The silver coating inside Mac II cases

[Instow]

I've got a few cases I'm working on, some good, some OK.

Today I put a IIci case and lid through the dishwasher and the outsides now look fantastic and almost new looking, but the insides not so good.

I don't know the name for this material, but the IIsi, IIcx and IIci cases I have are all covered in a metallic silver coating (I expect a lot of other early models were the same). Looking at an LCIII case shows thin sheet metal replaced this coating as the years went by.

The wash only partly removed the silver coating and left many areas patchy and flaky ... so I decided to do a second wash.

Not sure I should have done that ... the situation is now worse with even more flaky silver dust on the cases. I've tried to clean them up, but the more I clean the more messy it gets. 

I worry that over time the metallic particles/dust will drop from the top case onto the board/electronics below and create some sort of 'shorting' problem. The SCSI2SD could even suffer as well.

So ... I guess my question is, how have people tackled this problem before ... and does the silvering really have to be present on the case?

Maybe the answer is ... don't put them through the dishwasher in the first place 

Any ideas/info welcome.

Thanks.

 

[unity]

I would never dish wash a case really. Now you know why. There are much more effective measures that are much safer done by hand. Anyway, its a metallic RF shield coating. In the factory, its airbrushed on. And only airbrushing will give the smooth/even appearance as a thin coat. Aerosol is another option, but it *might* not look as even as airbrushing. It can be applied by brush also, but with the support ribs cast in that will not make it easy and it may not look right.

Aerosol "paint" is under $40 for 5oz.

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