MP 1,1-5,1 Paint/Personalize my 5,1

[JMStearnsX2]

Hi all, long time follower but first time poster here. Thanks to the amazing support through the years, you guys are heroes.

I've had a idea floating around in my head for a while now to do some customizing of my 2012 Mac Pro, but due to it being my daily driver I didn't take the plunge. But last week I was able to acquire a 2nd 5,1 (2010) due to my work recycling one. So I feel free to do some work on the new one (which is actually flawless case-wise, no dents, bends or scratches) without messing up my daily driver. If I'm happy with the results, I can just transfer all my upgrades to the 2010. Actually, as long as I have it apart I should do the Pixlas mod, even though my current GPU doesn't need it. I'm sure a future one will.

The size of the Mac Pro sides is just too perfect not to use it as a blank canvas. I'm thinking of a Lord of the Rings theme since it's got to be one of my all-time favorite films. Anyone know if you can make stencils from printouts? I'm thinking of going with mostly a matte/satin black, with the center grill section being metallic dark green. On the sides I'm thinking of grey silhouettes of either the Fellowship and/or Hobbiton on the black, so it's subtle.

Anyone done some Mac painting out there? I plan on taking & posting photos along the way, I figure this will take a while. Especially since I plan on using automotive grade paint.

Any thoughts?

~Jimmy

 

[jbarley]

Anyone done some Mac painting out there? I plan on taking & posting photos along the way, I figure this will take a while. Especially since I plan on using automotive grade paint.

Any thoughts?

~Jimmy

Using the Forum search feature with keywords such as "Mac Pro, search", turns up several past posts dealing with painting.

 

[JMStearnsX2]

Using the Forum search feature with keywords such as "Mac Pro, search", turns up several past posts dealing with painting.

Awesome, I like that I'm not the only one.

Finished disassembly, boy there are a lot of screws. Couldn't seem to figure out how to remove the DVD drive bay doors, so I masked off the inside and I'll make sure that they remain usable. Thoroughly cleaned all the parts I'm going to paint, and gave them a couple light coats of auto-grade Aluminum Primer. I'm really impressed with how little damage this case has, most of the machines that come through my office (IT) have at least some about of scratches/dents. After priming you can really see it is just about flawless. Most Mac Pros that I see have at least one dented handle.
So far, so good! I'll let the primer cure this week, and continue this project on Saturday.

 

[jbarley]

Nice start, please keep us updated as things progress.

 

[KeesMacPro]

Couldn't seem to figure out how to remove the DVD drive bay doors

A while ago I removed the whole dvd doors mechanism...
There's one screw (seen from inside) on the left of the doors.
You also have to remove the 2 screws on every door itself.
Behind the doors there are 2 pins that keep the whole plastic frame into a slot, so you'll have to fiddle a bit ....

 

[MIKX]

JMStern2

You can re-route the cMP's PSU fan cable which means that if in the future your PSU fan dies or needs to be replaced you will no longer need to REMOVE THE BACKPLANE to replace it.

I did this in my 4.1>5,1 uing a Noctua 120mm NF-A12x25 along with a Noctua NA-FC1 PWN fan speed controller.

Everything works perfectly but better still . . . I now have my original Apple PSU fan as a working spare PSU fan.

Everything here

cMP 4,1 & 5,1 120mm Noctua PSU fan with Noctua NA-FC1 PWN speed controller- both working.

I have replaced my cMP 4,1>5,1 Apple standard 120mm PSU fan with the Noctua NF A12x25 120mm PWN fan and have also installed The Noctua NF-FC1 PWN Fan speed controller. I am happy to report that both the Noctua fan and the fan speed controller are working perfectly. EDIT : I cleaned up the...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[KeesMacPro]

You can re-route the cMP's PSU fan cable which means that if in the future your PSU fan dies or needs to be replaced you will no longer need to REMOVE THE BACKPLANE to replace it.

Thinking the same here: you could route the cable through the optical bay.

 

[JMStearnsX2]

That's true, thanks I might just do this.
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Now I'm trying to find a dual CPU tray, without costing more than the Mac Pro itself....

 

[JMStearnsX2]

I ordered the Pixlas mod cable a few days back and it says it shipped, we'll see when it comes in.

 

[JMStearnsX2]

After 2 coats of primer which I let cure for a week, a coat of black to darken everything. Hopefully I'll be able to use less of the color paint. Next weekend I should be able to put the 1st color on after the black has had a chance to cure.

 

[dorianclive]

This looks amazing. Something I’ve been wanting to do for some time now but dreading the disassembly. It looks great. Please post more photos once it’s back up and running.

 

[JMStearnsX2]

Here is a very rough visualization of what I am thinking of. I haven't fully decided on decals or painted with stencils, but the colors I've nailed down. The dark color is a close-to-black metallic slate grey, the green is a very dark metallic green from recent model Toyotas. I can't decide if my silhouettes should be white or grey colored. The interior will be black, except for the outward-facing surfaces which will be dark navy metallic with silver specs that I hope will be reminiscent of a night sky.

 

[JMStearnsX2]

Got the inner color finished today, I think that this is going to really look nice when I'm finished. I'm going to keep the chrome/silver color of the power button untouched, so that should lend a nice pop to the front. This green looks so deep in person, I upped the exposure so that the color could be seen better.
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Not seen is how much tape & masking off of things I did, I didn't want any color coming through to the inside so even the air grills on front & back were masked off from the inside.

 

[dorianclive]

This looks amazing. Wow

 

[JMStearnsX2]

Finished the base coat for the 2nd color, starting to come together!

I also did the power supply part of the Pixlas mod, just waiting on my cable to come in.

 

[JMStearnsX2]

Back from vacation, I was able to get some stuff done this morning. I sprayed the internal components a dark metallic blue before I left, and they got their “night sky/stars” treatment today. I also put the matte clear on the main enclosure.

 

[JMStearnsX2]

Reassembly time. I upgraded the wifi/bluetooth as long as I had it apart. I'll upgrade the processor when I can find a x5690.

 

[JMStearnsX2]

Fully assembled, just waiting on new memory & CPU to come in. The custom decals that I ordered from irockdecals.com are looking like they won't come in, according to the BBB I'm not the only one with a problem with these guys. Hopefully I didn't lose my $80...

But I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I'm thinking when the x5680 CPU comes in, I'll paint the outward facing edge of the CPU cooler black while I have it off.

 

[dorianclive]

This looks amazing. Great work

 

[DFP1989]

It's like a combination of Apple and IBM, love it.

 

[JMStearnsX2]

Current specs. I might upgrade the GPU to a 5700XT or a VII (if I can find one) when Bir Sur releases.
I skipped Catalina with the many issues I've had with it at work. I'v got the developer beta on my 2012 5,1, works wonderful so far. It's the first release that I'm excited about in several versions.

 

[mikas]

Really cool looking stuff. I'm not that much into stardust inside the machine, but I do appreciate the effort you have gone through with it. The exterior of the Mac on the other hand is really really great looking and to my taste exactly. Great finish too with the paint. Great texture in it. Congratulations!

OT: About your signature; How did you fit 5 TB HDD inside a Mac Mini 2012. Is it a 2,5" 7mm thick HDD or what, and there can I buy one? I'm just in the middle of updating a 2012 Mini with 1 TB SSD and 2 TB HDD. A 5 TB HDD would have been much thicker than 2 TB.

 

[JMStearnsX2]

It's a normal 5TB 2.5" drive, the really thick one. It took some work but it does fit, without any modding. The most difficult part was the cable alignment, I believe it was the upper bay (the lower one when upside down). The drive cable that I had was slightly long when I shoehorned the drive in there.

 

[mikas]

Thank You for the info. I looked at Seagate Barracuda 5 TB, but at 15 mm thickness, I did back out. Maybe I'll try this later with my other Mini soon.

And I might get into painting one Mac Pro too, because of the looks of your project.

 

[JMStearnsX2]

I figured I'd give an update. 4 months to the day after ordering my decals, they came in the post. There were a couple ones missing from my order, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I also was able to procure a dual CPU tray, which I fitted with dual X5680s. I figured that I wouldn't notice the .13GHz speed difference between the X5690 & the X5680, and I spent half as much doing so.