Line-X on an Atomic CLR...?

yeky83

yeky83

Power User
I have a used Atomic CLR Neo MkII wedge coming my way, but it's a tad bit scuffed.

So I thought... Xitone cabs use Line-X for indestructible coating, can I put Line-X on the CLR? lol

1) Will it change the sound?
2) Will it make it significantly heavier?
3) I've read ~$50 to get it done at a location, is it... worth it? lol
4) Would it be hard to prep it (disassemble to make the cab bare)?

Has anyone done something like this? Seems that DIYing with Duratex is also an option, but I'm not too confident I can do a clean job at it.

The only "cheap-ish" thing about the CLR seems to be the cabinet. Obviously, I don't have it yet to confirm, but I've seen others remark that the wood is soft, and scuffs easily. When I see photos online, the cab can sometimes look like wood with just a thin coat of paint on it, whereas other wooden PA products look way more durable. When you get to RCF or Dynacord stuff, it looks practically industrial.

What do you guys think?
 
yeky83 said:
I have a used Atomic CLR Neo MkII wedge coming my way, but it's a tad bit scuffed.

So I thought... Xitone cabs use Line-X for indestructible coating, can I put Line-X on the CLR? lol

1) Will it change the sound?
2) Will it make it significantly heavier?
3) I've read ~$50 to get it done at a location, is it... worth it? lol
4) Would it be hard to prep it (disassemble to make the cab bare)?

Has anyone done something like this? Seems that DIYing with Duratex is also an option, but I'm not too confident I can do a clean job at it.

The only "cheap-ish" thing about the CLR seems to be the cabinet. Obviously, I don't have it yet to confirm, but I've seen others remark that the wood is soft, and scuffs easily. When I see photos online, the cab can sometimes look like wood with just a thin coat of paint on it, whereas other wooden PA products look way more durable. When you get to RCF or Dynacord stuff, it looks practically industrial.

What do you guys think?
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1) Impact on the sound would be negligible.
2) Would add maybe 2-4 pounds... depends on who sprays it.
3) Hard to say...
4) You'd have to prep it to bare wood.

The challenge though is that LineX, as a coating, is several times thicker than what is on there now. This does create fitment issues and I factor all those variables into my cabs, from the design process forward. My best guess is that after LineX, the grille likely may not fit.

LineX is a great coating if it is sprayed right but even then, there are still challenges and it's likely that there'd be issues, unless you are lucky to live near someone that has sprayed a lot of cabs. I wouldn't dare take even one of my cabs to a first timer.

Duratex is an option and is doable but results may vary and it may not look much better than it does now after a period of time... plus, you'd still have to strip it down to bare wood. The good thing with Duratex though is that it is easy to patch it up if it does get dinged.

I'm not exactly sure what RCF and Dynacord use but I suspect it is a 2 part system with a catalyst of some sort.
 
Duratex is VERY simple to apply. A light scuffing of the paint is all I've done in the past and the results look excellent. If it doesn't look perfect, do another coat. And you can do coats on only one side (when scuffs appear).

I disagree about RCF NX series. They are just as vulnerable as Duratex coated cabinets....if not worse. They scuff very easy in my opinion.
CLR scuffs the worst, so yes RCF is better than that. But XiTone (Line-X) finish is WAY better than RFC/Duratex/CLR.
However, as Mick noted, I would likely not try Line-X on the CLR....hardware is likely not going to fit perfectly back on the cab.
Duratex would do a fine job if you want to repair scuffs.
Buy the small blue rollers they sell on their site....they are excellent and easy to use. Tape everything off and paint the entire cab.
 
MicFarlow said:
1) Impact on the sound would be negligible.
2) Would add maybe 2-4 pounds... depends on who sprays it.
3) Hard to say...
4) You'd have to prep it to bare wood.

The challenge though is that LineX, as a coating, is several times thicker than what is on there now. This does create fitment issues and I factor all those variables into my cabs, from the design process forward. My best guess is that after LineX, the grille likely may not fit.

LineX is a great coating if it is sprayed right but even then, there are still challenges and it's likely that there'd be issues, unless you are lucky to live near someone that has sprayed a lot of cabs. I wouldn't dare take even one of my cabs to a first timer.

Duratex is an option and is doable but results may vary and it may not look much better than it does now after a period of time... plus, you'd still have to strip it down to bare wood. The good thing with Duratex though is that it is easy to patch it up if it does get dinged.

I'm not exactly sure what RCF and Dynacord use but I suspect it is a 2 part system with a catalyst of some sort.
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Wow, thanks for the reply! Glad you made the fitment challenges known, or else I might've gone and done it and been stuck with a cab that I can't fit anything in to...! I'm barely familiar with LineX, I guess it must be a fairly thick coat.

I'd have to strip it down to bare wood either way... I might be in for more than I bargained for XD

BBN said:
Duratex is VERY simple to apply. A light scuffing of the paint is all I've done in the past and the results look excellent. If it doesn't look perfect, do another coat. And you can do coats on only one side (when scuffs appear).

I disagree about RCF NX series. They are just as vulnerable as Duratex coated cabinets....if not worse. They scuff very easy in my opinion.
CLR scuffs the worst, so yes RCF is better than that. But XiTone (Line-X) finish is WAY better than RFC/Duratex/CLR.
However, as Mick noted, I would likely not try Line-X on the CLR....hardware is likely not going to fit perfectly back on the cab.
Duratex would do a fine job if you want to repair scuffs.
Buy the small blue rollers they sell on their site....they are excellent and easy to use. Tape everything off and paint the entire cab.
Click to expand...

Did you strip bare your cab before applying Duratex?
I thought it'd be somewhat comparable to LineX, but sounds like it's just slightly better than just textured paint... good to hear it's easy to apply though ;)


This might be more involved than I thought! haha especially with stripping down the cab, apartment living, no space to do such thing...
 
yeky83 said:
Did you strip bare your cab before applying Duratex?
I thought it'd be somewhat comparable to LineX, but sounds like it's just slightly better than just textured paint... good to hear it's easy to apply though ;)

This might be more involved than I thought! haha especially with stripping down the cab, apartment living, no space to do such thing...
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No, I did not stip bare. A quick light scuffing with sand paper and that's it. I'd also wood fill big dings/dents if there were any.
I've refinished a pair of QSC HPR122's, QSC HPR118s, EAW LA212s, RCF Dual 18" Subs, RCF 8001 Sub....and probably some other cabs I'm not thinking of. This was all with one gallon of Duratex paint (and I still have some left).
It's way easier than you think it is. Taping up the grill/handles is the hardest part. Probably a total of 2 hours of total work to refinish a pair of cabs. And they always look dead mint when they're done.

And if they ever get a ding during transport, and you chip away any of the paint...I put on a rubber glove, get a little paint on one finger, dab it on the ding....looks perfect again.
 
Plastidip might be an option without any prep needed. It just peels off when your done and protects. Mostly used for automotive but could be a good application.
 
BBN said:
No, I did not stip bare. A quick light scuffing with sand paper and that's it. I'd also wood fill big dings/dents if there were any.
I've refinished a pair of QSC HPR122's, QSC HPR118s, EAW LA212s, RCF Dual 18" Subs, RCF 8001 Sub....and probably some other cabs I'm not thinking of. This was all with one gallon of Duratex paint (and I still have some left).
It's way easier than you think it is. Taping up the grill/handles is the hardest part. Probably a total of 2 hours of total work to refinish a pair of cabs. And they always look dead mint when they're done.

And if they ever get a ding during transport, and you chip away any of the paint...I put on a rubber glove, get a little paint on one finger, dab it on the ding....looks perfect again.
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Wow, do you own a PA rental? Haha those are a lot of nice cabs!

You're giving me some confidence now, I think I might go for it, depending on how the CLR looks like when it shows up. Thanks!

Tahoebrian5 said:
Plastidip might be an option without any prep needed. It just peels off when your done and protects. Mostly used for automotive but could be a good application.
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Plastidip, seems like just a thin plastic cover, won't help much against anything other than light scuffs, no?
 
Tahoebrian5 said:
It can actually be quite thick depending on how many coats you spray on
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Wondering, have you tried it on cabs?
There's some posts on other forums of people having tried it. Seems to work well for stationary cabs, but some say that a lot of handling will make it peel off pretty easily in the corners and such.
 
Plastidip also has a true dip that you can paint on with a brush. It's much thicker, but very easy to get bubbles in the finished product. :confused:
But on an already-rough surface like a CLR, it probably won't be as noticeable. I've used both the spray and dip for motorcycle parts. I've also used the spray to waterproof a collector tray for a glass cutting machine. For things that don't get handled a lot, it would be fine. For the rigors of loading and unloading gear, I would use it mostly as a touch-up rather than for the entire piece of equipment.

Then there's that annoying guy on TV that pimps out Flex Seal®. :D
 
Humm, Maybe it's time to start building empty cabs with a line X coating that have accommodations to fit CLR components.
 
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dpeterson said:
Maybe atomic should step up their finish process :)
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or maybe someone we know who now owns a bedliner application machine would be interested in doing some finish work.....

So, very long story short... in January of this year I dropped a cool $20k for my own coating setup. There have been some learning curves for sure and it took way longer than we wanted to get up and running but the end result is now I have complete control over the entire coating process.

Most of the same challenges noted above still apply but I can see ways now to mitigate a lot of them, if not all of them. When other folks were coating my cabs they shot them like they were trucks whereas I do not... I shoot them like they are cabs. The result is that I do not have near as many fitment issues anymore... actually I don't have any issues with parts fitting any more.

I guess it all depends on if folks are seriously interested enough to want it done.

Thoughts anyone?
 
MicFarlow said:
or maybe someone we know who now owns a bedliner application machine would be interested in doing some finish work.....

So, very long story short... in January of this year I dropped a cool $20k for my own coating setup. There have been some learning curves for sure and it took way longer than we wanted to get up and running but the end result is now I have complete control over the entire coating process.

Most of the same challenges noted above still apply but I can see ways now to mitigate a lot of them, if not all of them. When other folks were coating my cabs they shot them like they were trucks whereas I do not... I shoot them like they are cabs. The result is that I do not have near as many fitment issues anymore... actually I don't have any issues with parts fitting any more.

I guess it all depends on if folks are seriously interested enough to want it done.

Thoughts anyone?
Click to expand...

It sounds to me like you have to come up with a price to see if it's a viable option to offer?
 
MicFarlow said:
When other folks were coating my cabs they shot them like they were trucks whereas I do not... I shoot them like they are cabs. The result is that I do not have near as many fitment issues anymore... actually I don't have any issues with parts fitting any more.

Thoughts anyone?
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Are you saying that your coating technique lets everything fit without having change hole sizes to accommodate? If so, my thought is that maybe you’ve found a sideline to help defray the cost of your new coating gear. :)
 
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Sixstring said:
It sounds to me like you have to come up with a price to see if it's a viable option to offer?
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Correct. My goal will be to do them for $129 each (coated versions only, no tolex or carpet) plus return shipping. It may well end up being more after I get one in and see how much trouble it'll be to deal with. There will be no less than the following steps:

1) Testing it after unboxing to rule out damage in initial shipping
2) removal of all components
3) Prepare surface for coating
4) Coating
5) Reassemble
6) Testing after reassembly
7) Return shipping

If there would be any damage after shipping in either direction it'll be up to the owner of the cab to get that sorted with the shipping company. (shipping it both ways insured for full replacement value is a given here)

It's also worth considering if doing this would void any warranties on the cab. Atomic does well by their customers as I have heard but I certainly do not want to do anything to put into jeopardy their warranty.

Incidentally, $129 is a bargain... I was being charged $70 per wedge before I got my equipment and that was him only having to squirt them... he got a bare nekkid cab that was fully prepared... this is not the case in this regard.

I'll also have to see how much waste is generated... when I do a run of 6-8 wedges, there is enough waste on the floor and walls to do the bed of a pickup truck... literally. I was stunned when I realized that.

Rex said:
Are you saying that your coating technique lets everything firmwithout having change hole sizes to accommodate? If fo, my thought is that maybe you’ve found a sideline to help defray the cost of your new coating gear. :)
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Yep, that is what I am saying. The only real area I had a concern about was the grille. Everything else is easy to deal with as those 'holes' can be adjusted easily. The grille on the other hand is another deal altogether. I can't make that 'hole' any bigger nor the grille any smaller.
 
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