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| ibook clamshell Bezel Mod. |
| Written by troy | ||||
| Monday, 20 February 2006 | ||||
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Here's a description of a bezel mod I did on my ibook 366 (Indigo). I installed a Toshiba SD-R2512 DVD/CDRW optical drive and rather than leaving a gapeing hole and/or a mix-matched bezel in the side, I refitted the orig. bezel onto the new drive. This was an important consideration for me as I feel the 'look' of the clamshell is perhaps more important than what's inside ...especially when you consider it's re-sale value.
The first step is to eliminate the correct plastic snaps (tabs) from the orig. bezel buy removing them completely so as to leave a flush surface. To fit this particular Toshiba drive the two snaps that had to go are indicated by the circles...
It should also noted that the small push tabs (for the eject and manual eject buttons) were also removed. The plastic tab with the hole in it is the important on to leave in place - this tab will be used to secure the bezel to the bottom of the new drive tray.
Line up the bezel to the new drive tray and mark where the screw hole will be drilled ...the plastic tab w/hole will rest inside the tray so make sure to fasten it with a flat headed screw so as not to have the screw interfere with the oening and closing of the drive tray. The screw we used was self-tapping and snugged itself nicely into the tab hole. Take time to line up the bezel to the tray in both it's ejected and normal (closed) positions - because once you drill your hole that's it! If you're off by too much you're not going to get a tight fit.
Now drill the tray hole :-) After this you will need to drill a new hole that allows for a manual eject of the drive. Make sure to lline up the new hole with the manual eject mechanism so that your paperclip of choice can be easily inserted.
This eject hole needed to be countersunk from the top (face) as the blue bezel plastic is very soft and does not leave a clean hole when drilled with a normal bit. Now you can place it all together. We added some plastic glue for extra support along the top of the tray and as a result the bezel fits better than normal (tighter) when the drive is closed. The glue was not really necessary but only means removal of the bezel may require some small cutting ...but I looked at this as a permanent procedure.
As an unexpected bonus the read/write led from the new drive 'glows' through this bezel! The specs for this ibook are - 40 Gig (5400) Drive, 320 Ram and DVD/CDRW optical drive.
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