Custom Painted iPod Mini

[cringemaster]

Well a few days ago I took the plunge. I layed down my prime, untouched iPod Mini casing, sanded it down, and layed a few coats of paint and clearcoat on it. At first I was afraid to paint it wrong, but I decided my best bet was automotive paint.

 

Long Story Short:

A few years ago my dad had this old crappy dodge "dynasty" and it was blue. He fixed the front bumper and bought a few cans of paint to paint it one day, but never got around to it because the transmission finally blew after only being able to drive in 1st gear (top speed was 45 at 4800 rpm )

 

So I found that paint and the clearcoat he bought with it and decided I'd do something different, but still simple and cool.

 

And why an iPod Mini? Well originally, I was just gonna do somethign crazy with it, but since my video ipod was stolen, I decided I would hold my 3 and a half gigs of music on this mini. Also the Mini has been known to be fairly durable and with it outfitted with a flash drive, It'll be bulletproof.

 

First off, Youll need to disasemble it. I mean completely strip it of its components. This tutorial will work here for the most part, excpet the clear "glass" covering. When you get down to the glass covering, just slowly push it down in one corner until it starts to come free, then move to another corner or edge and work your way around until it pops out. Dont put too much pressure though or you'll crack it.

 

Once its stripped (of everything, all that there is is the aluminum casing), get some fine sandpaper (something rough enough, but not too rough or youll see the sanding lines) and sand the entire thing down except the inside and the areas where the screws were. Once its sanded, fill the inside with paper and get yourself a long stick. Somehow, rig it so the stick is inside the paper and its not gonna get free. It should look like this:

 

 

Now to the painting.

 

I used "Duplicolor Auto Spray" to paint it. The only the I masked off was the little screw holes so i dont have to tap them again.

 

I did 2 coats, waited a few hours and did another two after I let some of it chip off. Then I waited until the next day and did 3 coats of clearcoat and let that dry overnight.

 

After the clearcoat dries its still a little tacky if you try to poke it, so let it cure for a few more days completely to be safe. Also it smells very strong and Ive noticed that you can get that lightheaded feel from it just by looking clesely at it, so dont try this if you have asthma (or if you are a recovering addict [not me]).

 

I still havent gotten the drive yet for it from newegg, so i havent been able to test it completely, but heres a few pics of the casing.

 

 

 

 

When I get it working with it's future flash based drive, Ill up some better pics of its finished.

 

And as far as the screen glass cover thingy goes, i havent thought about how to re-afix it, but i think crazy/super glue will do just fine in small doses.

 

Enjoy

[IanSeattle]

I think you should lay down some Tape and then spray on some red paint and make a stripe down the middle ;-)

[cringemaster]

I think you should lay down some Tape and then spray on some red paint and make a stripe down the middle ;-)

 

I had plans of masking off the back and using our ProLight 1000 and an engraving bit at school to do a crazy design on the back, but Ill save that for when I need a quick project grade for class.

[watz_up]

It will be cool to see some designs on it.. maybe crystal can be used to decorate it. I think is quite cool to engrave your own name on it too

[darksideofthemoon]

or maybe the dodge logo?

i like the stripe idea though....