CODE NAME: Apache (or) How I painted my case | BLACK to BLUE

allerj · #1 (**permalink**) 07-07-2007, 09:07 PM

HI! I've been lurking through these woods for a long time. Thanks to the Sherpas here at PPCGeeks I've had the courage to Cook and flash my own ROM, overclock my PPC, Skin my phone more than you know. I've also replaced my screen and tried to paint my case with PlastiDip (bad idea)

This time, I'm taking extra steps to prepair the plastic of my phone to hold the paint better. I've taken detailed pictures and posted them on my blog. Since I am a first time poster, and this is now the second time i've had to type this because the system deleted it since I "might be a spamer" I'm not taking any chances... look at my profile and go to my website to see pictures of the inside of our beloved Apache.

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Here I am before I take my phone apart

(Aint I a cutie, and by cutie, i mean ppcGEEK)

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Taking off the back, Removing the batery cover, piece of cake, finding a t6 screwdriver not as easy. When you take anything apart, try to keep all of the screws and know what hole they go back into. Also, be very very very careful taking this baby apart, there are a lot of little snap hooks rather than screws holding this boy in place, J's Tip: grow your fingernail out to get good leverage and less of a chance of damaging the plastic

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Okay, the back cover is off and I'm about to take the main board of the phone out. The camera circuit board and lense are unplugged and put aside.

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Front and Back of Main Circuit Board

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I missed taking a picture of the unscrewing the keyboard casing. I found something really cool (this is one of the things that makes me a geek) while I was working on it. There are 3 magnets in the phone 2 hold the keyboard slider together and the 3rd opperates a magnetic sensor (i'm sure it's not the same as the magnetic reed switches we used to get back at RipoffShak for our school projects). Anyway, that magnet and sensor are what tell the phone the keyboard is open. See, really geeky, but I thought it was cool!

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I've broken my screen before and did not have insurance, I was able to find a replacement screen in china. I ordered it through www.alibaba.com $58 for a brand new screen!
Here is a high res shot of the back of the screen for reference.

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Now that I have all of the pieces out of the case it's time to sand the plastic so the paint will hold. I tried to do this once before without sanding and instead using a primer spraypaint, it did not hold up well at all. I also tried using the PlastiDip spray, the spray on rubberizer stuff.... oh that ended up being like pulling elmers glue off of your fingers after it dried.

I'm only spraying these three pieces. The other parts would take too much taping and the silver and black will be a good contrast.

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I got automotive grade black metalic spray paint and an engine clearcoat to finish it off.

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I will add to this post after I get the phone back together so you can see the finished project!

Have fun and I hope you enjoyed reading what I did with my saturday afternoon while my boyfriend studies for the FL Bar Exam.

TO BE CONTINUED......

**Wideawake** · #2 (**permalink**) 07-07-2007, 11:36 PM

I fixed ur link. Also looks good but where are the finished photos?

I wanna see it finished. Also did u design of the blog? Its nice...
~mike

allerj · #3 (**permalink**) 07-07-2007, 11:54 PM

Thanks for fixing the links. And thank you for the complement on my blog. Yes I did design it. My night job is a web developer, I design a lot of sites for non profits in the Tampa Bay area.

About the finished product ... Well... I had a snag. I thought I'd use Engine Enamal Clearcoat to put a tough protection over the black auto body paint..... The clearcoat did not dry clear, but WHITE!!!!!! So, I ran out to HomeDepot and got Hard enamal appliance paint and am now waiting for the final coat to dry.

Cross your fingers!!!

So, for as long as I've been watching this site, ppc6700users, xda-dev, and other sites, i've always wondered why this phone was called apache, i've never seen it advertised as that anywhere. This time, much to my suprise I found that stamp on the inside of my phone, I was all excited! Sometomes however, i feel the phone was built in 11-5-1994

allerj · #4 (**permalink**) 07-07-2007, 11:57 PM

OH! I forgot to tell all of my Alltel buddies, maybe ya'll know this by now, but... I went into a shop recently, fed up with my phone, about to buy a Q, when the sales rep said I should hold onto my Apache (of course he didn't call it that). He said Alltel WILL be coming out with the 8600 late summer. WooHoo - so until then I'll just keep playing with this one.

**Wideawake** · #5 (**permalink**) 07-08-2007, 12:04 AM

yea im an alltel rep and I haven't heard a release date for the 6800. no problem btw for fixing the link.

so u web design.....ever mess with phpBB? Im looking to hire a web designer for a phpbb3 or maybe vB template. And to help fix somethings.

~mike

nemanracing · #6 (**permalink**) 07-08-2007, 12:34 AM

I've been debating on doing this... Good job, lets see the finished product... I have an extra case i was gonna try this on... let us know how the appliance enamel holds up...

allerj · #7 (**permalink**) 07-08-2007, 12:41 AM

I'm in the process of editing my first post now that I'm able to add pictures to them. This way you won't have to bounce over to my personal blog to see the progress.