Intel iMac Mod--Ambitious or Just Daft?

[Poofiemus]

Yes, that's right. I'd like to mod the casing of my 20" Intel iMac. (White casing era.)

I've been doing some research into the subject (namely looking into taking them apart), and I think it's possible, but I might just need a slap in the face. Feel free to provide that slap.

A little over a year ago, my computer had a nasty run-in with some scented oil from Pier 1. While the screen came out unscathed, the oil reacted with the polycarbonate plastic Apple used to make the rest of the casing, leaving a whole splattering of drop-spots quite literally etched into the plastic. You can't see it from a distance, but up close at working distance it looks like Jackson Pollock had at it with hydrochloric acid. I'm sick of looking at the splotches, and since they're textured, there's no hope of painting over them. So, if I'm going to mod it, I'd like to go with an involved thematic mod.

Due to my nomadic college student lifestyle, I need to keep my modifications rather minimalistic so I can keep using my iLugger case. I'm thinking of just painting the back, and replacing the front faceplate entirely. I have no idea what I'm going to do about the stand yet.

The trouble with replacing the faceplate is, unlike say, a monitor mod, I have to consider accommodating the microphone, the camera, the CD slot, the IR sensor, and the power/sleep light. Keep in mind, I'm doing this for purely aesthetic reasons.

In case anyone's wondering, I'm intending on doing a vaguely steampunk design with a distinctly art nouveau twist.

[Xtrykr]

A black mac would definitely be pimpin', much better than all the white/grey macs out there!

[Luke122]

When you talk about an iMac, are you talking about the new, flat ones, or the old CRT's? Pictures are worth 1000(+) words. :)

As far as covering the spots, a light sanding and then bondo/sand/primer/sand/primer/paint would take care of it. :D

[mtekk]

When you talk about an iMac, are you talking about the new, flat ones, or the old CRT's? Pictures are worth 1000(+) words. :)


He said it was an intel mac, so it has to be one of the newer flat panel based ones. Sounds like the generation before the current wide screen, aluminum ones.

[Luke122]

Ah yes, my bad, didnt see the Intel part.

*blush*

Well, a quick sand and repaint should cover them, but if the surface is etched/deformed by the spill, then some bondo may be needed to smooth it out.

[Poofiemus]

Mtekk is right. (Save for the "he" part. =P ) It's one of these. (http://home.comcast.net/~woojo/DFFA53A0-F23D-4541-9015-481FD3B6532E/iMac_Disassembly.html) (With proof the front can be removed.)

A sand and repaint might cover it, but if I'm going to go through that trouble I might as well get creative with it. I'm not going to be able to preserve the original appearance of the case no matter what anyway--the original Apple paint job is inside the plastic, and it's the outside that's scarred. So, yeah. *Apple default design goes flying out the window*

Luke122, have you worked with Bondo yourself? I know it's supposed to be strong, but I'd like to do some relief work on the outer edges, and I'm wondering if it would withstand frequent transport.

[Cookies N' Milk]

Mtekk is right. (Save for the "he" part. =P ) It's one of these. (http://home.comcast.net/~woojo/DFFA53A0-F23D-4541-9015-481FD3B6532E/iMac_Disassembly.html) (With proof the front can be removed.)

A sand and repaint might cover it, but if I'm going to go through that trouble I might as well get creative with it. I'm not going to be able to preserve the original appearance of the case no matter what anyway--the original Apple paint job is inside the plastic, and it's the outside that's scarred. So, yeah. *Apple default design goes flying out the window*

Luke122, have you worked with Bondo yourself? I know it's supposed to be strong, but I'd like to do some relief work on the outer edges, and I'm wondering if it would withstand frequent transport.

Bondo is strong stuff. Not as strong as metal but it can take a fair amount of abuse.

[Poofiemus]

Bondo is strong stuff. Not as strong as metal but it can take a fair amount of abuse.

That's very good to know. Even if I go with brass or copper as per my original idea, it'd probably be great for the World of Warcraft mod my mom requested. XD I really am leaning more towards the idea of using epoxy with a faux-metal paint job, though. It probably weighs a lot less.

Still, the more I look around these forums, and the more I hear from people in this particular thread, the more possible it sounds. The back's going to be the biggest bitch, I think. I'm a little leary of taking the chips out for fear of not putting them back in the right place, but I'm just as worried about leaving them in for fear of getting paint in something.

Ah well. What's a mod without some bizarre technical difficulty? ;)

[mtekk]

Mtekk is right. (Save for the "he" part. =P )

Sorry about that, made an assumption, stupid me...

[Luke122]

That's very good to know. Even if I go with brass or copper as per my original idea, it'd probably be great for the World of Warcraft mod my mom requested. XD I really am leaning more towards the idea of using epoxy with a faux-metal paint job, though. It probably weighs a lot less.

Definitely will weigh less.


Still, the more I look around these forums, and the more I hear from people in this particular thread, the more possible it sounds. The back's going to be the biggest bitch, I think. I'm a little leary of taking the chips out for fear of not putting them back in the right place, but I'm just as worried about leaving them in for fear of getting paint in something.

Once you open it up, you'll see that pretty much everything inside is one big piece. Anything that needs to be disassembled from the internal components will likely only fit in one spot, and those that fit in more than one spot will either be color coded/labelled, or will work in other spots.


Ah well. What's a mod without some bizarre technical difficulty? ;)

Not a mod. :)

[Poofiemus]

Sorry about that, made an assumption, stupid me...

It's okay. It's a pretty reasonable assumption, given what a sausagefest this forum seems to be. *bricked*



Once you open it up, you'll see that pretty much everything inside is one big piece. Anything that needs to be disassembled from the internal components will likely only fit in one spot, and those that fit in more than one spot will either be color coded/labelled, or will work in other spots.


You're probably right. It does seem like removing the innards when working on the back is the way to go, though I'm still worried I'll forget where they go. So, it seems the best solution then is to go to the garage (where there's no dog hair), wear gloves and anti-static wristbands, and take pictures after I move anything so I can, in essence, reverse engineer the innards, just in case. XD

To all of you, I want to say: Thank you so much! This has been very encouraging. I guess what scared me is that the only instance of an iMac case mod I could find was a Japanese guy who scraped off the white paint and repainted it black, but when he put it back together it wouldn't start. There's not much room for error in such a small space, and apparently the motherboard/main logic board is pretty fragile.

I really do think I'm going to go ahead and actually do this thing over the summer. Thanks again for your help and advice! It looks like I'm breaking new ground with this thing, but so long as I'm über-careful it should be possible. Once I get some more solid concept art down, I'll probably start my migration to the in-progress board. I'm getting excited about this thing.