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kertong · Nov 21, 2004, 03:09 AM

My paint was flaking, I had some jbweld (from a cracked frame, long story), and I needed a change.

So, I decided to sand off all the tipaint (flame me if you will, ti purists

), and spray it black.

Here are the results! I need some more touching-up to do, but overall, I'm pretty happy with the results.

It's like the bastard child of a pismo and a tibook.

http://www.kertong.com/vids/blackti/

edit: my camera flash threw things off - the tibook doesn't look so 'splotchy' in real life.

SSharon · Nov 21, 2004, 03:28 AM

not too bad looking, that comment about the bastard pismo is dead on too.

brapper · Nov 21, 2004, 05:20 PM

neato.
I'm getting sick of my flaking TiBook.

SafariX · Nov 21, 2004, 07:14 PM

Count me out

paully dub · Nov 21, 2004, 07:22 PM

I kinda like the prepainted brushed look, actually.

I wouldn't go as far with my tibook (especially since it's still got some AppleCare left) but hey why stop at solid black-you could really get creative.

NYGEO18 · Nov 21, 2004, 07:59 PM

I love the brushed look! The pre-painted look. Do you have any other pics of that stage?

kertong · Nov 21, 2004, 08:13 PM

Thanks for the replies guys!

Yeah, I didn't expect *too* many people to like the black - its just a thing that I personally have, with black matte laptops I guess.

The pre-painted, brushed/sanded tibook did look quite awesome. It looked almost like an albook, but shinier and more metallic. In the picture, the flash reflected badly, so it looks a bit distorted, but.. in person, it looked awesome. I half debated just keeping it that way - but I remember reading that the metal starts to stain and fingerprints show up very very easily on it.

But, if I like that better than the black.. I can always sand down the black again.

lAwrencex · Nov 22, 2004, 01:30 AM

i would defintely sand that baby down again. the brushed look was fantastic. you can probably shoot a layer of clear coat over it to prevent finger prints and other oils staining the casing. the black sort of looks like a thinkpad or a dell.

wuzup101 · Nov 22, 2004, 03:05 AM

The pics look much better than I thought they would after reading the post initially. I think it looks pretty good myself. I personally wouldn't do it (b/c my al book is so new)... and i'd probably break something. It looks like you may benifit from another coat of paint though. Some of the spots seem a bit blotchy, but it might have just been the lighting.

bobolicious · Nov 22, 2004, 09:24 AM

if it were me I would take the metal parts apart & try bead blasting to get a professional even 'raw' titanium look, combined with perhaps (if needed) stripping the plastic parts back to their iBook-like white base...

thoughton · Nov 22, 2004, 09:37 AM

Did you sand it by hand or with a blaster or what? Also how did you deal with the trackpad? I've heard from other modders that once they painted the trackpad it wound't react to finger movements very well, and also it was very hard to seperate the trackpad from the body.

MilkmanDan · Nov 22, 2004, 09:54 AM

Ooooo... that does look slick. Way to go.

stevek · Nov 22, 2004, 11:08 AM

wow, cool! my 2 yr old TiBook is looking jealous

this sure would be a fun project

poppa kristof · Nov 22, 2004, 12:14 PM

Out of curiosity, is that a TP roll in a couple of your pics?

dystopia · Nov 22, 2004, 02:19 PM

I did a similar thing back when I had a Ti: stupid flakey paint. The only difference is that I disassembled everything, sanded, and repainted with high-quality metalflake House of Kolor automotive paint and a boatload of clearcoat. Came out pretty well, but after dealing with my third broken hinge, I gave up on her and bought a 12" aluminium.

Picture 1
Picture 2

Her guts will live on in my new MAME cabinet, though. =)

For the 'leave it bare' crew: you wouldn't believe the fingerprints that get left behind on Titanium: it's just not plausible unless you carry a scotchbrite pad everywhere you go.

Next project: sand and polish the aluminum on my new(er) book down to chrome-mirror finish!

mike7204 · Nov 22, 2004, 03:41 PM

I am curious, what type of paint did you use? how many coats?
I ask because (if i remember right), apple had a problem painting the titanium in the beginning.

i have a tibook that is starting to look [bad] and if i could refinish it with my airbrush and make it look good, id be interested in trying. i have no problem taking it apart since i have the apple service manual for it.

olePigeon · Nov 22, 2004, 05:36 PM

I thought it looked cool just sanded. You could've used a rotary sander and get that circular pattern on it. I think that'd look pretty slick.

pat++ · Nov 22, 2004, 07:31 PM

Originally posted by dystopia:
I did a similar thing back when I had a Ti: stupid flakey paint. The only difference is that I disassembled everything, sanded, and repainted with high-quality metalflake House of Kolor automotive paint and a boatload of clearcoat. Came out pretty well, but after dealing with my third broken hinge, I gave up on her and bought a 12" aluminium.

Picture 1
Picture 2

Her guts will live on in my new MAME cabinet, though. =)

For the 'leave it bare' crew: you wouldn't believe the fingerprints that get left behind on Titanium: it's just not plausible unless you carry a scotchbrite pad everywhere you go.

Next project: sand and polish the aluminum on my new(er) book down to chrome-mirror finish!

congrats, looks like a pretty good job. I like it much better this way than black

wuzup101 · Nov 22, 2004, 07:45 PM

I'd love to see my 15" in a deep colbalt blue or something like that. House of Kolor makes a ton of very nice candy colors... dammit must resist the urg to take the airbrush to my new 15"...

songoku912 · Nov 22, 2004, 10:39 PM

Looking good!

eHoward · Nov 24, 2004, 01:35 AM

I think it would look good like that too.

If I had a out of warranty Powerbook, I'd see about doing it right and anodizing the case parts rather then rattlecanning it.

Originally posted by olePigeon:
I thought it looked cool just sanded. You could've used a rotary sander and get that circular pattern on it. I think that'd look pretty slick.

kertong · Nov 26, 2004, 04:56 AM

Thanks, guys! Sorry I've been away - just finished moving into a new house in Silicon Valley, from LA.

Anyhow, I've kept myself busy while internet-less by sanding off the old black again, and starting over. At first, I had just sanded the tipaint off (took forever!), and sprayed some ultra-black industrial enamel on it.

So, since I've posted, I've sanded that back down again, and painted some auto primer on it. Let that cure for a day, and sanded it down until it was perfectly smooth. Sprayed on a couple coats of ultra-black enamel, then finished it off the next day with a couple sprays of glossy clear coat.

In pictures and at a quick glance, it looks the same as the pictures I've posted, but in detail, there's more of a "shine" to it, but not a sharp plasticky shine.

anyways, i like how the non-chipped tibook looked better, but with all my paint flaking off, it was worth a shot. The frame is also cracked in two places (i inherited it after a friend dropped it), which I fixed up with jbweld - it holds fine now, but it leaves an ugly grey color.

So, for a stab in the dark, I'm pretty happy with the results.

mattyd · 03:59 PM

Wow, after seeing some of these pictures, I'm feeling brave and inspired to paint my trusty old Ti400. I'd prefer to "do it right" -- i.e. take it completely apart, sand it and repaint with high quality paint. I'm thinking of a metalic green or blue with a super high-gloss finish -- very American Choppers meets Pimp My Ride, ya know, like "Pimp My Ti"!

Can anybody point me to very detailed take apart/reassembly instructions?

What's the best way to remove the stock Ti Paint? I'm guessing very fine sand paper or steel wool. Or should I use some kind of solvent?

Are House of Kolor paints the best way to go? I looked on their site and was a little confused by all the choices. I guess I could go to their local dealer in SF and get the run-down. Also, these need to be airbrushed on, eh?

What's the deal with painting the track pad? Bad idea?

Are there any threads/sites on the subject I should check out?

Any other bits of advice?

Thanks!

Alezone · Nov 26, 2004, 05:01 PM

not original... that's MY IDEA!!!!!

jk, good job

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=233211

kertong · Nov 26, 2004, 06:54 PM

wow alezone, the picture with the lid up and covered with plastic film looks great!! Like a black car, fresh off the showroom floor.

You just covered it in contact paper? What a novel idea.. would protect the paint too!

CobraNT · Nov 28, 2004, 12:17 PM

I did mine also about a year ago. I like it in black, but I wasn't as brave so I went with a metallic silver. Looks pretty close to the TI pain but with a little glitter.

macaddict0001 · Nov 28, 2004, 02:02 PM

Originally posted by Alezone:
not original... that's MY IDEA!!!!!

jk, good job

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=233211

there are about 4 threads on it, admitidly yours was first but this is macnn.

mrtew · Nov 28, 2004, 02:25 PM

Originally posted by kertong:
So, since I've posted, I've sanded that back down again, and painted some auto primer on it. Let that cure for a day, and sanded it down until it was perfectly smooth. Sprayed on a couple coats of ultra-black enamel, then finished it off the next day with a couple sprays of glossy clear coat.

In pictures and at a quick glance, it looks the same as the pictures I've posted, but in detail, there's more of a "shine" to it, but not a sharp plasticky shine.

Well, post the pictures already! I wanna see the new look! Or were those the new ones?