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FiddlersGreen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 7, 2008
16
0
So I have an airbrush and spay paint... I paint all my stuff from my mail box... Ps3... Anything I can do a nice design on.

I've never painted on aluminum though and found out the hard way, you can't paint on it like everything else or I just didn't prep it properly cause when I laid down tape, it just pulls the paint clean off.

So, how would one go about painting top of a MacBook Air? Or can you even? And if not, is there something I could paint and lay down on top cause my shell looks kind of ugly now after scrapping the paint off...
 

David58117

macrumors 65816
Jan 24, 2013
1,237
523
So I have an airbrush and spay paint... I paint all my stuff from my mail box... Ps3... Anything I can do a nice design on.

I've never painted on aluminum though and found out the hard way, you can't paint on it like everything else or I just didn't prep it properly cause when I laid down tape, it just pulls the paint clean off.

So, how would one go about painting top of a MacBook Air? Or can you even? And if not, is there something I could paint and lay down on top cause my shell looks kind of ugly now after scrapping the paint off...

Paint it directly? Seriously?

Why not get a skin or thin case and paint that?

I'm curious how the layer of pain would affect heat dissipation?
 

FiddlersGreen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 7, 2008
16
0
Paint it directly? Seriously?

Why not get a skin or thin case and paint that?

I'm curious how the layer of pain would affect heat dissipation?

See thats what I was wondering after I had painted on it... the heat thing... which is kind of why I was checking. I scrapped all the paint off but...

And yeah... why not paint it directly? That's how you do anything else... So I didn't really think about it before painting on it... However I also didn't think about how the heat could potentially effect it if it was all painted after reading more about the aluminum shell... and if that would hurt something, then yes I wouldn't paint on it... but like I said, I've done it on a dozen other things and never had a problem and so it never crossed my mind especially after I was researched painting my last macbook but that was a plastic shell.

I'll look at getting a skins or whatever else they have and see if I can't paint that and just lat that on top....
 

BeeJee

macrumors 6502
Nov 27, 2011
369
2
Long Island/North Jersey
See thats what I was wondering after I had painted on it... the heat thing... which is kind of why I was checking. I scrapped all the paint off but...

And yeah... why not paint it directly? That's how you do anything else... So I didn't really think about it before painting on it... However I also didn't think about how the heat could potentially effect it if it was all painted after reading more about the aluminum shell... and if that would hurt something, then yes I wouldn't paint on it... but like I said, I've done it on a dozen other things and never had a problem and so it never crossed my mind especially after I was researched painting my last macbook but that was a plastic shell.

I'll look at getting a skins or whatever else they have and see if I can't paint that and just lat that on top....

You could paint it the way you want then put a matte finish wrapsol protective skin on top so it doesn't peel off. Almost like laminating your work. I don't see why it wouldn't work, even though generally aluminum in general is anodized, not painted, like the poster above me said
 

tillsbury

macrumors 68000
Dec 24, 2007
1,513
454
Have you tried spraying first with an aluminium primer? That's what I'd do, then sand that down fine with 400 or higher grit paper and paint on that.
 

FiddlersGreen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 7, 2008
16
0
Hmm... I'll look into that, I didn't know they have a primer specifically for that.

I'm thinking the best is to get a cover as suggested and just paint that... Since its not usually painted on, there would be a lot of experimenting (and ive got plenty of good ideas from other airbrush artists but nothings for sure) so this is kind of a hassel and I don't care for doing that on a Mac less than a month old =p I put a lot of work into it the first time and I don't wanna do that again experimenting and then have it still peel off and make the shell look even worse.
 

MattSepeta

macrumors 65816
Jul 9, 2009
1,255
0
375th St. Y
Score it with some sand paper and keys, that way it will really really hold the paint as well as entirely demolishing any resale value that may have been left :)
 

jamesr19

macrumors 6502
Nov 7, 2009
251
0
Why don't you paint the bottom and use that as a tester? The bottom is easily removable so if you muck it up or it doesn't work then it's even less of a problem.
 

FiddlersGreen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 7, 2008
16
0
Score it with some sand paper and keys, that way it will really really hold the paint as well as entirely demolishing any resale value that may have been left :)

Hmm... Good idea!

=P

Acrually that probably wouldn't work to well... I actually did try sanding before I put the paint on. Can't even tell... When I scratched off the paint with a razor blade, the only noticeable mark is on the white apple... So if anyone was wondering about a macair's durability, at least as far as the outer surface, rest assured... It's quite scratch resistant =D I haven't tried the key thing though...
 
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