iMac G5 De-sticker-ing and SSD-ification

[smoothbit]

I recently bought an iMac G5 (17", 1.8Ghz, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD) for 50€ and other than missing its foot rubber and having a whole lot of sticker residue, it's in very good condition. I plan to install Leopard and then open it up every so often just to look at the glorious insides:

Before I proceed I have two questions.

First, can anyone advise if it's okay to use 99.9% isopropanol alcohol to clean away the sticker residue? If it would dissolve/damage the plastic, is there another better way?

Second, I have a spare 120GB SSD out of a 2011 MacBook Air, I recently bought a SATA adapter card. Would this work in the iMac G5, albeit at 1.5Gb/s instead of 6Gb/s? And what would I need to do about the hard drive temperature sensor?

 

[jbarley]

First, can anyone advise if it's okay to use 99.9% isopropanol alcohol to clean away the sticker residue? If it would dissolve/damage the plastic, is there another better way?

"Goo-Gone", the all time winner for removing adhesives and all other types of crud.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_8/145-8565347-6731236?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=goo+gone+adhesive+remover&sprefix=goo+gone,aps,195&crid=2CZ7NJROWHGEU
I purchase mine locally at any hardware chain.

 

[smoothbit]

"Goo-Gone", the all time winner for removing adhesives and all other types of crud.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_8/145-8565347-6731236?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=goo+gone+adhesive+remover&sprefix=goo+gone,aps,195&crid=2CZ7NJROWHGEU
I purchase mine locally at nay hardware chain.

Thanks for the suggestion, it looks like I can buy it in Germany too. As I already own the bottle of alcohol that's why I'm interested in using it, do you know if it will damage the plastic?

 

[Intell]

Isopropanol alcohol would work, but it may not work the best. Goo Gone does work oddly well. G5's are picky about new SATA drives. You can try the Macbook Air SSD in it, but it may not see it or be stable. For the temperature sensor, just stick it somewhere on the SSD.

 

[smoothbit]

Isopropanol alcohol would work, but it may not work the best. Goo Gone does work oddly well. G5's are picky about new SATA drives. You can try the Macbook Air SSD in it, but it may not see it or be stable. For the temperature sensor, just stick it somewhere on the SSD.

Thanks for the information about the cleaning and the SSD. I'll try both next week and see how it goes. Now to resist buying 2GB RAM for 14€ when 1GB is more than enough.

 

[Intell]

With a SSD, the 1GB should be enough to make the machine very perky.

 

[1042686]

Last time I used goo-be-gone, it fogged the plastic on my Acrylic cinema display very badly, so while I agree that it is an excellent solvent to get gunk off stuff, I highly recommend that you test a small corner (or better yet, try it on the inside of the case since you have it off anyway) to ensure that it is plastics friendly & won't create another problem that is 10 times harder to solve.

Man the inside of a white G5 imac looks so completely different & cooler than my white intel imac

On a side note, to solve my "whoops", I ended up polishing the affected area with CD polish & buffing out with cotton swabs. Worked surprisingly well restoring my goof to about 95% of its original luster but not perfect. Anyhow, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure in this case. Best of luck to you.

 

[Dronecatcher]

I use WD40 for all adhesive based graffiti...just one of it's many applications.

 

[pl1984]

Use a hair dryer to warm things up and reduce the amount of residue left behind.

 

[Camacorn]

Honestly, for a lot of that sticker residue, you would be surprised how much just rubbing it firmly with a cloth for a bit, will peel a lot of it off. That combined with some soapy water, is how I got my PM G4 MDD looking brand new. I also used a brillo pad to buff out some minor scuffs on the Apple logos. It is 100% scratch, and scuff free now!


(Click to enlarge)

 

[smoothbit]

With a SSD, the 1GB should be enough to make the machine very perky.

I reckon so too, shall find out for sure once I install the SSD, though the 7200rpm HDD and 1GB RAM is more than enough for now as all I do is have it run screensavers on my desk while I work.

Last time I used goo-be-gone, it fogged the plastic on my Acrylic cinema display very badly… to solve my "whoops", I ended up polishing the affected area with CD polish & buffing out with cotton swabs… Best of luck to you.

I use WD40 for all adhesive based graffiti...just one of it's many applications.

Honestly, for a lot of that sticker residue, you would be surprised how much just rubbing it firmly with a cloth for a bit…

Use a hair dryer to warm things up and reduce the amount of residue left behind.

Thank you all for the advice. In the end I used boiling water and a microfiber cloth to soak/scrub/swipe it all away. It took an hour or so, and there's still one minor mark below the screen on the left as the plastic was so scratched that it's taken on some of the blue colour from the microfiber cloth. I'll try WD40 next time I work on it.

Man the inside of a white G5 imac looks so completely different & cooler than my white intel imac

I remember wanting one very much when they were introduced back in 2004, mostly for how much more powerful it was than my 4-month-old eMac, but partly because of how nicely the inside was laid out. Now that it's too slow for daily tasks, I do wonder about just mounting it in a frame and keeping it on the wall to gaze at…

 

[pl1984]

Thank you all for the advice. In the end I used boiling water and a microfiber cloth to soak/scrub/swipe it all away. It took an hour or so, and there's still one minor mark below the screen on the left as the plastic was so scratched that it's taken on some of the blue colour from the microfiber cloth. I'll try WD40 next time I work on it.

A long time ago I learned to use a cloth with similar color to that of the thing I'm cleaning for just this reason.