I plastidip'd my early-11 15" pro

finished product:


apple logo came out a bit weird.. but I like it
It was too smooth for the rubberized coating to really stick too, so it kind of bubbled a bit, gave a semi-transparent look to it. completely black with the laptop off, and with it on, the logo glows ever so slightly, and the outline glows brightly.


The oreo-look is really growing on me.


What do you guys think? I did it because I was tired of it slipping everywhere, and to give it a bit of protection from scratches and a much better feel (plastidip feels GREAT on the hands).

 

nice work. how did you mask out the border of the apple logo? and you could have scuffed it with sandpaper for better adhesion

 

I didn't, that's the great part. I was originally going to slide a razor around the outline and remove the plastidip from over the logo, that's why it wasn't scuffed. After seeing how it ended up, I left it. I figured I could always go back, mask everything off, and respray just the logo. But after the way it came out, I don't want to touch it!

After careful consideration, there is a deep 'channel' between the case and the logo, at least 2mm deep. Plastidip doesn't 'fill' things, so if there is a crack, it doesn't have the surface tension to bridge it, or to slide into it. That's why the outline stayed white.

 

On a side note, I can now put the laptop on my legs, and it doesn't want to slide anywhere. It stays where you put it up to a 45 degree angle! ha.

 

That is wicked!

 

monitor your temps for a bit to make sure its not runnung much hotter.

I know the fanless toughbooks jumped a little when painted or skinned heavily and our MBP's dont have alot of thermal headroom like TB's have

 

150 for cpu, 140 for gpu1, 130 for heatsinkb, 94 for enclosure bottom, 106 for hd and memory controller, with about 10 tabs open on 3 firefox windows and vlc playing a 720p video. seems about right, maybe ~10 degrees hotter all around.

Great thing about plastidip is if you ever don't like it, just peel it off. People do parts on cars (rims, bumpers, interior pieces) and when they get tired they just peel it off by hand, but it stands up to pressure washing just fine.

 

lol I know all about the stuff. Ive been a cabinet maker for years and have gallons of it in some of my tools. just never thought to use it as a laptop skin

 

Aye. I recently went on a plastidip rampage. I use to use it to cover nicks/cuts on my welding leads before wrapping, and to protect my tig torch in between the zip-on cover. Now I did my truck's grille, interior, shift knob, laptop, laptop charger, phone... sigh.

 

most of my hand tools, grips on the sliding compound, extension cords before i rewrap damaged areas, back of my toolbelts to stop sliding, buttons on my CnC, and i think most of my Ryobi and Makita power tools have some too... yes I can relate

doubt my husband ( yes woman cabinet maker here ) would appreciate me using it on my new truck though

 

You'd be surprised how much it adds to even a new vehicle. My dd right now is a modded '10 6.7 cummins..




I really hated my chrome grille..

 

Oh, and as far as a woman cabinetmaker, you have my respect. As a metal fabricator, I have not the patience for woodworking. At least when I cut something too short I can weld on what I cut off.. you wood-crew guys are crazy precise! Truthfully, I'd love to see some of your work, if you wouldn't mind.

 

I approve! mines the larger '11 3500 may be time for some bull bars and a bit o customizing too

ill pm you some links to some kitchens and commercial stuff ive done later on. and thanks I got a gal pal who is a welder/fabricator for MHI doing refineries in asia. Its nice us old bats are finally accepted

chrome just says " im over compensating "

 

That's a "RanchHand" brand brush guard. The mounting brackets are very, very stout. I have a Warn PowerPlant HD (5cfm@100psi air compressor/ 12k lb winch) on it. I build mostly race cars down here in Texas, and do quite a bit of turbo kits / supercharger (mostly fmic conversions, people love 3" SS piping for some reason), although I just finished a 1-month job building a carnival ride for a haunted house..

As far as females in the work place.. and welding.. In WWII, when the men were fighting, women were oxyfuel welding aluminum together for fighter planes.. There are quite a few things women can do far better than men in this world, and I'm a firm believer that anything requiring very precise fits, patience, and great hand-eye coordination can be done better by a woman than a man. At least better than me heh.

 

thanks for the compliment im one of those precice fit ppl to me a 1/16 out is pushing it. as for new bars im thinking we have enough drill stem and well casing here I can have something fabbed up, I kinda want my winches front and rear again for playing in the mountains. dual winches come in handy

my compressor is in my work trailer though i need more volume than you ( 18 cfm@ 90psi )

 

I couldn't afford 2 of those winches! I waited close to 6 months for them to go on sale, and picked one up for 1400 out the door. Unless I'm repairing a cracked LS-series block, I aim for 1/16th on most things I do. Carnival ride was 1/8th" out over 20' and it bugged the hell out of me.

BTW, if your 3500 is a 6.7 cummins, you would greatly benefit from chipping it and all that entails. I put a double-disc SBC clutch (6speed manual, 4x4) and a programmer and love this truck. Stock, I hated it. With a passion. But then I came from a 500hp twin-turbo'd 12v cummins... heh.

 

bulldog chip, clutches done, on the fly PCM programming through an old toughbook, extra spring, upgraded front end since the nose is HEAVY, aux fuel tanks under the front of the bed ( 2X 13 imp gal) on either side of driveline, fifth wheel plate, hydraulic powerpack. i agree stock is WAY too vanilla

and complete with the bumper sticker stating " SILLY BOYS.... TRUCKS ARE FOR COWGIRLS "

 

Do you guys need a room?

 

Haha. Damn tangents.. we TJ'd my own thread.

 

nah happily married here

and yes we really hijacked your thread but it should amuse this stuffy subforum

 

I'll be using Plastidip on the body cladding on my '04 Avalanche pretty soon. Looks pretty good on the Mac also

 

Damn. I was just about to propose too..

A few more hours on this laptop, I'm really digging the plastidip. It doesn't slide around at all on my bed, my pants, or my table. I did use a sharp knife to cut the circles around the feet on the bottom of the laptop. That way when the plastidip wears off on the feet, it won't 'run' and tear it off the rest of the bottom. I should have done this months ago!

 

Isn't the bottom part of apple's cooling strategy? Otherwise, apple would've invested in some vents at the bottom, like those plastic bodied laptops, though there is that problem of dust getting in from there.

 

no idea, but after a year with holes drilled out of my backplates because of a thread here started by newfiejudd i can say they do run cooler with holes but collect extra dust

 

I really can't see a difference in temps from what I've done so far. I'll play a few hours of Deus Ex:HR in win7, I've watched temps alot in Windows, so I'll give up an update later tonight /early tomorrow as I'm about to pull a 13 hour shift.

 

I'm not crazy about it. A Speck case would've been a good alternative without any permanent changes.

 

plasti does not do any permanant changes you can peel it back off with moderate force, its the same as peeling the coating off the handles of a cheap pair of pliers