How can you Safely Paint a Laptop?

An anonymous coward came forth and wished to query all on this issue: "Has anyone ever painted their computer? I know you can buy some really cool cases on the net; but I have a Toshiba Libretto (running Linux of course) so getting a new case is out of the question. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to go about changing my little toy's colour (while not accidentally painting the screen, keys or anything else that is important)?"

Painting-HOWTO !!!

[Gleef]

It doesn't cover laptops, but most of this could be adapted with a little work (taking a laptop apart is more difficult).

Dagmar's Painting the Computer -- a quick & dirty mini-HOWTO [airnet.net]

Try...

[gavinhall]

Posted by Asa Durkee:

A coworker had his PowerBook G3 painted a silvery-red at an auto paint shop. Just unscrewed the plastic case and had it spray painted. (Don't try to use a spray can- have it professionally done, so it sticks, and have it enameled.)
Smelled like paint for a day or two, but was fine afterwards.

take the case off

[chap]

It may not be easy, but it is possible to remove almost the entire case (if not the whole thing) from a laptop. I don't reccomend it if you don't feel comfortable working with delicate parts, but in my experience the only terribly easy to break ones are the clips that hold the thing together.

Good luck if you try it, but I take no responsibility for this advice. :-) I've done a good bit of work on laptops, but I still don't feel 100% confident taking them apart.

Model Paint is the key

[flea]

Many spray paints aren't suited to covering plastics. At a former place of employment, we sold black cases, but couldn't get decently priced cd-roms in black. So we removed the front plates and used the kind of spray paint that is used for model airplanes and cars on them. It worked perfectly, and took a lot of use before it started to wear through.

Paint with pearlescent flake!

[dattaway]

I went down to Walmart a few months ago and got some paint and glitter flake. It looks pretty good. Its the GM dark metalic purple, which is an exact match for the plastic on my gateway solo.

The metalic does not show like you would expect it too, so while the paint was very wet, I sprinkled a heavy dust storm from a small bag of that pearlescent powder. It sticks. And it stays after many months. The flake surface will wear the first few weeks over everything, but its stable now. It is very flashy and I would recommend adding stuff to paint for anyone who really wants to personalizing a laptop.

Pictures of it? Certainly:

http://www.gtr-access.org/~dattaway/images/

solo1.jpg
solo2.jpg
solo3.jpg
solo4.jpg

Stickers

[DrZaius]

Hey, if it is a notebook type deal, why don't you use stickers?

You could even get sticker paper and print out your own designs. And if you want it to last, tape the whole deal with that clear packing tape.

masking tape choice

[cloudmaster]

When you're picking out tape, you might wanna look into geting some of the 7-day release tape instead of regular masking tape, because it's less likely to leave any residue that'll be difficult to get off. That, and remember not to use newspaper for masking larger areas, because the paiont can bleed through and the print often gets rubbed off.

Oh, and don't use a metalic paint near any open connection-type areas. unless you've masked off the holes that go to conductors. :) I'm gonna agree with the person that reccomended removing as much of the case as possible - that'll make your life a lot easier.

Painted up Pretty

[Attacked by Snakes]

I got sick of how my desktop looked a few years ago. So I cut out a pattern from posterboard and took the case out onto the driveway. A litte spray paint and I now have two giant smiley faces on the old box. Definately personalized. I'm thinking of doing the next one in Flexstone, a paint that ends up looking like rocks surprisingly enough.
Suggestions: What you can't remove, tape over. Definately use a clear coat. They're easier to clean and won't get damaged as quickly. And finally, don't get stuck using spray paint, anything that you can affix to the case can make it cool looking, remember those macaroni sculptures you made as a kid.

Airbrushing

[Sleepyguy]

I once worked with a client who took 7 laptops and airbrushed them. I was shocked to find out that they only masked off the screen and the touchpad. Everything else they just sprayed right over. They worked great afterwards to my suprise. Can't say that I would recomend it to anyone though. Oh and the paint was a standard airbrush acrilic which means its probly worn off in spots by now.

Painting laptops...

[aidian]

Masking tape, and lots of it... Preferably
of the double-wide sort. Tape over the important
bits that you don't want to get spraypaint
in, and spray away... You can make designs with
the tape, as well... Works good on the top of
laptops.

Have fun. :)

.ad.

don't melt it!

[robocord]

If the case is plastic, be sure you test a little paint on a hidden spot first...some plastics are melted by certain types of paint! Wouldn't that be a disaster??

I've painted my pilot

[mlc]

I painted my PalmPilot w/ enamel paint (designed to paint models, etc., I think the stuff I have was made by Testor) and it came out allright. I just painted very very carefully and avoided the screen, buttons, etc. Although, the paint comes in small bottles with a tiny brush and I don't think that I'd have the patience to paint an entire laptop.

Re: How can you Safely Paint a Laptop?

[vincel]

See Andy Ihnatko's excellent article [zdnet.com] on spray painting his PowerBook in MacUser.