I want to have a window put in my 840's case, with neon lights inside. Nothing tacky but something nice. I also want to sand down the case removing all paint and painting the metal black.

As per the plastic part, I'm not sure if paint will stick. Is there a primer or solution one must coat plastic with if it is to be painted?

I will see how much the modding will cost, so if it's too much I will do black paint first cause I can always touch up the paint after.

Also, does anyone know a good source for a sled that will let me use a regular hard disk where my CD is? I don't need the CD since I use the network, and would love to have the extra bay for a SCSI hard drive.

Any ideas? Also as to any source for a replacement faceplate that is solid so people can't see inside to the drive?

I need to find a nice way to pry out the Macintosh Logos gently before painting so I can use crazy glue later and add them back in. Or should I simply paint that small Apple logo as white to offset the black case? Cause it seems the Apple logo sticker won't come out without a fight. :(

One final thing are replacement front Plates available anywhere for this model? My front faceplate has a broken plastic wedgie which means some of the case doesn't close all the way since it is missing a support point. Not a big deal but it would be nice to have it 100% secure.

>does anyone know a good source for a sled that will let me use a regular hard disk where my CD is?

I'm 90% sure the sled that the CD is on also is drilled to fit a typical hard drive. Just unscrew the CD from the base, sit hard drive on sled, replace screws. Rehash: Sled has mounting holes for both hard drive or CD drive. (cool, huh?)

> any source for a replacement faceplate that is solid?

The CD was an option on most of the quadra 800 series machines. The ones that didn't have the CD had the solid faceplate. Any quadra parts junkies around here probably have them lying about, especially since *adding* the CD drive was the popular upgrade. In your case, you can probably get a faceplate for the asking around here. (I don't have one, sadly, never had a Q8xx machine.)

> I need to find a nice way to pry out the Macintosh Logos gently before painting. . .

I pretty sure there's a hole in the back of the plastic that the apple is mounted to. If you stick a pin into it, you should be able to push out the apple. If it were me, I'd leave the apple with the rainbow stripes, but if you want to paint it, you could do that too.

Dunno about a replacement faceplate. (You mean the front bezel, right?)

Now that I have a good idea what the painting area will be all about, I know what I need to purchase etc.

The one thing I do need to get is some extra cables and cords for inside the mac. The included SCSI cables and power adapters don't reach far enough for me, since the SCSI cable *only just* reaches the CD drive as it is right now, so even if I could get the hard disk in there, the SCSI cable would not reach it, and niether would the power cable. I am sure most standard SCSI cables will work, I just have to take the old one out and make sure it's a proper length. And I'm sure it would even help a bit to get a new cable.

Inside there is some rust on the case, not much and nothing serious, but is there any way to coat that or at least deal with it so it doesn't spread or do anything bad?

Depending on the space inside I may invest down the road in a small fan for the CPU. Even though many chips can run hot like 486's and 040's, I don't really like them to and prefer to have a fan on them. Can a 840 handle a fan?

Oh! One final question, honest! :)

Sometimes the big fan inside the 840 makes noises like it's bearings are starting to go? Any sources for replacements other than existing macs?

thanks!

Ov course other macs are not the ideal source ov parts, but when cats try to sell NOS sleds and cables for like $20-40 it is a consideration. Naturally I want to liberate as many macs as possible in functioning condition! Another option is to use a different case, like an ATX, NeXT-cube, etc- though I do like the original mac cases.
The rusted parts can be sanded and painted just as can the outside. If you sand the rust away before painting the surface then rust will not spread, if the painting conditions are dry enough. I clean also any corrosion on the board and/or electronics with rubbing alcohol and an old toothbrush or similar.
I would expect that the supply ov a Q840AV could handle a CPU fan quite easily. Current should not be very much, one ov those 12v or 5v jobs which fits as an extension to a drives power cable I would expect should suffice. I don't know about the main 840 fan, but in my 8500 the only fan is the power supply fan. Never opened the supply so I don't know what sort it is. If it shorts out or fries it could possibly cause damage to the power supply circuitry. If the case is as large as most ov the beigh cases I am accustomed to I would assume there is ample room for a replacement fan, even if not fitting in the supply case. I'd carefully open the supply, check out the main fan, and scope cheep one that fits from a salvage shop, All Electronics, Electronic Goldmine, Brigar, or such.
I can't wait to try making cables! I don't know exactly how to fit the ribbon cables with the 50 pin scsi connectors, or make IDE cables, or any such thing. I will be psyched when I can crimp what cables I need!

Maybe you should add LOTS of fans to it and have a SuperVent 840av

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