Truckbed Liner on Toughbook

So I got bored yesterday and decided to spray truckbed liner on my toughbook. Shown Below are the results:

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I like that . . where do I get truck bed liner from?

 

Hmmmm I like. sure beats the tar drips I have on one of my old 18's

 

Nice. Looks like it's black powder coat.. which is what I would actually prefer than the silver.

 

Looks cool... But I hope you don't work with it outside... That's a big solar collector now...

Should be durable enough though...

 

Any automotive store would carry it. Its still curing so we'll see about durability.

 

Drag it behind the truck on your way home and report back please...:laugh:

 

I am with Toughbook on this one. I love the look, but I would be majorly concerned about internal temps now. Part of the Toughbook book rugged line cooling system IS the material the case is made from, and the color. It must be allowed to breath to cool down faster. If you show no significant increase in temps inside/outside (meaning in your house/outside your house, and internal temps/surface temps), then I would be all for this look!! Please run some tests and let us know about the temps...

 

Undoubtedly, the LCD assembly to this toughbook is now a "solar collector." But even before truckbed liner, a the main body of the computer was OEM Black. For my day to day use of this computer, the truck bedliner option was appropriate, and hell of a lot cheaper than powdercoating the thing. Perhaps I can CNC a heat sink to replace the fragile black plastic on the top of this toughbook. Its currently 24deg F this morning, so any added heat would be a more of a blessing atm.

 

I hear ya, and I would LOVE to do this to mine as well as I love the all black look. But, this being my main machine, and for work, and living in SOCAL, I want to make sure it won't affect performance or get too hot.

 

Another color option I was considering was gunmetal gray, although I doubt it would be any different than the black in terms of heat, for the computer. There were many color options, to include hot pink for the truckbed liner kits.

If you do decide to do this or something similar, be aware that there are a lot of work to disassemble this thing. The type of liner i used required that the parts sprayed get baked in oven for 15 mins @ 450F. All the guts of the LCD assembly had to be removed, and any plastic that couldn't be removed had to be protected with a layer of kapton tape (or any other high heat resistant tape followed by aluminum foil).

 

I think you can get thi same in coating in other colors..... Worth a try anyway... I know the big boys can match the color of your bed these days...

 

What is the brand of the bedliner paint? Do you have any former temps to compare to?

I would at least want to do something like this to the bottom of mine. It seems like the bottom is the most "Tender" part. I guess you could tape over all the appropriate stickers?

 

I have other virgin CF-19's I can test the temp with. I'll report back when I figure out controled test for them... Any suggestions?

You can tape over the stickers, but you must remove the tape quick because this stuff starts hardening after it leaves the can. If you take to long to remove the tape there will be a lifting effect around the edges of the tape. And you will have to retape after every coat, unless you want to leave the tape there and take a razor blade around it. When you bake you will have to protect the expoosed areas.

I used "Liner Xtreeme," dont even think of buying the duplicolor crap (its cheaper for a reason).

Cost: $8 bucks 1 qt can
or you can get the kit for $45 which includes the spray gun and 1.5 gal of what ever color liner you want.

You need your own compressor ($20 bucks at walmart for a PRC brand)

 

If you notice in some of my pictures you see spots that are bigger than the others. This is due to me not properly cleaning the nozzel between coats (you need to flush it with small amounts of acetone between coats).

The great thing is you can just respray over once its completly cured.

 

I like it

 

You kinda beat me to what I was going to try on my next project. I was going to give the black wrinkle paint a try. May still give it a go on a 28 or a 34. I was also thinking about using Indigo blue (the color of my Trailblazer...yes another TB) on the one I have in the vehicle for both GPS and wifi. BTW, the Globalstat BU-353 works great! Works well with Streets and Trips also.

 

I did this on an old Bultaco Sherpa dirt bike when I was a teenager; all the body parts were there, but they had been majorly thrashed and some had been pieced back together with AL plates & pop rivets. There was not a d@mn thing wrong with any of it functionally; it just ALL looked like it had been Flakked-Out to the Max-Out.

$40 worth of RhinoLiner later it looked like something out of BatMan rather than a Mad Max reject... the stuff hid the cracks & pop-rivets like magic, and that $40 wouldn't have bought one side cover.

mnem
SuhWEET!

 

Wow, will that is now one stealthy Toughbook!

I like it and it looks like a tough as nails finish! Perhaps you should have sprayed the inside of the case with flat black to aid in thermal transfer to the outside?

 

Temperature test done. The results are as follows:
Control: OEM CF-19 vs Truckbed lined CF-19 on dining room table
Average Ambient Temperature 77.37F
OEM LCD TEMP: 77.63F
OEM Main Body: 84.72F
Truckbed LCD TEMP: 77.74F
Truckbed Main Body: 84.71F

Test: Standard control conditions + 2 1275W Hair dryers set on High heat. One dryer per computer at a distance of 2.5ft (centered on the computer) for 30 minutes. Both computers are running a full PC Mark 05 test.
OEM LCD TEMP: 82.96F
OEM Main Body: 92.33F
Truckbed LCD TEMP: 88.64F
Truckbed Main Body: 92.42F

Conclusion: It is no surprise that the truckbed lined CF-19 LCD gets hotter. What is of interest is that truckbed lining the LCD has little to no effect on the main body of the computer in terms of temperature.
This is in no way shape or form a scientific test.
I used an OMEGA IR Thermometer to obtain the temperature.

 

Hair dryers are one thing... The sun is something totally different. I would think, in one way... That the liner may protect it or at least delay the temps from reaching the inside... With the hair dryer blowing at it.

Leave it on the dash all day in Dallas in August and let us know what the temps are then.

Like I said... I think it looks cool too.... And, as Mnem stated, it hides A LOT of imperfections. When I first got my Hummer I joined a forum and soon found out that I was to be an outcast.... I liked the Chrome option... They were all die hard 4X4 people and formed HOAC on the forum.... (Hummer Owners Against Chrome) They did the Linex thing on all different parts... Especially chrome parts. Some did just the fenders. Others did the grill... Some did the whole truck. It is some durable stuff....

It may turn out not to be that big an issue... But I wouldn't leave it anywhere the sun could get to it unless you are at McMurdo Station....

 

I am putting a coating inside my jeep rubicon this week at my buddies jeep shop. my buddie that ownes the place has done dozens of jeep floorboards with the product he uses. it comes in gallon jugs and a small bottle of catalyst. the company has numerous colors available. after reading this thread I felt like I should mention this product because we roll it on not spray it on. we get a really nice consistent finish with it. no heat needs to be applied not any baking is necessary either. so it will be really good to do a computer with. the product is of course available in white, tan, green and many others. white would look cool I think. I will probably do one in a nice dark green to match some of my firearms. I will get the name and contact info of the liner material this weekend and post it. if you are wondering how you mix the stuff it is like bondo that we have all used just really thin compared to bondo. imagine a really thick paint viscosity. this stuff is REALLY easy to used guys. I am not saying this for sure,, BUT, we might could do this without taking a toughbook apart? maybe take the screws out and plug the openings, then coat with liner. let dry and replace with the same screws or some contrasting stainless? just a thought.

 

Sounds good, I have several beat-up CF-28's that could use a durable face lift. Let us know after you get the name from your bud.

 

I've tried the roll on liners on my garage, and its still there after 3 years (herculiner). One big tip before you tackle this, use a very hard foam rollers with small pores (you will see why when you attempt this).

Take the time to take the toughbook apart to paint/spray/whatever it will look more pro that way. Carefully lift of all badges and have new adhesive ready.

I am very happy with my lined toughbook, and will atempt this on others since I still have over a gal of this stuff left. The durability of these finishes are no joke. If heat is an issue in your area or work, I would suggest trying light colors as opposed to darker ones.

GL, and take lots of pictures! I wanna see the results.

 

The top of my case looks great, but I would not mind getting the lower repainted with Truckbed Liner!

Going to the trouble to find all matching SS Steel screws does sound a bit excessive, and exactly like the stuff I am prone to do!

 

here is the website for the product we have been putting in jeeps. the company makes this stuff in quarts, cheap that way. they also have a variety with no grip additive, so no texture! the no texture would be pretty slick on a cover I think. I got my cf-29 up and running now, it looks like new on the outside so I think I will leave it alone for now. if anyone wants a cover coated with black material that has texture in it I will do one for free when we do a jeep so long as you post some pics with it put together!
http://www.grizzlygrip.com/

 

This is FREAKIN' SWEET!!! I'm JEALOUS!!! I think I might do it to my CF-30!!

EDIT: I think I'll test this out on a junker CF-28 first... LOL

Also for what it's worth, I think they got away from the black toughbooks (CF-27's) for a reason... heat...

 

I've recently tried other color liners as well, namely OD green. turned out good, but i prefer black.

 

The local shop that does this can make it any color you want, I had them do the bed bottom of my M37 comm truck in 24087 green (Viet Nam era Semi gloss green) so other colors would be possible.

Fred

 

Oh wow, that actually looks really good! Gives me ideas, I know there is "textured paint" out there for lawn furniture and such which is really durable but I wonder if they carry it in drab/ultra flat colors like olive drab or black. I really don't want autumn sunrise with burnt sierra gold flakes on my TB!

Not that I have anything against spray on bedliner.........

 

I am pretty sure grizzly grip will make colors on request also if any of you buy from them. there are about 20 sample colors at the jeep shop here. there is a cool desert tan color that would be very "hip" considering our most current conflict in the middle east! might not absorb so much heat either. Not nitpicking but I live in florida and I never leave anything of value on my dash in the summertime here. so I am good with any color on mine.
h3lpmedic, if you did one in green I would really like to see a picture of it! thanks

 

hey TUCKER, spring for the bedliner stuff! paint will never hold up like liner material. think about those edges and corners with paint compared to liner material. if it's worth doing it's worth doing right. I also know the grizzly stuff has a metal etching compound in it that bites into even rusty ,l it will not let go. you have to grind this stuff off after it dries, not the case with even the best of paint. paint has little flexibility after it dries. thats why it chips and cracks with impact. a thin layer of liner that has chemically etched into the metal it is applied to will flex and absorb impact without compromise. just my opinion.

 

Hmm yes I suppose you are correct, even with a flex additive you will still have chipping.