them off with masking tape. Otherwise you can spray over them.

Protect your working area with enough newspaper or a dropcloth to catch overspray. Do the spraying outside. Wear a respirator if you have one. Lay the pieces onto the newspaper.

Painting

There isn’t much to it. If this is your first time spray painting test the technique on another surface before you start on the router. The key is to use even smooth movements that cover all areas uniformly. Hold the can far enough from the surface to avoid getting splotchy coverage.

You will need a number of coats to cover the plastic. Wait time between coats will vary depending on the temperature and humidity. Read the instructions on the can. I may have done as many as 6 coats to cover the black plastic.

If you use special effects paint like rock texture consider doing a clear polyurethane top coat that will protect your paint job.

Reassembling the Pieces

Give yourself at least a day before you put everything back together. Although the paint may seem dry to touch the plastic snaps that hold the router pieces may stick together if you close the housing too soon. This could make opening the router difficult in the future.