Geek 101: How to Fix Minor Chips and Repaint Your Laptop

IT looks almost blade newfangled, doesn't IT? (OK, brush off the missing key; that's a repair for other day.) Exploitation cheap and simple materials that you can find in any hardware store, you too can repair chips and repaint your laptop to score it look practically post new. To get going, totally you need are the fit tools and an afternoon!

Disclaimer

Perform this repair at your ain risk! You will be working with chemicals and materials (spraying blusher, etc…) that may atomic number 4 deadly if misused. Use the revivif materials decently and according to the manufacturers' instructions, and take the recommended safety precautions. PCWorld is not responsible for any problems you showdown, including but not limited to a fried laptop. Don't say we didn't monish you…

So let's get this party started. You'll need the succeeding supplies:

• Laptop (you could probably apply these same stairs to a PC subject or other lepton devices) – $$$
• Plexi Bond Mucilage – $6.99
• Marine/Plastic Epoxy Putty – $3.99
• Cotton wool Swabs – $5.74
• Putty Stab – $9.49
• 2 Inch Contractor Paint Masking Tape – $3.99
• Sanding Parasite Holder and Medium-Grit Sanding Sponge (normal sand paper would work too, but a Sanding Sponge lasts longer and is easier to use) – $6.99
• Paper or Cut-Up Paper Bags – Free when you checkout at a store
• RustOleum Primer (get the same color in primer as your finish or final coat) – $3.99
• RustOleum Lacquer – $4.99
• Wine (this is optional–and for those old enough to drink!) – ~$10

Total: $56.17 (not including tax)

Prices may vary depending on where you shop. I picked up almost altogether of these supplies at my local Ace Hardware (the wine excluded), but you could probably get all of them at Walmart. Also, you only use a small percentage of apiece of these supplies, so you whitethorn possess simply spent $56.17 on supplies but the realness is that you could repair and paint a incomplete xii (or therabouts) laptops with these supplies. In other words, you'll have plenty left over for other tingling projects.

Pre-lab

The first thing you'll want to do is prepare your supplies and pour yourself a glass of wine (swallow responsibly!). Usually you neediness to do an appropriate pairing with your repast; I chose a wine, Briot Bordeaux, that goes with sweet food, sightedness how totally sweet this repair is.

Chip Quicken

In showcase you'Ra wondering, yes, I born this affair on the paving. Multiple times.

This is the other side of the laptop computer–what it's guess to look like:

To fix this, take your sanding sponge and rough up the edges of the broken-off plastic chip and the edges connected the laptop. Then take the Plexi-Bond, a complete all-intention tenacious, and coat the edges of the chip exploitation a cotton dab. Push the bit back into place on the laptop. As you can envision, there is still a missing lump of plastic that I didn't manage to find.

You can fill this gap by filling IT with an Epoxy putty. Almost any benign of epoxy putty testament workplace, just I chose a naval unit putty for its high-ranking water resistance. Unwrap the putty and interrupt a small set up and then mush it collectively (IT comes as a two part epoxy) and fill the gap like and so:

Let this dry for whatever prison term is designated on the package–in my case. it dried hard in an hour and finished curing in 24 hours. Since I wanted to knock this whole project out in an good afternoon (and because I'm lazy), I definite that an hour was enough, and that it was time to get on with the show.

Cleaning and Taping

In that next step you'll lack to take out any logos that you might have got on your laptop either for aesthetics, advertising purposes, or to simply cover up some scratches. I used a putty knife to scrape them off. There was some residual so I really had to apply some pressure to mother it off. If there is still or s residue then you can utilise whatever acetone to remove information technology and if that doesn't do the trick past pick up whatever Methyl Ethyl Ketone, a strong industrial solvent, but be careful; this glut will realize you nauseous if you inhale information technology.

Don't forget that there might be some logos connected the inside of your laptop; you can either remove these or cover them with tape. I chose to remove them.

Now it's sentence to tape up the laptop. You're going to privation to cover some open areas and anything else that you don't deprivation painted. I covered every vent, the entire underside of the laptop, the screen, the touchpad, lights, etcetera.

Likewise, since it was so hard to cut pieces of tape recording small enough and of the right shape to cover just the embedded camera and microphone I decided to sportsmanlike incised out a strip of tape and address the wholly thing. It looks a little weird up close because you can tell the difference between the factory cultivation and the DIY finish, but from a space it looks like a stain new laptop. I also cut out little strips to cover certain words same "happening" and "off" for my manual wireless replacement; that way if something like an LED indicator ever stops working, I'm not unmoving there trying to figure out what's wrong. And so in the end you get something like this:

Sanding

Now that your laptop is all taped off, take your sanding sponge and backbone everything that isn't covered in tapeline. You'll need to make a point that your laptop is somewhat roughed prepared so that the paint sticks, but there's also no need to sand it so much that you diminution its structural wholeness. Just get it to look something the like this and you'll glucinium mulct:

Oh, and don't forget to sand the epoxy putty that you installed. Dependant on where you installed it on your machine you'll want to shape IT so that information technology looks the least out of place. Prove and get it to look like the newfangled piece.

Priming

This step International Relations and Security Network't absolutely necessary but I extremely recommend it. Now that your laptop is rough you'll want to apply a cake or deuce of ground. Primer helps your next layer of paint adhere to the surface. You'll also want to get a primer that's the same color Eastern Samoa your top coating color (and I'm non talking most a a clear protective coating, I'm talk nearly that glassy black operating room automotive color that you want your laptop to look like), this will ascertain that if your top coat is scratched and so you North Korean won't have some obscure color like pink showing through.

If anything is still going to break, this is the moment you'll discover. So now's a good time to take a short break–feel free to take a sip of Bordeaux and listen to any smooth jazz ahead proceeding.

Wipe off any dust from sanding with a soften rag. Then shake your tail of primer coat and break your laptop computer a luminosity coat all the way around. If you're victimization RustOleum, you'll want to apply a second surface within one hr. I applied a second coat 20 proceedings after the first and then I let information technology dry for one hour before legal proceeding onto painting the topcoat. The primer looks alike this when finished:

Topcoat

You're almost finished! Now that your primer is milkless to the pinch, shake your can of topcoat vigorously, and give your laptop a coat all around. I did the front and back at the like meter; the paint won't drip if you apply a light coat. Let the paint nonsweet for about ten minutes so apply another coat. I did this about three or fourfold until it had a nice shiny finish.

Unfortunately, on unmatchable of those coats I held the spray bottle too finis to the backmost of the laptop computer and I got a very unpleasant drip.

If this happens, let the paint dry until you can mite it without it smearing and so sand the area smooth with the sanding sponge. And then reaply your topcoat. I suggest that you let your laptop dry for a few hours before peeling the tape slay.

If you want, you posterior too appy a protective vivid coat to help Navy SEAL and protect your laptop. Depending on the topcoat that you chose this may not be needed; I did not apply a clear surface.

Peeling the Tape

Now that the paint has dried you can set about peeling off the taping. Do this rattling slowly so that you don't accidently pull up whatsoever paint. You tin can use a razor blade to help pull up the edges of the tape if you have any problems.

When I finished my laptop looked most brand new (disadvantageous the lost key of flow):

I likewise recovered that the contractors' masking paper liberal absolutely no noticeable remainder on my laptop computer–not flatbottom on the vulnerable screen.

Inauguration

IT's now time to conclude this and see if everything that we worked for has worked without break anything. Again, contract a swig of wine and brace yourself for the worst. Put in the battery and hit power.

VIOLA! It whole shebang! The moment that you project "Microsoft Corporation" or whatever other thing your laptop does when information technology's turn on past you know that it's time to celebrate.

Houston, we stimulate completed the mission (and yes, that's my adorable rabbit-feeding dog, Janice, in the pic).

From the rearward:

And the chipped corner [looks brand new]:

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Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/490751/geek_101_how_to_fix_minor_chips_and_repaint.html

Posted by: nelsondeass1982.blogspot.com

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