The John Deere Mod

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Alright, after looking over my front panel, I am in need of some answers--check out the pics:

That glue that is being used to hold the On/Off and Reset button along with the two LEDs for the power/hd usage is hard stuff. It's been a long time since I've played with hot glue, is that what I'm looking at?

Also, I'm hoping Mother Nature cooperates enough for me to do some painting on the skeleton--I've got a bit more deconstruction to do, but that shouldn't take too long.

Pictures following soon!

[xmastree]

yes. it's hot glue. You can pick it off carefully, do the LEDs first, to get a feel for it. Then the switches, which are more delicate.

BTW, nice close-up pics. What did you use?

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My new toy is my Canon Powershot A540, zoomed in to around 8x.

I love this camera!

Would heating this stuff up with a hair dryer be a possibility? I'd just as soon not break anything important.

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Well, after playing with my trusty Cutco paring knife for a couple minutes, I got this:

Followed by this:

Thanks Xmastree, +rep for the quick reply!

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A couple more minutes of chipping and prying and no more hot glue:

If I can aquire the motor skills to remove the buttons tonite (this morning really lol) I'll do that and give one more quickie update.

If not, I'll do it tomorrow...which is really later today...

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Alright, here we go:

No more glue, so no more buttons and LEDs:

Also, no more front panel inputs:

Also, no more mesh:

A view of the back in all it's naked glory

And the naked front:

Closeup of the buttonless front:

And what the heck, here's where my screws went...is this what is meant by having a screw loose?!?

It's 4 am. I'm callin it a night...err...morning...err...I'm going to bed now.

More pics on Saturday if not sooner.

Edit--I'm kinda concerned with how the little plastic cover for the lights is put in this case. Looks like if I try to take it out, I might run into some problems getting it back in. Two ideas I'm kicking around in my head at the moment are hot glue or superglue. Suggestions?

Also, the white and red LEDs are gonna be replaced. And I'm sure you can figure out what colors are gonna replace em...

[xmastree]

Edit--I'm kinda concerned with how the little plastic cover for the lights is put in this case. Looks like if I try to take it out, I might run into some problems getting it back in.

They're usually held in by melting the plastic pegs which locate them. Messy, but cheap and effective.
Break it out, then glue it back when you're done. You have more time than the original makers.

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I'm also toying with the idea of using some different switches as well. Another trip down to the JD store is in my future.

Not that that's a bad thing!

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Ok, the front panel is disassembled and ready for painting tomorrow as long as Mother Nature holds up her end of the deal.

Played with my dremel a little bit this morning and got this piece out:

Then I popped all the drive covers and the USB frontport cover off:

And the bare front panel:

Backside of the front panel:

So tomorrow, the silver will be yellow. My days off are screwy next week, so I'm hoping that I'll be able paint the black green. Although I might leave it black and make this a three tone case. We'll see.

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No painting today, too cold outside.

I'll try again Monday hopefully.