Mac II Case Label Restore

[saybur]

I've got a project Mac II without the "Macintosh II" label on the front. It looks like some bozo (not me this time) decided it would look better without it and scrubbed the area clean.

Anyone been able to restore this type of thing? Is this a job for decals, or is there another option available?

 

[dv-]

I'd probably dig up a copy of the "Apple Garamond" font and hit up my local makerspace for recommendations on a good silkscreener who takes low-volume weird custom work. That would be the ideal, I think.

A clear decal would be "good enough" but you'd know. YOU'D KNOW.

 

[saybur]

A clear decal would be "good enough" but you'd know. YOU'D KNOW.

Thanks for the silkscreen idea, I'll ask around. I know zilch about the process so it'll be a good learning opportunity.

 

[eharmon]

A water slide decal might work...swear I've seen someone else here give those a try.

 

[jmacz]

I have done this with decals. But as @dv- mentioned, you definitely know. I have been meaning to try a satin clear coat over the entire case to make it harder to detect but haven’t tried that yet. One of these days.

Here’s a picture:

 

[saybur]

Thanks for the picture, that's quite helpful for getting an idea of the end product. My spouse does waterslide decals for ship models and offered to help, I'll give that a go and see what it looks like before digging into the silkscreening.

 

[olePigeon]

Has anyone tried rub-on transfer paper?

 

[jmacz]

Haven’t tried that… I tried decals, toner transfer from wax paper, custom laser engraved rubber stamp, vinyl mask and spray. Want to try the clear coat as mentioned at some point. I was looking into a portable handheld inkjet which seemed like it would work but the issue is alignment and they are expensive. The other path was dye sublimation but I would need to figure out how to apply uniform heat to it. People have used curling irons on keycaps (which squeezes the key cap between the two curling iron pads) but that wouldn’t work in this case. Was considering disassembling a curling iron to just have a single pad. Lots of ideas but haven’t really explored any of them.