Customizing my iPod!

Hope this is posted in the right place!

So, my (almost) 2 year old silver iPod Classic 80GB does not look so classic anymore, the back is very dull with tiny scratches and the front has a few dings. My idea was to spruce up its looks a bit, I don’t really care about the scratches but it would make a good project and the end result would be very individual.



My ideas so far are:

• Just get the back polished up and looking like it was when new. Perhaps a couple of coats of clear-coat would help sustain this?

• Polishing the front of the iPod also, the end result would be a high gloss finish. Don’t know how successful this would be as aluminium is very soft... Would it respond well to sanding down etc or would this simply scratch and score the surface.

• Painting either or both metal parts of the body. Thinking about this the paint probably would not last very long? Also, is it easy to anodize the aluminium front panel? Anyone with experience and information on this kind of process please get in touch!

• Vinyl dyeing the click wheel. Anyone ever done this before? Is the click wheel easy to remove?

Also I guess any one with tips or help regarding taking the iPod apart this would be much appreciated. I haven’t looked yet but i presume there are guides lurking on the net.

Or if you guys have any ideas I haven’t thought of let me know! Would love to hear what you think would look cool.

Thanks in advance!

 

i actually got the chance to customize my own video ipod its a 5.5 gen.....in fact i got around and painted the back metal plate to a matte black...looks alright and in the front faceplate i polished it with sandpaper i started with a 800-1000-2000-and finished with a 4000 grid...at the end i spent 20$ on material i could of just ordered the new parts off ebay...

 

Ha yeah that is one point it could cost more than to actually buy new replacement parts...

How did you go about painting the back? Got any pics or anything?

cheers

 

Polish up the back to a mirror shine, spray a custom avatar on the back and clear coat it.

For the front? Laser etch a flame/tribal style around the click wheel.

That's what I would do

 

That would be sweet! Just need to lay my hands on a laser etching machine now... Ha.

I like your idea of putting some kind of custom design on the back and then clear coat to protect it. Out of interest how tough would the clear coat be? Do you think it would still show up scratches?

Also what kind of paint would be best? I would imagine the type used to paint cars?

As you can see I am a bit of a noob at this kind of stuff lol.

The only experience I have at this kind of thing is filling and painting my car door when my friend scraped it...

 

I suggest leaving as is! This might be the new style right there! Start the trend! Just like torn jeans!

 

well the back i sanded down and then sprayed some primer then some black matte krylon paint....i will see if my mom will let me borrow her camera so i can take pics ok.....

 

The worst part will probably be polishing it up, because you will need a very fine cloth and determination, lol.

Car paint seems like a good choice, but wait for someone with more spray paint knowledge comes around.

If you manage to get an etcher to use then make sure you practice on scrap until its perfect because there ain't no going back, lol.

 

Just get one of those fluro flexible covers for it. Problem solved.

 

Very true. I tried some wet and dry paper my dad was using to clean the front forks on his motorbike – it did remove the big scratches but left more of its own smaller ones, which I guess is the nature of the chase when finishing a surface like this.

I really need to get my hands on some ultra fine wet and dry or perhaps some form of abrasive paste. I think I could get away with using the finest paper available to start off with, as none of the scratches are very deep, removing the need for intermediate stages of different grit paper.

So anyone with any spray painting experience going to offer help?

Also, anyone know how the aluminium would hold up to a bit of sanding/smoothing?

Nah, don’t want some piece of rubber sticking to everything in my pocket! Just want a nice metal finish without adding any thickness etc.

Thanks for the input though .