Fujitsu Amilo paint project!

Hi there,

First of all Hello there and thanks for letting me join your awesome community which has given me alot of insight and inspiration for the job im about to take on.

Okay let me begin.

Its almost the end of the last semester for this year at University and one of my flatmates decided to leave me his broken Amilo M3438G laptop which had a busted Geforce GPU (common fault).

Unaware that it could be fixed quite easily and affordably.

So I managed to get a compatible Graphics card (X1800) off Ebay which is a better spec than the old one (Geforce 6800). So that will be fitted once I get back home along with 2 new Corsair low latency 1Gb Ram modules
Oh and also a new 320Gb HDD.

Which will make its spec this:

2.13 GHz Intel M processor
2GB 533mhz LL Ram
ATi Radeon X1800 256mb
320GB SATA

Not bad for a 3 year old laptop and £120 you reckon?

Okay so now onto the aesthetic appearence. To describe it in a conservative perspective would be this:

The Odd scratches around the cases with areas of paint around the hand rest worn away.

Its silver and all plastic casing.

***Btw sorry for no pics at the moment I left my camera lead back home, will post some pics at the end of next week***

Heres a pic:



So heres my questions regarding painting this:

Ive been on the Krylon paint site and they have this spray paint that seems to not require any prep, sanding etc?

http://www.krylon.com/products/fusion_for_plastic/

Is this recommended or should I do it the good old fashioned way like you guys have done?

Also as you can there is a small emblem in the external screen case. I was thinking of taking that out and filling it with something and sanding it down.
What would be the stuff for to do that job?

Last but not least Im going for a gloss white the external case and the case around the keyboard. However im planning to put this emblem of my own in each part in black. What would be the best techniqe for that?

Heres a crappy diagram..



Thanks!

Will report back soon with progress and goodies!

 

OH yeah if couldnt already tell, im a big Command and Conquer fan

 

Its a good idea, but I seriously doubt that the upgrade from a 6800 to a x1800 will work. You cannot upgrade graphics cards in like 99% of all laptops.

You would want to sand teh logo off, and then buy a small kit of automotive body compound. You will have to use this to fill in the cracks, and make the surface flat. Than you will need to get a plastic primer, and then prime the surface. Than you can paint your system.

For the image, I would get a nice x-acto knife and some painters tape. You will need to print out a to scale image of the command and conquer logo. Cover the center part of teh screen with painters tape. Than tape the print over the tape. Than use the x-acto knife to cut out the parts of the tape which the paint will go to. Than paint the image, and then after its dry, remove the tape.

K-TRON

 

Thanks , but I do know I can upgrade my laptop trust me I've done the research

 

Hey I just realised , Im doing medicine you reckon a Surgical Steel scalpel blade would do the job?

 

AS long as you can control the knife easily, and make sure it has a sharp tip. You do not want to press very hard, only enough to cut through the tape.
If you press to hard, you can cut into the plastic, resulting in small grooves around the logo.

K-TRON

 

I suggest doing 2-3 cut outs of your command and conquer decal, because I'm pretty sure that your first one wont turn out as good as the 3rd, after you spend a bit of time doing it you get the hang of it and your stuff looks ALOT better. Its easier if you can find some sort of clear, it doesn't even have to be clear, just a large piece of.. sticky plastic, like a screen protector, and cut your shape out of that, So you just cut it all out then stick it all on, and its ready to paint.

 

Oh just one more thing, how do I get the stickers off?

Whats the best way? Baby Oil?

Thanks

 

If you are referring to the case badges, as stickers, you can probably use acetone to remove the sticker. Make sure after you remove the stickers, that the surface is clean. If there are any adhesive remains, it will show up in the paint.

K-TRON

 

Don't use Aceton, Aceton dissolves plastic.
Use nail varnish remover without Aceton or anything else but no Aceton!!!

 

Yeah, acetone does disolve plastic, but unless your soaking it in acetone the it wont really effect your laptop, if you just put a little on a rag and rub it over the sticky stuff your trying to remove then it wont dissolve any of the plastic, but it will remove the paint.

 

Yet again thanks!

Im repping all of you guys! This is probably the most helpful Discussion Board Ive been to, most of the other places I dont get a response or I get "noobed" for my questions lol.

Cant wait to get started and post some pics up. GDI Laptop FTW!

*edit*

Also , If this goes really well I may do some further modifications like LED the laptop. However I dont know where would be a good power source for the LEDs i was thinking of somehow trying to steal the power off the Firewire port but I dont really know how I would do that.

 

Yeah, I've thought of doing LED mods myself, but you need to find a power source that is always on, some things like USB only turn on when you plug something into it(Or at least thats what I got from some of my research). Yeah, keep us posted on how your paint job goes.

 

I'm pretty sure USB works from the moment you power up..

 

You can get power from Usb, but it only can source 500mah. If you intend to power leds off of the Usb port, you will always have a load on the Usb hub, and will burn your usb hub in your laptop out pretty quick.
If you want a reliable power source, than you want to use your screen inverter. Screen inverters are usually able to source 3 amperes of current, or 3000mah. You will be able to run led's off of this source, without damaging the inverter. The screen only uses about 1.5amps of current, so there is plenty of current left over, which can power your led's.
However, you will need multiple resistors in your led circuit, cause the voltage coming from the screen inverters, are usually 16 volts or higher. Most led's run less than 5 volts, so you will need to make an adequate circuit, or else you will blow out all of your led's.

K-TRON

 

Bump

Added Pics!