Painting a Mac Plus (upgraded 512K) Platinum

[Scott Baret]

OK, so this may sound strange, but I want a platinum Mac. A platinum Plus that looks like a 512K, complete with a short keyboard and Apple IIc mouse.

I know what you're thinking. Yes, I own two platinum Pluses. However, I'd rather have this particular Mac become my platinum one.

My questions:

1. Has anyone found a paint that is the same as Apple's platinum case colour?

2. How should I go about painting a Mac?

 

[register]

Just a suggestion (sorry, no experience with painted computers, but I wonder how to restore the original look, as well): find a motorcycle shop that offers custom painted helmets. ABS is a common material for helmets (as some other plastics and fiber reinforced resins are, as well). So identify the stuff your Mac's case is made of (some kind of ABS, I assume) and ask for the chemical base of paint that is 100 % compatible with this stuff. I.e. the plastics must not become brittle from being painted (necessary for helmets, obviously, most favorable for computer cases ;-) A body shop might produce a custom mixed colour, matched to a sample (for example from a non yellowed part of the inside). The gloss could be adjusted with a transparent cover coat or lapping of the hardened paint.

In any case I would perfom some experiments before I attempted to paint a valuable case.

 

[Scott Baret]

Interesting idea...perhaps I could find a shop that would even paint it for me? I think the Mac is ABS; I have an unyellowed ADB Mouse I could give to them so they have a colour to work from.

 

[Mac128]

Can't believe I found this on Apple's Support website:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=866

"Apple does not normally use PMS color charts or Pantone color numbers to designate the platinum color that is now the company standard. Our platinum color number on a coded PMS chart is somewhere between 420 and 421, somewhat closer to 421. (This depends on the age of the chart and the light source used for viewing it."

 

[equill]

Solution of ABS in methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), a common solvent for PVC pipe work (drains, stormwater, agriculture) was discussed in these forums a while back. I have used ABS in MEK for repairs and installations in compact AIOs. The weak link in ABS is, I suspect, the butadiene component, which not only oxidizes more readily than the acrylate and styrene, but embrittles the copolymer as a result of its doing so. It may also be that an ABS-in-MEK cement will not have a long life for similar reasons, and therefore have to made afresh for each repair job.

The burden of all this is that acetone- and MEK-based 'paints' should have good adhesion to Beige ABS Mac cases. That cannot necessarily be taken to include Beige (or, rather Platinum) metal-clad Macs such as the 81, 85 and 9500.

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