Acer Aspire One Paint Mod

Next week I will be disassembling my Acer Aspire One to have the housing painted by a local automotive shop. My only question is how to paint the touchpad. It is the same blue plastic as the rest of the chassis and I was wondering if painting over if would impact performance. I am assuming the answer is yes, however I wanted to be sure before I made any decisions. Advice?

 

You can paint touchpads, just not as many coats. When I painted my Inspiron 4100, I took the touchpad out and left it black.

 

Thank you! About how many mil retains the original sensativity?

 

I am not sure, I am actually fairly inexperienced with painting, this was my first laptop job. I would PM K-Tron, he's very good with these things. I think you need 5 posts to send a PM though

 

I wouldn't paint the touch pad. You will have to do it thin and after use it will wear off.

 

Good thought. I didn't think about wear and tear on the finish for the touchpad. Now I have to think of a color that will match this horriably ugly blue color... Suggestions?

 

Bright yellow!

Nah, just find out the model of the touchpad, then buy a replacement on ebay. I'm sure it comes in gray or black or something that will match better than blue.

If I am wrong, you can always take the touchpad off, and get one of those protective films. I am sure you can get that in pretty much any color you want, and it won't wear with use. Then just put the touchpad back on, so the edge of the film is underneath the palmrest.

 

Perfect. Thanks Hep!!

 

No problem. Good luck with your mod!

 

I am ready to get started on this project however I have one hold up... What color should I choose?

Does anyone have any color, finish, etc that they would find interesting? I can order from almost any automotive finish supplier in the country, so I can really choose from almost anything (House of Kolor, DuPont, PPG, etc).

Like I said, I am completely open and willing to try about anything. The painter working on the project is one of the best in the country when it comes to the automotive industry, so I want to get a little crazy with it.

Thanks!!!

 

I think something that will stand out would be best so not a black or dark blue. What about a red with some black pin stripe or something?

 

Blue and orange are complimentary colors, so maybe a shade of orange?

 

A mix of red / orange looks nic

Or, Blue and Brown...


Cin

 

That would be cool. Then have him paint in a bears logo on the top too while you are at it

 

Oh yeah that would be cool...:yes:
He would have to to do the Red Wings somewhere also
nah, that's red and white......LOL

The other colors are cool!


Cin

 

Red has been my first choice so far... I don't think a Bears theme would work well for me although my normal team hasn't fared so well this season. A Chiefs theme might not be the best choice either.

 

Red's a great color! :yes: A blend of something would be so sweet!


Cin

 

I have been looking at using red as the primary color but adding a pearl flake to it (from House of Kolor). I am still looking into doing this though...

 

I think that would be rather nice How long does the whole process take??


Cin

 

I wish I chimed in earlier.
Before painting the touchpad test its sensitivity. Put a few pieces of index cards ontop of the touchpad and see how many you can mount before the touchpad looses its sensitivity.
My touchpad worked fine through 7 layers of index cards.
I have about 32 layers of paint on my touchpad, with copper variagated leaf suspended in the clear, and the touchpad is still sensitive enough with photoshop and basic usage.

I used HOK and high quality automotive paints on my system and the quality of the finish is amazing.
My laptop is red and has the HOK F22 Red metallic fireball flake in it, and it is really eye popping. HOK products are very expensive, but their quality is unmatched.

good luck with the project, please post pictures when you finish.

K-TRON

 

K-Tron - Excellent! Thank you for the feedback. I will attempt the cardstock test tomorrow and hopefully get moving in the next 48 hours. HoK makes some great stuff and is well worth the cost. The durability, quality and look are second to none.

 

Nice paint job! If you want to see some easy to use awesome custom paint, check out Planet Color, you can buy from Sherwin Williams Automotive paint stores... http://www.planetcolor.com/

 

haha i'm itching to paint my laptop Laguna Blue from the ap2 s2000. sick, sick color.

 

SWEET color Sherwin Williams # B7-74197 then have them add 6% PCFX7 small crystal to give it some bling-bling

 

I decided to paint the laptop with a black pearl and than add red ice pearl flake (House of Kolor) to the clear. It is going to be a very deep, shiny black pearl and the red flake will make the entire laptop unique and stand out like nothing most people have ever seen. I will be posting some high res pictures once the work has been completed. A good friend of mine is a professional photographer.

RabidRat - Do you have the paint code for that color? Once mine is complete, professional photos have been taken and posted to here we might be able to set something up to complete your unit for you. I will keep everyone posted.

 

Ooh that sounds really nice! Can't wait to see the final product!


Cin

 

Wow did I change the entire project up... I order the HoK flake, it arrived and than I found something I liked better.

I will be testing Alsa PrizmaCoat with a gunmetal gray base coat and a Hawaiian red base coat to see which I like better.

h**p://alsacorp.com/products/prizmacoat/prizma_show.htm

Look at the Bentley image. That is the effect I am going for. The only problem I have ran into is that the materials will not arrive until Friday... My painter leaves for Las Vegas (SEMA) on Friday so it looks like I will be waiting another week to two weeks before any progress is made.

On another note, I have a Dell Mini 9 being delivered tomorrow. What to do with it....

 

Looking forward too see how it will finally look

 

kawasaki orange.... mmmmmmmm love that color..or house of colors tangerine dream...

 

How far along are you now with it?? It's been several weeks for an update! Nice image!

Cin

 

More than a month has gone by, still no pictures ??

 

Hes long gone...

 

I would've loved to have seen how it turned out...

Who knows....maybe we will be surprised???


Cin

 

Alright all,

I apologize for the long delay in getting back to you. Between choosing a color, ordering the materials, SEMA (my painter went to Vegas for 9 days) and testing different color combos there has been a delay.

The two items being modded are a Blackberry 8330 and my Acer Aspire One. The Blackberry has been completed and it looks great. I took one picture last night and should have it posted (hopefully) tonight. I went with an Alsa grey metallic and their prismatic coat suspended in the clear. The Acer is a work in progress and I don't have an ETA on it yet. Hopefully this weekend. My painter doesn't seem very motivated to complete free work (and its my father so I can't hassle him to much!).

 

Pictures as promised! I will upload higher quality pictures when I get the free time as well as pictures with everything assembled. The paint has to cure and paint protection film has to be applied before I can reassemble it. The laptop is coming soon.

 

That sure has a lot of flake in it! looks great!

 

Actually that is very very light spray. The effects are very pronounced with even a pinch of the prismatic suspended in clear. It was shot with a metallic titanium than the Prismatic suspended in the clear. I will have better pictures after everything cures.

For my laptop... Bright red with the Prismatic flake or titanium with Prismatic flake... I have the red sprayed on a color match card so this weekend I might shoot a picture of it and upload it. Maybe everyone will offer there opinions once I have some better pictures posted of everything. Anyone think the Prismatic effect is to pronounced?

The laptop will follow shortly... Decisions, decisions

 

Wowsa! It looks pretty nice, CWhitney! :yes:

Can't wait to see the finished lappy! :yes:


Cin

 

Looks nice mate.

 

what size flake did you end up going with, it looks very small like 1/256 mm.
I love the look of flake. Its a shame that the largest flake made for commercial guns is 1/64mm

The silver base looks nice

K-TRON

 

I can't wait to see the finished project.

 

The paint has cured almost 100%. This week a friend of mine is putting paint protection (for a car, clear bra) over the pieces that have been painted and over the screen. I expect to have it fully assembled by the end of the week if all goes well.

K-Tron: The flake is Alsa Corp. Prizmacoat. Off hand I don't know the size of the flake, but I just called Alsa to find out and they will have to call me back tomorrow in the morning. I will keep you posted as to exactly which size flake was used. We shot a metallic silver over the already silver casing than applied the Prizmacoat in the clear. I am really impressed with the way it turned out.

Tendencydriven - You should be seeing shots of the phone completed within a week. The laptop is getting shot Wednesday at the earliest. I have had to be much choosier about color on it since its body plastics are MUCH harder to find and replace. Had there been a problem with the phone, had it looked bad or had it turned out just not exactly right, it would have been easy to just toss and replace.

Cin - This is going to make you very very happy I have a feeling. I scrapped silver as the base for my Acer and I am going with. Your influence helped change my mind . Tomorrow I am picking out a candy apple red to shoot as the base and the Prizmacoat will go over the top. I think you will like it.

As always I will post pictures as I have time (and access to studio lights). Its been dark, rainy and snowy here making it very difficult to get good shots of any of the work. You really need the sun or very strong florescents to make the Prizmacoat pop.

 

Ah one more thing ---

There is more than enough Prizmacoat left so.... If one contributor here would like some work done please let me know. I know most won't be interested until I post some final pics, but I thought I would throw it out there. The item would have to arrive disassembled, you would be responsible for shipping both ways and it would take about a week. Also, if it is a phone the shell needs to be BRAND new and if it's a laptop than it has to be darn near new. I honestly think this is fun and an excellent customization. I might as well let one other member take part in the materials that I have already purchased. Why let them waste?

Cin, Hep!, ZFactor, KTron, Nizzy - You would be the frontrunners should any interest arise. You all have added valuable feedback to this thread and Cin I know you add valuable feedback everyday in many other threads...

 

where is the One?

 

I am still working on details on it. Hopefully before the end of the week. It has been taped off and is ready but I am bit picky on color.

 

Were waiting patiently

 

Can't wait to see the colors/turn out!!!...glad you choose to go with red


Cin

 

Any updates on the one? This sure is a slow paint job.

 

No joke... I can't complain much because all the labor is free. I have my phone painted, covered in paint protection film and am just waiting for it to cure completely (about 3 or 4 more hours). I plan on assembling it tonight and hopefully getting some pictures tomorrow. Work has been stressful for both myself and those helping with the labor. I have been out a laptop for almost three months now so trust me I know just how slow it is.