CF-28 replacement parts source?

I'm going to do a powder coat job on 1 of my 28's.

Is there a source for the gaskets and seals within the CF-28?

If not, I suppose I'll have to fabricate them myself.

Any ideas for color scheme? How about metallic gold and silver flake? Or would that be too gaudy (spell check that one)?

Glen

 

Glen... Try Heartlandsi.com for the seals... Why not reuse them? The o-ring seals come right out.

Metallic gold? Uh... okay... How about a stock silver metallic?

 

Hmm.. well.. since you obviously are a Marine,Jarhead,DevilDog etc..... why not camo ..???

 

Well I guess its totally up to your personal taste! Do you want your toughbook to shout "hey look at me!!"? Then gold/silver might work for you. If you really want to swankify it you could add a touch of velvet here and there

Myself, I use mine at auto plants so I need it to be as inconspicuous and professional-looking as possible. I used the factory black-painted parts for mine.. It looks a lot like a CF27 now.

 

With time to think about it, the Gold / Silver mix might get me arrested for impersonating a pimp....

Been thinking about the Camie scheme too...I dont think that would work too well with powder...but the Duracoat method is awefully tempting....

The all Silver look has me thinking too...

Velvet?....I dont think so TimGrav :Þ~

Now to the gaskets and seals...well, I kind'a got carried away while stripping down the case halfs....the seals and gaskets are history. I'll call Heartlandsi next week and see if they have a full kit (Unless someone else has already asked them that and has an answer)...

 

Delending on how easily they can be removed intact, I can probably put you together a set of gaskets

 

I think metallic gold would look a bit tacky. You're not gonna be adding 22" spinners to it too are you?

Since you were a Marine, you could go with camo! That could be fun.

 

Thats a tremendously thoughtful, and kind offer Grav...

I have a Jet engine, and Aircraft maintenance background (Turned Computer Systems Administration <go figure>), so I am not only personally and professionally aquanted first-hand with a vast variety and quantity of gaskets, but also quite nervous about those that leak. Most of them are meant for 1-time use, so although 1 or 2 gaskets might work, I wouldent want to place any bets on up to a dozen of them.

I'll let you know what I find out from Heartlandsi..

-Glen

 

I forget who posted this (I think it was Caddy, but not sure)...but this is really tempting. Did I mention I was also into guns?...eh, well I guess that might go to figure.

http://www.houtsenterprises.net/dur_easy.html

This looks really good....and what I found on e-bay is there's also an aerosol method using the same coating. Its called Durabake.

 

About 6 months ago I wanted to repaint (don't like the stock silver) I started stripping the paint off the lid of my 28. I liked the look of the magnesium. I wet sanded it then used 3m polishing compound on it. It comes out very BLING...had it on the front seat in my truck and the sun caught it...damn near blinded me! But over time it develops a patina that mellows the shine. If it gets scratched I can just steel wool it. Did it with the keyboard bezel and handle as well. It almost has a brushed aluminum look when you steel wool.

 

Magnesium corrodes very rapidly so if you are going to strip and polish it you may want to coat it with some kind of clear lacquer or urethane to keep it shiny.

 

Interesting. A while back I looked up information on corrosion of magnesium and what I found said that it was very resistant to corrosion. In the half a year that Ive had it uncoated I have had no problems. However, corrosion rate may be dependent on the porosity of the surface and its environment. Duly noted. I will l keep an eye on it.

Thanks

 

double suprize....wow, That does look pretty good...and i've met someone who not only knows what 'patina' is, but used it in a sentence :O

How did you strip it?

 

First off...dont make the same mistake I did...peel the big toughbook logo in the center of the lid. I didnt know it was a plastic sticker.

Took the lid off, brushed on Jasco paint stripper and let it start melting away at the factory finish. The finish is very thick, tough and I think baked on (they did a good job). I used multiple applications of Jasco and scraped at it with a razor blade...be sure to keep the edge flat otherwise you can end up with deep scares in the magn. Once I got the majority of the paint off I started using a fine grit sandpaper. I worked my way to finer and finer paper until I was using 3m scotchbrite pad and steel wool. I then used 3m polishing compound.

My bench Grider/polisher was out of commission otherwise a soft wire or 3m wheel would have sped the job up.

Now this is where personal pref comes in. The more you polish it with the compound the shinier it gets, like a mirror, no joke. If thats what you want I would do as tough2go said, put a finish on it. I wanted a more subdued, industrial look so I left it unfinished which, over time, darkens. I have steel wooled it once in the last 6 months which gave it more of a brushed look which I prefer. So far I have had no problems with corrosion. We will see if Im wrong.

The black detail on the lid is an adhesive rubber available for a pretty penny through 3m. I found it at Boeing surplus in Seattle, Wa

 

fYI All,

Environmental Factors

Atmospheres. A clean, unprotected magnesium alloy surface exposed to indoor or outdoor atmospheres free from salt spray will develop a gray film that protects the metal from corrosion while causing only negligible losses in mechanical properties.

[Porosity of surface sounds like an important factor. In the process of working the surface to a high gloss the porosity of the surface is minimized]KUSA

Chlorides, sulfates and foreign materials that hold moisture on the surface can promote corrosion and pitting of some alloys unless the metal is protected by properly applied coatings. The surface film that ordinarily forms on magnesium alloys exposed to the atmosphere gives limited protection from further attack. Unprotected magnesium and magnesium alloy parts are resistant to rural atmospheres and moderately resistant to industrial and mild marine atmospheres provided they do not contain joints or recesses that entrap water in association with an active galvanic couple.

Corrosion of magnesium alloys increases with relative humidity. At 9,5% humidity, neither pure magnesium nor any of its alloys exhibit evidence of surface corrosion after 18 months. At 30% humidity, only minor corrosion may occur. At 80% humidity the surface may exhibit considerable corrosion. In marine atmospheres heavily loaded with salt spray, magnesium alloys require protection for prolonged survival.

Fresh Water. In stagnant distilled water at room temperature, magnesium alloys rapidly form a protective film that prevents further corrosion. Small amounts of dissolved salts in water, particularly chlorides or heavy metal salts, will break down the protective film locally, which usually results in pitting. Dissolved oxygen plays no mayor role in the corrosion of magnesium in either freshwater or saline solutions. The corrosion of magnesium alloys by pure water increases substantially with temperature.

Salt Solutions. Severe corrosion may occur in neutral solutions of salts of heavy metals, such as copper, iron and nickel. Such corrosion occurs when the heavy metal, the heavy metal basic salts or both plate out to form active cathodes on the anodic magnesium surface. Chloride solutions are corrosive because chlorides, even in small amounts, usually break down the protective film on magnesium. Fluorides form insoluble magnesium fluoride and consequently are not appreciable corrosive. Oxidizing salts, especially those containing chlorine or sulfur atoms, are more corrosive than nonoxidizing salts, but chromates, vanadates, phosphates and many others are film forming and thus retard corrosion, except at elevated temperatures.

Acids and Alkalis. Magnesium is rapidly attacked by all mineral acids except hydrofluoric acid (HF) and H2CrO4. Hydrofluoric acid does not attack magnesium to an appreciable extent, because it forms an insoluble, protective magnesium fluoride film on the magnesium, however pitting develops at low acid concentrations. Pure H2CrO4 attacks magnesium and its alloys at a very low rate.

Organic compounds. Aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, ketones, ethers, glycols and higher alcohols are not corrosive to magnesium and its alloys. Ethanol causes slight attack, but anhydrous methanol causes severe attack. The rate of attack in the latter is reduced by the presence of water. Pure halogenated organic compounds do not attack magnesium at ambient temperatures. At elevated temperatures or if water is present, such compounds may cause severe corrosion, particularly those compounds having acidic final products.

Gases. Dry chlorine, iodine, bromine and fluorine cause little or no corrosion of magnesium at room or slightly elevated temperature. Even when it contains 0,02% H2O, dry bromine causes no more attack at its boiling temperature (58oC) than at room temperature. The presence of a small amount of water causes pronounced attack by chlorine, some attack by iodine and bromine, and negligible attack by fluorine. (keys-to-metal.com)

 

"First off...dont make the same mistake I did...peel the big toughbook logo in the center of the lid. I didnt know it was a plastic sticker."...

Sticker? Looks to at least be solid plastic (molded). How is it attached?

 

Sorry, Yes it is molded plastic. Its attached with a medium aggressive adhesive. A long, flexible and narrow putty knife will do the trick. If it doesn't come up easily apply a little heat, that will reactivate the adhesive.

 

I used to do a home-made camo, that came out very good. You would have to scale this down for a laptop. I would spray paint the whole item olive drab, and let it dry. I would then spread various leaves across the surface, about 12" apart. Spray the whole thing with camo yellow (or primer works well). This will mask using the leaves and they will remain green. LEAVING THE FIRST LAYER OF LEAVES ON THERE, when the paint is tacky, put on another layer of leaves (also about 12" apart), and spray the whole thing with rust/brown primer. Let it get tacky, then spread a last layer, and spray it with black.

Carefully pick it all off, and you have a very nice, almost 3-D camo. Clear coat for protection if desired. I did this on pickup truck toolboxes and a couple of motorcycles.

A good way to get a feel for this, is to practice on a piece of cardboard. On the later layers, you realize that you only need to put them in the gaps between the other leaves. Experiment with differing amounts of overlap on the lower layers. Keep it sparse, if you get the earlier layers too crowded, there may not be enough space for the last layer or two. I found that I like to put a light handful of straw as part of the first and last layer (I was a farmer at the time, straw was easy to come by). Arrange the straw vertically, and it gives a good grass appearance.

For a pickup truck toolbox, which is fairly large, I found that using the largest leaves on the bottom layer worked best (big leaves, bigger than my hand). I would use progressively smaller leaves and straw for the later layers. For motorcycle tanks and fenders, it worked better to use more equal-sized smaller leaves. A few smudges while you are picking off the layers don't hurt, and can add to the effect. The base layer of olive drab must have good coverage, so let it dry before starting the layers.

Edit: Since leaves are rarely perfectly flat (and they need to be for this) it can be help to press them between two large books/catalogs/whatever.

 

Sounds cool! When I can pull my head out of current concerns I will play around with that.

Thanks

 

Actually the magnesium oxidizes very quickly if left unattended/un coated. I actually polished one up to a mirror finish. I listed it on ebay and put it to the side until it sold. I came back to it 3 days later when it sold and noticed a white haze all over it. Especially in places where I had touched it. My fingerprints were all over it. I ended up repolishing it and giving the guy a lifetime supply of Flitz to keep it polished up plus a 0000 steel wool in case he wanted to turn it to a satin finish.

If I would have clearcoated it... It would have looked awesome though!

 

Wow! I did this to the lid, handle, and keyboard bezel (I think the lid is the only magnesium piece of the 3). All this has me curious as to whats goin on. I have had no problems...its been in the rain, snow, locked up in a dark damp yurt for a week, under the car seat for days...nothin. This last fall I was in Port Townsend, Washington (high humidity rich in salt), I left the toughbook on the front seat of a van. There was an oppressive rain storm all day. I came back from the field that evening to discover the van's pop-up roof window had a leak..the toughbook was sitting in the bucket seat in a puddle! I took it inside toweled it off and powered it up. The exposed magnesium of the lid darkened slightly is all.

I first did this project in Western Washington (high humidity). Now Im in the mountains of New Mexico(very low humidity). Im going to experiment further and leave the lid be to see what happens. I will be out in the field a lot at 7,000-12,000 ft elevation the rest of the season. I will report and keep a picture log.

 

Sounds like it would be right at home mounted in a Delorean

 

Lol! That was exactly my thought when I finished mine. Now it justs needs a flux capacitor.

 

You guys that are polishing your Toughbooks might want to try Zoop Seal.
Clear coat is too fragile and hard to get to stick to a polished surface.
Quote from site “It will impregnate into the pores of the product being treated, which will stop the process of oxidation immediately. A crisp and clean appearance is the end result. Your product will continue to look like new without repolishing.”
http://www.zoops.com/zoopseal.asp

Jim

 

Keep those flux capacitors away from the bare magnesium or you will see some nasty Galvanic corrossion. I am guessing that whatever chemicals you used to strip and polish the magnesium may have added some anti-corrosive agents to the metal and that is why yoiu aren't seeing significant corrossion.