ebay

Apr 27 2009

12 inch Dual USB iBook Mod– Part 1

Some of the coolest things in popular culture attained their coolness by being

modified and customized. Think about the Millennium Falcon from Star

Wars, any gadget from any James

Bond flick or Ash’s hand/chainsaw from Evil

Dead 2. Modification rocks. I’m not going to teach you how to get your TiBook

to make the jump to light speed or outfit your PowerBook with machine guns but

I will attempt to detail the steps involved in preparing a 12″ Dual USB

iBook lid for a custom paint job.

Be warned that the first step in this process (removing the lid from the back

of the screen) is one that Apple has forbidden its technicians from performing.

It has the potential to damage the delicate wiring of the LCD, backlight, microphone

and Airport antenna. I do not recommend doing this, but I offer these instructions

for your academic pleasure. Also, if you are determined to attempt this project,

I recommend reading through this entire tutorial before

proceeding to dismantle and paint your iBook lid (translation: wait until I

finish writing the second part before you start on the first. Okay?).

As a final warning, let me advise those with little or no artistic skill or

those lacking in patience to seriously reconsider starting a project such as

this. Perhaps it would be better advised for these people to contact DrBott

about purchasing an iSuit.

They come in many

designs, both cool and hideous,and only require that you follow the first

three steps of this outline.

Assuming you have some artistic abilities and patience, you might still be

safer buying a used

iBook lid off of eBay and leaving your trusty iBook untouched until you

creation is complete. Just an idea. Just throwing it out there….

Enough of the warnings! Here’s your parts list:

What You’ll Need For Part 1: A Dual USB iBook with the original white on transparent housing 1.5mm hex wrench Soda can lid, toothpick or the like Lint-free paper towels Shallow disposable plastic container big enough to hold your iBook lid 500mL bottle of rubbing alcohol Old, but clean, toothbrush Toothpaste (any flavor) RadTech Ice Creme

Step 1: Remove the lid from the back of your iBook screen

Before

taking your iBook apart, make sure it is off and that the battery is removed

(just in case). The 12″ Dual USB iBook screen lid is held on by four small

hex screws that can easily be removed using a 1.5mm hex wrench (save your screws,

they are easily lost and not so easily replaced). Then with your iBook sitting

open and with the screen facing away from you, place your right and left thumbs

on the lid near the top corners and use your index and middle fingers to peal

the lid clips out of position (be careful not to break them). Slide your hands

midway down the side and use your fingers to pry the lid clips on the side out

of position. Finally, a small amount of effort is all it should require to unseat

the lid clips at the bottom and remove the lid from the screen back.

Set your iBook aside in a safe place where its exposed innards will not get

damaged.

Step 2: Removing the lid clip gasket from the lid

I

found this to be the most difficult part of the process. Have a look at the

inside of the lid and inspect you lid clips. Notice that they are actually a

thin rectangular frame that is held in place by some pretty heavy duty double-sided

tape. You are going to have to fight very hard to remove this gasket or you

will be unable to dissolve that white paint that lies between it and the lid.

If you can live with having a strange white frame around your lid design, by

all means, skip this step.

Assuming that you are going to remove the clip gasket, you must choose your

tools carefully. The trick is to find something that is strong enough to be

wedged forcefully under the gasket, pliable enough to follow the inner curve

of the lid and thin enough to slide under the gasket without breaking itóthe

goal is to remove the gasket in one piece without breaking it and also keep

the scratching on the inside of the lid to a minimum. Some have had success

using a toothpick for this job, I’ve found that the lid from a can of soda (the

part that folds inside the can when you pop the top) did the trick quite nicely.

Try to stay away from screwdrivers or knives as they are very likely to destroy

the gasket and the surface of the iBook.

While

your are concentrating on removing the clip gasket while not breaking it or

scratching the inside of your lid, try to be mindful of the outside of the lid

alsoódon’t scratch it either. It is unquestionably a tricky job and not

for those without the patience to take their time.

Once the clip gasket is removed, gently rub off the adhesive from both the

lid and the gasket. This gummy tape is a bit like rubber cement and you can

easily use a clump of removed adhesive to convince the rest to vamoose buy rolling

the removed clump around the more stubborn bits.

?

iSuit users only If you are preparing to use an iSuit, place the gasket inside the iSuit lid under the iSuit’s clips and attach the iSuit lid to your iBook by properly reseating the gasket’s clips and screwing in the countersunk Phillips screws that were packaged with your imported custom iBook lid. You’re done.

Step 3: Remove the Apple

This is just like removing the clip gasket. Use the tool you improvised for

Step 2 to separate the Apple logo from the lid by sliding said tool in and around

where the Apple logo is held down by that same gummy tape stuff.

Clean off the Apple logo and the area on the lid from whence it came just as

you cleaned the lid and gasket in Step 2.

Step 4: Alcoholóyou’re soaking in it

Now it’s time to take your plastic container and place a few folded paper towels

in the bottom of it. Now place your iBook lid with the inside facing up on top

of the paper towelsóthis will protect the outer surface from getting scratched

while you scrub the inside. Grab your bottle of rubbing alcohol and pour enough

of it into the container to fill and cover the iBook lid. Leave it to soak for

15 minutes.

After 15 minutes of soaking lift the lid partially out of the alcohol bath

and gently scrub off the white paint with that old toothbrush of yours. It comes

of remarkably easy, so no need to scratch the plastic. Soak your lid for another

15 minutes if there is any more than just a slight haze remaining and continue

to gently scrub the dissolved paint. This may take some time. Just be patient.

Once nothing but a slight haze remains proceed to Step 5.

Step 5: You’ll wonder where the haze went when you brush your lid with

Pepsodent

…actually any toothpaste should work, I would maybe stay away from tartar

control varieties though. This tip comes from my friend George

from Dive & Sea Sports and it is actually a well known technique for

breaking in new snorkel masks. Just squeeze a small dab of toothpaste on any

hazy areas and use a wet paper towel to buff away the cloudiness. Again, take

your time.

Once you’re done the haze should be gone, but in its place will be some very

fine scratching left by the toothpaste.

Step 6: Now that you’ve used your toothpaste it’s time for Ice Creme

Ice Creme is a two part iBook refinishing solution from RadTech. Follow the

directions provided with the product to buff away the scratches that the toothpaste

left behind. Beautiful. Now just wipe the lid down with a paper towel dampened

with rubbing alcohol.

Conclusion of Part 1: Consider the following

You should now have a crystal clear iBook lid. Some might be content to stop

at this point to re-adhere the clip gasket to the lid, reattach the lid to the

iBook and proudly display their transparent topped iBookóno

shame in that. But if you are tempted to paint your iBook lid, here are

a few points to ponder as you try to settle on your design:

• Since you will be painting the inside of the lid, your first coat will be

  the outer most or foreground application of paint when the lid is reattached.

  This is the reverse of the way most PC mod’s are painted and is why, if you’re

  planning a design with many colors, this mod should be painted with your darkest

  color first and working your way back to the lightest color. You should take

  some time to strategize how you plan to approach this backasswards style of

  painting.

• You have more than just common spray paints to consider. You could use

  lamp color to add transparent hues to your lid. You could use a spray

  matte varnish to create an almost sandblasted translucent effect. Have a stroll

  around your local hardware or paint store to see what options are open to

  you. If you find any really cool ones, email them to me.

• Do not overlook the Apple logo. Any design you conceive will have a large

  glowing Apple logo in the middle of it unless you are prepared to opaque it

  out somehow. Make sure your take the logo’s placement into account when designing

  your paint job.

• Masking. If your design require you to mask off certain areas, do not underestimate

  the pain and toil that will come with the process of creating that mask. Try

  to keep things simple. The design I have settled upon comes under the “complex”

  heading and rather than cover the inside of my iBook with masking tape and

  the scratch it all up with an Xacto knife in an effort to cut my mask, I have

  created my artwork in Adobe Illustrator and emailed it to a sign shop to have

  it cut out of adhesive vinyl. I anticipate that this may be a nightmare to

  apply, given the lid’s concave structure, but I would sooner deal with that

  than have a lousy mask and a scratched up lid.

That’s it for this week…

By admin • Articles, Wardriver Wednesday • Comments Off • Tags: airport antenna, artistic skill, custom paint job, drbott, dual usb, ebay, haze, hex, iBook, james bond flick, lcd backlight, machine guns, millennium falcon, paper, position, scrub, side, tape, time, toothbrush