As mentioned in a recent thread I recycle a lot of computers. I am currently rebuilding a Pentium III for a student nurse who needs a machine at home for using the internet and doing coursework.
A pentium III is perfect for someone with these requirements as long as you can get enough memory in it.
The machine itself is currently under construction and awaiting a couple of parts. As I hate boring white boxes and have never done a plain "paint job mod" on anything, the student nurse is going to get a colour co-ordinated royal blue and silver gloss machine.
I started work on the paintjob yesterday on the mouse. This is not a peripheral worklog (mods don't move please :) ) - it's going to be the whole PC bit by bit but I am starting with the mouse:
An old logitech, plastic was sun-yellowed from sitting on desks and it looked ugly.
Take out the ball and retain.
undo the single fixing screw:
Then the top half will click off and you have two halves of a mouse;
Unclicking the three retaining clips that hold the buttons to the top of the mouse will release it:
Tipping the buttons forward they will slide out through the opening in the mouse cover:
This leaves three parts that will require some painting:
Just have to click out the circuit board from the bottom section:
Now that's ready for painting too:
The paints are royal blue gloss, silver and a clear gloss coat that I will be usng to toughen up the finish, especially on the silver. Before painting I cleaned the plastic components with a scouring pad and washing up liquid to degrease them but also as the small scratches from the scourer will leave a keying surface for the paint to grip.
My painting shop, also known as a kitchen:
Blue Gloss goes on the mouse body. This will be the main colour for the whole PC, screen and Keyboard too:
Silver on the mouse buttons:
... and on the underbody. I have masked off the underbody base with tape first so no paint is getting scraped off on desks:
Once the paint was dry (nearly see below!) I reconstructed the mouse:
If you can look carefully you can see where I screwed up the paint job trying to reconstruct the mouse before the paint had fully hardened. So tomorrow stage two of this mod is taking the mouse apart again, sanding down and flattening the blue on the upper body and repainting it.
More to come .. Nursing Station may not be based on the hot nurses we had for Jon's birthday ( I don't think the person getting the machine will appreciate it). Going with this royal blue and silver with thick gloss all over and probably Ying/Yang or medical symbols on the flat surfaces of the machine and screen.
It may only be a PIII but it can still be a thing of beauty :D
CrazyB
