Restore Thinkpad plastic case

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igtoth
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Location: Ribeirao Preto, Brazil

Restore Thinkpad plastic case

#1 Post by igtoth » Thu May 28, 2015 9:30 am

Hello everyone..

I googled and searched in here, but couldn't find any answer ..

Is there anyway to restore old Thinkpad case ? (paint, cracks, rubber ,etc)?

Thanks!

brchan
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Re: Restore Thinkpad plastic case

#2 Post by brchan » Thu May 28, 2015 4:18 pm

For scratches, you can use a Mr. Clean 'magic eraser' to get rid of many light to medium scratches. Other than that, you can't really fix broken plastic or rubber.
Current Thinkpads: W530 (functional classic keyboard mod), X301, T61, T60, T43, T23, 600X, 770
Other: mk5 Toughbook cf-19, mk1 Toughbook cf-53

igtoth
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Re: Restore Thinkpad plastic case

#3 Post by igtoth » Thu May 28, 2015 5:18 pm

brchan wrote:For scratches, you can use a Mr. Clean 'magic eraser' to get rid of many light to medium scratches. Other than that, you can't really fix broken plastic or rubber.
That's not good news ...

Only newer cover so?

precip9
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Re: Restore Thinkpad plastic case

#4 Post by precip9 » Thu May 28, 2015 9:23 pm

Possibly this for the cover:

http://www.amazon.com/Performix-11203-M ... ting+black

Somebody, try it!
W500x3 with T9900, , T400 highnit 1280x800 with P9600, X61sx3, X61Tx3.

Norway Pad
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Re: Restore Thinkpad plastic case

#5 Post by Norway Pad » Fri May 29, 2015 12:01 am

There was a member here who onces said he had restored (reapplied?) the rubber coating on some of his Thinkpads. I don't remember who it was anymore, but he never came around to tell what he used.

Feel free to share your experiences if you try this product, anyone. I'm not sure how aerosol cans ship internationally, otherwise I would have been interested in trying.
Bjorn
THINKPAD collector. Only missing a proper RetroThinkpad.

igtoth
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Location: Ribeirao Preto, Brazil

Re: Restore Thinkpad plastic case

#6 Post by igtoth » Fri May 29, 2015 5:04 am

Thanks everyone..

I will try "plasti dip performix" (found that to buy here).. but here is the ebay link:

http://www.amazon.com/Performix-11203-M ... ting+black

(hope this works).. Probably need sanding as well ..

brchan
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Re: Restore Thinkpad plastic case

#7 Post by brchan » Fri May 29, 2015 6:01 am

I would not bother with plasti-dip. People have tried it before, and it tends not to be durable. It also gives off a very strong chemical odor which takes quite a long time to go away.
Current Thinkpads: W530 (functional classic keyboard mod), X301, T61, T60, T43, T23, 600X, 770
Other: mk5 Toughbook cf-19, mk1 Toughbook cf-53

igtoth
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Re: Restore Thinkpad plastic case

#8 Post by igtoth » Fri May 29, 2015 7:03 am

brchan wrote:I would not bother with plasti-dip. People have tried it before, and it tends not to be durable. It also gives off a very strong chemical odor which takes quite a long time to go away.
No way to restore it ? (must be an way)

How they did it in factory ?

portsample
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Re: Restore Thinkpad plastic case

#9 Post by portsample » Fri Jun 05, 2015 10:17 am

A few years ago I was investigating the possibility of case modifications on my T61. I took a few broken pieces of palmrest plastic and applied a bit of black ABS pipe cement to them. This appeared to work okay. I never followed through on this project for other reasons. If you are going to try this I would strongly suggest testing first on scrap fragments of case before applying to the laptop you are restoring. Good luck.
T61, 14.1", T9500 2.6ghz, Intel GM965, 8gb RAM, 250gb SSD, 1tb SATA Ubay, openSuse 42.1/Win8
T61, 14.1", T7700 2.4ghz, Intel GM965, 8gb RAM, 250gb SSD, 1tb SATA Ubay, openSuse 42.1/Win8
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Using T60, T42, T30 as shop terminals

igtoth
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Re: Restore Thinkpad plastic case

#10 Post by igtoth » Fri Jun 05, 2015 10:51 am

portsample wrote:A few years ago I was investigating the possibility of case modifications on my T61. I took a few broken pieces of palmrest plastic and applied a bit of black ABS pipe cement to them. This appeared to work okay. I never followed through on this project for other reasons. If you are going to try this I would strongly suggest testing first on scrap fragments of case before applying to the laptop you are restoring. Good luck.
Yeah, definitely... I will try to buy another TP broken case and see if this works..

What is the brand of this ABS plastic you used!?

portsample
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Re: Restore Thinkpad plastic case

#11 Post by portsample » Mon Jun 08, 2015 3:38 pm

It comes in a can with a brush under the cap. This stuff is pretty generic as is the black ABS pipe that it is formulated to weld together. Good luck. Post pictures when you are done.
T61, 14.1", T9500 2.6ghz, Intel GM965, 8gb RAM, 250gb SSD, 1tb SATA Ubay, openSuse 42.1/Win8
T61, 14.1", T7700 2.4ghz, Intel GM965, 8gb RAM, 250gb SSD, 1tb SATA Ubay, openSuse 42.1/Win8
X61, T7300 2.0 ghz, 4gb RAM, 250gb, openSuse 13.2/Win8
Using T60, T42, T30 as shop terminals

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