Stripping paint from M15x chassis

Hey to DIY guys out there, so I want to repaint my M15x a different colour. Maybe yellow or something and I was wondering is the best way to remove the, current black, paint on my M15x? I don't want to use Aircraft Remover as that stuff is pretty hardcore and the spec sheet says to avoid contact with magnesium so that seems a no go. Anyone got experience or recommendations?

 

Good ol' sandpaper? You can remove the paint, polish it and then paint it or even better, powder coat it like Inap.

 

How about letting it soak in alcoholic liquid?
It should desolve the paint after a few hours.

 

So sanding it would not ruin the mag underneath?

 

Check with Inap or Speedy Gonzalez. They've both stripped and repainted M15x's, Inap rather famously with Old Yeller. If I recall, Speedy created Mandrake's white version. Both looked great.

 

I stripped mine with paint remover. It's sold in hardware stores and is kind of like jelly, but really nasty and toxic so wear gloves, and make sure you do it outdoors. You'll need to coat the panels a couple of times since the paint and primer is applied in several layers. After the bulk of the paint was scraped off, I used some wet/dry sandpaper (800 grit) to remove the remaining paint, and a wire brush attachment with my rotary tool for the little crevices and connection ports on the bottom base.

If you just want to paint it a new color, you shouldn't strip the old paint through to the aluminum unless you're powder coating. Instead just sand it and paint over it. If you are powder coating it, most shops that do the powder coating usually sandblast the parts down to the bare metal before painting anyway.

 

Hi, widezu, what I did to the M17x chassis was:
-Removed the magnesium parts with a heavy duty blow dryer after removing the torx screws.

-Removed the plastic parts around the lid with alcohol (they used some kind of double side glue tape, 3M like) the plastics behind the ports (USB etc) are glued too but come off very easy.

-I sand off the anodized coat using 500grain water proof sand paper (1000 is overkill) and a little bit with 800grain to give it a nice plain surface.

-I didn't reach the aluminium surface as it's a tricky metal that tends to protect itself creating a thin layer of oxide very fast, thus making the painting process nearly impossible with good results.

-washed the parts with water and then industrial acetone (not the new nail polish removal products, they're weak nowadays)

-be careful not to touch the surfaces with your hands now(the grease from your fingers will create a barrier for the paint and it might chip off later on), hold the chassis and lid on the area that can't be seen (inside the system, for the lid:behind the LCD)

-i wanted good results from the start so I kept my parts in backing soda powder for a day.

-cleaned them again with acetone and started painting them right away, I used 2 coats of paint and 1 coat of clear coat, at an interval of roughly 10 minutes.

The secret is to not let the first coats dry before applying another one as the previous coat will swell.

Good luck with your project. If you have more questions I'd be happy to assist you.

 

sorry just a quick q,
is it a similar problem with the magnesium panels for the m15x?

 

No need to say sorry, it's a forum afterall.
Yes, magnesium, like Al, oxides fast in the open air so after standing and degreasing it, rincer it and dry with hot air;
Remember: don't touch the surfaces with your bare hands (grease from your fingers will affect the process), use gloves!

Apply a NON etching epoxy primer (so you can use whatever type of paint you want )
Unlike Al you'll have to let it dry for ~2 hours before the first paint coat.

 

So I bought myself a Magnesium base and sanded it down but not completely, just to rough it up a bit. Gonna probably send it to inap to get it powder coated. What do you guys think of the attached concept? Kinda have to imagine it with the yellow lights on.

 

Powder coating is the way to go for magnesium alloy.

That looks nice!

 

It should look like this



if you're gonna sand it

 

Oh mai gawd. Screw painting that man, leave it be. It's freaking gorgeous.

But then again it might get damaged easily, IDK, i'm no paint expert

 

As a preview, thanks to inap, preview images are attached. One step closer to my goal of this:

Now if only I can get Dell to replace my screen as it is scratched due to me losing the rubber bits on my palm rest.

 

Nice. Did you remove the original paint first? or just painted over it?

Is that powder coated? I have no way to tell.

 

I sanded it down before sending it to inap to get it powder coated. He probably cleaned it a bit further.

 

Whats the bill on getting it powder coated through Inap? I may see if I can get a set, and then get them powder coated locally. Would it be possible to do a Metallic Gun Metal gray poweder coat? Is Metallic Powdercoat possible?

 

I haven't paid inap yet but his guy does it for like 50 bucks if your lucky. The guy tried to charge more but inap went Chuck Norris on him.

 

U gave me my big LOL of the day, thank you

 

Wished i had a large enough oven to diy . Sending it over would be too far.

 

Dang man that looks so sick. I'll have to see about ordering another chassis (I think I saw someone posted a site on here that had replacements graded by quality). I think if I was getting one done like that I'd probably go with a nice blue, potentially green. Some true "Alien" colors haha. Yellow is a beauty all the same. How hard is it to remove/ reassemble the chassis?

 

Not hard at all, given little experience. So far the M15x is the simplest notebook I've seen.

 

Now if only someone could make water transfers of the port labels.

 

I just thought of the same thing. Obviously widezu69 needs a dark coloured label, the default white wouldn't be visible.

 

the yellow looks much better in person, prolly even better then my original yellow unit. still trying to figure out the port labels too, just so dam small. heheh

 

Should work fine with laser engraving... provided you now a place to this.

 

good idea, i haven't even thought about it.

 

Damn!!! This is so darn sexy! :thumbsup:

 

if only alienware would offer this kind of customization on the chassis...sigh

 

Were there any completed pics of this project? Was it finished?

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