I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

Shapeshifter · 2009-04-03 23:30:14

I decided to get rid of this boring Dell look, repaint my laptop and stick my most favourite linux distributions logo on it Here's how it went (clicky pictures):

Disassembling...

Stupid Dell logo, begone!

Filling the hole in the cover:

A bit of grinding:

Before...

...in between...

...and after:

Making masks...

Ready to be painted:

Done!

Ain't it a beauty?

With a nice little logo under the display:

Well, this was a day well spent!
I wonder how well the paint will stick. I fear it will come off with time, especially on the palm rests and the buttons. I didn't paint the touchpad and it doesn't look bad...

Last edited by Shapeshifter (2009-04-06 21:06:37)

heleos · 2009-04-03 23:38:42

That looks....

AWESOME!! I want one

haxit · 2009-04-03 23:39:19

That is awesome!

Maki · 2009-04-04 00:01:12

Looks great, expecting an how to on the wiki, we are all geeks after all

Inxsible · 2009-04-04 00:14:11

Super cool !

I winced when I saw the pictures of the Dell logo pulled and scratches due to sanding. But eventual result is amazing.

molom · 2009-04-04 02:05:11

How did you manage to make that stencil?

Shapeshifter · 2009-04-04 02:37:22

I just printed out the logo, taped it to adhesive foil and cut it out using a cutter, like on that picture I posted. The green stuff is adhesive on the back side.

Last edited by Shapeshifter (2009-04-06 21:08:18)

dr0p · 2009-04-04 02:53:57

I love it, but that laptop looks like a brick XD

elmer_42 · 2009-04-04 03:36:16

What kind of paint did you use for the actual logo? It seems to match the actual color of the Arch logo very well.

froli · 2009-04-04 04:33:39

That's Artwork!! A piece of art

Amazing!!

tjwoosta · 2009-04-04 04:58:03

nice!

a small word of advice

make sure to let the paint cure for a couple of days

i painted my old laptop once and the next day it looked and felt dry, but after using it for a few minutes i looked at my wrists and they were all black from paint and my palm rests were all smudged

Last edited by tjwoosta (2009-04-04 04:58:29)

Gen2ly · 2009-04-04 05:14:12

Nice!

molom · 2009-04-04 06:00:07

oooo, nice!

zandaa · 2009-04-04 06:31:37

love it, now if only I had the guts and ability to do that to my hardware D:

mikesd · 2009-04-04 07:28:09

Cool!

What sort of paint did you use? Just plain old spray paint?

I often thought about doing something similar but have always worried about the paint wearing off.

.:B:. · 2009-04-04 07:28:11

Very nice . Looks slick!

Ankka · 2009-04-04 08:44:53

Awesome!

Shapeshifter · 2009-04-04 12:29:58

elmer_42, mikesd: I used acrylic paint. I found both sprays in the car section of the hardware store, and they were almost double the price from similar colors in the normal paint section. Both are labeled 'metallic'. This paint dries really fast. it's dry to the touch after 20 minutes. On a piece that isn't visible from the outside, I tried scratching it, and it came off like a layer of skin. So it dries, becomes flexible and then hardens. It's not like those types of "dusty" colors.
I also think that the color will definitely wear off on the palm rests and the buttons, maybe the lid as well. I didn't have enough black colour and I only painted it with primer and one layer of color. If the color wears off, I'll just redo everything but with primer, two layers of color and a finishing layer of clear coat, as it's the right way to do.

Taking apart the laptop takes less than half an hour, so it's not a hard job redoing it.

I actually wanted to use two different shades of blue for the logo, making the top part lighter like in the crystal icons theme, but I didn't find an appropriate shade of light blue. But I feel like it looks really nice as it is now. The metallic blue is *really* shiny, and on a test run I had some trouble getting a nice distribution of the silver particles:

Looking at the cardboard stencil I used for this test, it's even more obvious that the paint shows some odd distribution behaviour:

Using the adhesive foil stencil and spraying the black coating instead of the newspaper worked though as the paint doesn't suck the paint.

Last edited by Shapeshifter (2009-04-06 21:08:58)

ArchArael · 2009-04-04 14:26:02

That's really amazing. Admirable work.

elmer_42 · 2009-04-04 15:01:03

I might try to put an Arch logo on the case of my desktop. I might end up wimping out, but only time will tell.

haxit · 2009-04-04 15:14:32

elmer_42 wrote:

I might try to put an Arch logo on the case of my desktop. I might end up wimping out, but only time will tell.

Go for it man!

Shapeshifter · 2009-04-04 15:27:33

elmer_42 wrote:

I might try to put an Arch logo on the case of my desktop. I might end up wimping out, but only time will tell.

Yeah all you need is adhesive foil and some spray A few tips:

- Always start and stop spraying on the side of the surface, not pointing at it, or else small drops might form and "spit" on your clean surface. So, start spraying on the side, move over the surface in a calm fashion, move away from the surface and then release the trigger.
- Make sure you cover the surroundings really well, as dust of paint might fly around the coverings or paint might go through one or two sheets of newspaper. Better make it 4-5 sheets.
- Don't remove the stencil to early or it might rip the paint right off.
- Make sure the stencil sticks really well, or else paint might get sucked under the stencil by capillary force resulting in ugly smudges.
- If you can, roughen up the surface before painting it, as the paint will stick better. For bigger jobs, use primer first.

elmer_42 · 2009-04-04 17:23:26

Shapeshifter wrote:

- Always start and stop spraying on the side of the surface, not pointing at it, or else small drops might form and "spit" on your clean surface. So, start spraying on the side, move over the surface in a calm fashion, move away from the surface and then release the trigger.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Do you mean I should hold the paint can at an angle?

Shapeshifter wrote:

- If you can, roughen up the surface before painting it, as the paint will stick better. For bigger jobs, use primer first.

This is the thing that worries me most, more specifically roughing it up. If I used primer, would I just have to put it where the blue paint goes?

Shapeshifter · 2009-04-04 17:39:45

elmer_42 wrote:

Shapeshifter wrote:
- Always start and stop spraying on the side of the surface, not pointing at it, or else small drops might form and "spit" on your clean surface. So, start spraying on the side, move over the surface in a calm fashion, move away from the surface and then release the trigger.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Do you mean I should hold the paint can at an angle?

No, I mean when you want to spray the surface, don't point at it and press the trigger. Point at the side of it, then press the trigger, then move over the surface. When you want to stop spraying, first move away from the surface, then release the trigger. Because when pressing and releasing the trigger, the stream of paint will be weak for a short moment and drops will form.

elmer_42 wrote:

Shapeshifter wrote:
- If you can, roughen up the surface before painting it, as the paint will stick better. For bigger jobs, use primer first.
This is the thing that worries me most, more specifically roughing it up. If I used primer, would I just have to put it where the blue paint goes?

Well I personally wouldn't use any primer in your case and not roughen up the surface. First, because it's a desktop case (if I got that right) so it's stationary and doesn't need to sustain any rough handling and second because you're only spraying a logo on it. you *could* stick the stencil on, then carefully grind the surface a little with sand paper, dust it off with a towel, put the primer on and after an hour the paint for a very stable result, but I don't think it will matter that much, as long as you don't intentionally try to scratch off the paint after your done.

Dieter@be · 2009-04-04 17:55:14

It looks really nice. It does suprise me a bit that it seems like you can just spray the light blue paint over the black. I would imagine you would still see some black through the blue.

I wonder if the blue logo would be brighter if you would have done it the other way around: first blue on the white, then cover the blue and then spray black all over the rest.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-04-03 23:30:14

I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#2 2009-04-03 23:38:42

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#3 2009-04-03 23:39:19

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#4 2009-04-04 00:01:12

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#5 2009-04-04 00:14:11

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#6 2009-04-04 02:05:11

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#7 2009-04-04 02:37:22

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#8 2009-04-04 02:53:57

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#9 2009-04-04 03:36:16

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#10 2009-04-04 04:33:39

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#11 2009-04-04 04:58:03

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#12 2009-04-04 05:14:12

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#13 2009-04-04 06:00:07

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#14 2009-04-04 06:31:37

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#15 2009-04-04 07:28:09

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#16 2009-04-04 07:28:11

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#17 2009-04-04 08:44:53

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#18 2009-04-04 12:29:58

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#19 2009-04-04 14:26:02

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#20 2009-04-04 15:01:03

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#21 2009-04-04 15:14:32

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#22 2009-04-04 15:27:33

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#23 2009-04-04 17:23:26

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#24 2009-04-04 17:39:45

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

#25 2009-04-04 17:55:14

Re: I just repainted my notebook, with added Arch logo :)

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