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There's a couple of paint mods on here for iBook cases, but none are really comprehensive guides on how to take apart and mod a 12" G3 iBook. Well, here's a guide for it.
OK. There are a couple of guides online explaining how to clear out and change the case color/design on an old G3 iBook, but none of them are very detailed, so this is meant as a guide to help people (like, say, me!) who don't really know much about doing it, and who want to avoid any mistakes that could screw up their iBook. First off, don't be scared to do this, seriously. I know it looks dangerous, but it's incredibly easy, and I'll walk you through this step by step. Here's a picture of the finished product that I made, just so you don't worry:
Convinced that this would be an awesome idea? Good! Let's get started!
Equipment needed:
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One G3 iBook (duh)
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91% Isopropyl Alcohol
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An old toothbrush (Trust me, it's a necessity for some of the hard-to-reach parts)
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Lots of paper towels!
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A hex wrench set (For some reason mine used standard size on top, metric for the bottom. Go figure)
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Phillips-head screwdriver
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An exacto knife
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A prying tool, try to avoid using a flat-head screwdriver for this
First off, you'll need to remove the clear plastic shell that's on the top and bottom of the iBook. Get some long fingernails, it'll help. Also, don't use a screwdriver to pry up the case, you can dent it that way. Get something soft but pryable. No pics of this, there are a dozen guides online, I recommend PBfixit.com, they have a great step-by-step for this. You'll find that there's a plastic lining on the inside of the top case, pry this off. It's stuck on there pretty good, so you'll have to tug at it, so be careful, it's fragile and could break. I actually snapped mine in half, but you can still glue it back later even if you break it. I didn't need to use mine again, because I put paper and not paint on the cover, but if you're just painting the case, you'll want to keep it. Also, the Apple logo is glued on the lid, so that'll take prying as well. Here's the lids off of the computer:
On the bottom cover make sure to remove the battery lock. It should pop out, you can always glue it in later. The battery has a plastic casing on it, but it's glued on, so you'll have to pry that bastard off. It's hard work, trust me, it's on there tight! This really messed up my fingernails. Guh. This is the battery and without its plastic cover:
A general warning on this. The iBook has really cheap, crappy hex screws holding it together. Removing them too often will very quickly lead to them stripping. This happened to me, and it was an insane amount of work to get the case back off. Be very careful.
Once the plastic shell is off, pour some of the alcohol on the case on the paint, and let it sit for a few minutes. It's a good idea to let it sit for 5 minutes or so to soak in, or else you'll be doing this all night, as I was. I used an old toothbrush to scrub the edges and the corners of things, so I really recommend using one, again. You'll find that there's a rubbery sticky glue left over on the upper lid, so you'll have to pull that off once you've gotten the paint off. Really, don't skimp here, make sure it's clear, because it'll really show later if you do a sloppy job now. White paint will look horrible, lemme tell ya.
Again, this will take a while, so have some patience. Trust me, it'll be worth it. Once you've got the case clean, it should look like this:
Yeah, that's badass, and you know it. I actually took the bottom metal guard off in order to get that cool look, but I put it back for the next step. Oh, also notice that I put the top lid back on upside-down. I'm s-m-r-t.
The cool thing is, if you use alcohol and not some paint thinner or anything crazy like that, the Apple info on the bottom stays on the case:
In order to make the image on the top lid, I made a *huge* Photoshop file of the image I wanted to use, saving it at 300dpi. You'll need to print it at 10" by 12", so get it printed on 11"x17" paper. My first attempt was two 8.5"x11" pieces of paper overlapping, but you could still see the line where they split, and it looked cheap. Spend that extra dollar! Also, print it on laserjet paper, or something nice and kind of glossy, but not too thick. My first attempt was on photo paper, and it was way too thick to bend to the case, so it got all torn up and messed up. It also caused all sorts of problems when I tried to cut it. At Kinkos they can print out a full-color sheet of regular, 11"x17" for under three bucks, I recommend that. Looks better than an inkjet printer. This is what the printout looked like:
I found this on some random web page, so if it's yours... sorry? I put it in the case, and made sure to fit it to the edges. Then I cut away the extra paper with an exacto knife, and this is what I got:
If you want to use regular paint, btw, in order to change the Apple logo color just take out that piece of white paper on the back of the screen and replace it with whatever color you want. I left it white, and just used an exacto knife to cut out the apple logo design from the image I had in the case.
With that, the top case was completely done. Now, painting the bottom!
First off, again, you're definitely not going to want to cut corners on this. I'm sure you can remove the paint if you get any on the outside of the case, but why risk it? First off, make sure you tape off the bottom and sides of the case completely with something like masking tape that will stick but not leave residue. Then, in a well-ventilated area, spray a light coat of paint on the inside of the case:
It's up to you how many layers you do, I did two, just because the inside will never really get scratched up or anything. Once you've painted the case, let it dry, and then reassemble!
And you're done! That wasn't so hard, now was it? Good luck with your own case painting!
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