Painting plastic white moulded accessories?

Personally I would assume that left in their natural state those copper accessories would develop a patina and verdigris.


Some years ago there were complaints after the front of a local house was clad with copper with people saying it dazzled them when the sun shone on it and it was a danger to drivers. The council planning department said “don’t worry, it will soon loose its shine “, now it’s green.


Andy Betteridge

Personally I would assume that left in their natural state those copper accessories would develop a patina and verdigris.


Some years ago there were complaints after the front of a local house was clad with copper with people saying it dazzled them when the sun shone on it and it was a danger to drivers. The council planning department said “don’t worry, it will soon loose its shine “, now it’s green.

I think it needs some kind of acid to turn copper green - e.g. rainwater (or plumber's flux) - left to its own devices it's pretty stable (thankfully, or we'd be scraping oxide off every time we re-terminated a cable) - or gently oxidies to a slightly black-ish colour. Hopefully any polished metal accessories would have a laquer of some sort covering them anyway - so if undamged should retain their original looks for a decent length of time.


   - Andy.

Polishing and applying lacquer to the copper electrical accessories would prevent them from being naturally antimicrobial, they need to be bare copper. 


You don't have to look far to see what happens to "copper" in its natural state if people handle it regularly touching it with their fingers and the palms of their hands. 




I say "copper" however if you hold a magnet of your loose change you will find out that most of the copper coins are magnetic. The ones that are not have a higher scrap value than face value. 


The natural shine can easily be brought back by smothering them in brown sauce,  as you may do to a bacon sandwich.  The sauce is acidic enough to remove the patina and crud without doing any particular damage to the embossed copper.


So the electrical accessories may need the copper finish cleaning in a similar manner periodically to maintain their decorative appeal and antimicrobial function.


Keeping electrical accessories clean keep them looking fresh and hygienic may destroy many paint finishes applied over plastic. 


Andy Betteridge 

I think that a regular smear with brown sauce is unlikely to be on the 'how to maintain your new copper switch' instructions. Mind you, in some household it may happen accidentally often enough.

looking in more detail at the antimicrobial treatment that crabtee and others use, it seems the metal content is in the form of compounds containing it in any case, not bare metal, and we only need a  few parts per million to be effective.

And they use silver, which does not have quite the same patina problem.

Before we drift too far.


My understanding is that most plastic electrical fittings are blocks of melamine, a material chosen for its slick impervious scratch resistant surface that holds its colour and is easy to clean, ideal for fittings that will possibly be regularly touched by many fingers, some less clean than others.


You possibly could not create a surface that is less likely to accept a coat of paint that will hold indefinitely, even if you rough it up a bit.


Add to that any paint applied to them needs to be stain resistant and easy to clean without discolouration or being spoilt.


It is a big ask to paint melamine and get a good long lasting finish that will withstand being regularly touched and being cleaned.


If the designer is insistent then the fittings with the removable metal plates that can be painted that were mentioned above would be the best option, though that would still leave an unpainted white insert with the rocker switch in it, but painting the rocker switch would not be very sensible at all.


A toggle switch mounted in a wooden plate would actually be a better idea if it really has to be painted Such as these at least you know paint will adhere to wood and the toggle would keep fingers off the paint most of the time.


There is a huge selection of fittings available that will be far more enduring.


Andy Betteridge 

The big complaint I hear regularly is that 45-amp fittings have red or orange rocker switches no matter how upmarket they are, such as these Matt Black powder coated steel plate fittings with black inserts.

https://www.switchtowood.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_187_188&products_id=5366&zenid=s1gvoqca78fffr1khhqihnrf10


Andy Betteridge

Joking?

Over on Mumsnet the opinion seems to be painting melamine doors is okay if you like shabby chic.


 Andy B

D’s now eleven and has probably covered his shabby chic wardrobe in stickers.


Andy B