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Thinking about doing a full polish on my black iphone.

M

mellofello

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Original poster
Feb 1, 2011
1,259
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My phone already has 3 decent scratches on it. It's not the end of the world but I'm thinking about just cutting to the chase and taking all the black off. I think it will look like a homage to the original iphone being raw, and black. \ Question is what is the safest way to achieve this?

I actually have access to a polishing wheel, but I think that may be overkill. Should I just start with a low grit sand paper, and see how it goes, or maybe a chemical solution? I want to achieve a brushed finish, not shiny FWIW.

Any advice from people who have worked with metal would be appreciated.
 
I've used oven cleaner, fine sandpaper, and Simichrome polish to make black anodized bicycle parts shiny and silver. Not sure I'd risk trying it on my iPhone, though.
 
It looks like people have used Liquid Drano for the sodium hydroxide.

It looks hazardous but it seems with goggles, heavy duty gloves, and ventilation people have had luck with it.
 
My main concern is the glass. If there wasn't the glass stripes on to i could get a lot more aggressive with sanding. I'm going to study the teardown and think about doing it disassembled.

Has anyone read if there is any indicator when the phone is opened?
 
I wouldn't do it. I've done it before on 5th scale rc parts. Its messy, and best way is to dunk the entire part in the chemicals, for a few seconds, (wearing gloves) remove inspect till all the anno is gone. Then rinse a few times in distiller water, then dry clean. Polish.

Can't imagine doing this to a phone... I'd just keep a decent touch up black around.
 
It would be safer to just polish the sides, wouldn't it? Doing the back plate as well seems rather risky, due to the Apple logo, text and adjacent glass windows.

Besides, from what I understand, the sides are the main cause of concern with the black model. Or are your scratches on the back as well?
 
I have 2 hairline scratches on back plate, and a very visible scratch on the side. these are from the zipper of my fanny pack I use for running. I ran 200 days a year with my 4 and 4s and no issues.

I'm over it. I just think it would be nice to have a phone that stands out. I'm a very DIY kinda guy. I refuse to treat my phone gingerly, and if its going to scratch then so be it.

If I had a Bentley it would probably look like this

tumblr_kxr95rp0Yu1qad6au.jpg


So yes I probably would
 
If you end up doing this, post pictures. I think it could be rather cool, though I'm not brave enough to try something like that on my $900 phone.
 
The best way to do it would probably be to gut the phone so you can just buff/ dip just the aluminum. I think that it would look sweet polished to a mirror finish, IMO.
 
The black iPhone 5 would look slick with silver. I wish they had done it that way actually. I would have gone with black then. Although that would have been a shame because I really love the white now. Still, Black with silver... it's worked since 2007, I dunno why they changed it.
 
How about just wait a month or two and buy a new backplate for it? They will sell lots of colors.
 
mellofello said:
I have 2 hairline scratches on back plate, and a very visible scratch on the side. these are from the zipper of my fanny pack I use for running....

.... I'm a very DIY kinda guy. ....

If I had a Bentley it would probably look like this
Click to expand...

Lmao on the first bit. That Bentley is killer, tho
 
mellofello said:
Has anyone read if there is any indicator when the phone is opened?
Click to expand...

I think there are some indicators, but by sanding the case you probably are voiding the warranty anyway so to avoid damage to the glass it might be best to do it with the phone apart if you are comfortable opening it.
 
please do this and post results. im thinking of doing something similar. i dont like the texture of the back
 
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