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Painting your laptop

Give your laptop the Voodoo treatment without breaking the bank

If you're handy with a can of spray paint, and have the patience of a saint for all the necessary preparation, then there's no reason why you can't transform your laptop from its current boring state into something that will get you noticed. Whether you want a simple one-colour design, or multiple colours with graphics, all it takes is time, skill and around £50.

You will, however, have to dismantle your laptop to achieve the best finish. Spraying an entire laptop without taking it apart won't provide optimum results, since masking around the ports won't leave perfect edges, and paint always finds its way onto areas that aren't properly covered. Also, it isn't advisable to spray paint through fan vents and speaker grilles.

This means that you'll need to get busy with a screwdriver, carefully noting and storing any screws and parts you remove. There will be many different types of screws, so don't rely on your memory when it comes to replacing them later, as you won't be able to reassemble your painted parts for a few days. It's also worth carefully peeling off any rubber feet or screw covers, and sticking them to a clean, smooth surface so that you can replace them later. As long as you don't leave fingerprints on the sticky pads, you should be able to reattach them without any problems.

We tried out our skills on a Dell Latitude laptop, and were able to remove the battery, keyboard, wrist-rest, air vent, LED block, screen hinge covers and lid badge, although the screen bezel wouldn't come off, even after removing all the visible screws. Never force parts off your laptop or you'll end up breaking them, and it won't be easy to find replacements.

At this stage, you'll need to use masking tape and thick paper to cover up any areas that you don't want painted. Take as much time with this as necessary, leaving perfect edges with the tape. If you don't do this, you'll regret it later when you remove it, and find overspray and uneven lines with some of the original colour showing through.

Once this is done, clean every surface to be painted with an alcohol-based solvent or soapy water. Avoid using nail varnish remover, as it can eat away at the plastic. Now you can start on the actual painting, and car spray paint is the ideal choice for this. You can get 300ml cans for around £5 from Halfords, and we used three of these on this ultra-portable laptop. However, there's no need for an undercoat unless you're using a light colour on a dark laptop.

Before painting, you'll need to make sure that the surface you're painting is resting flat horizontally, as painting it when it's upright can cause the paint to run. After that, you can apply the paint using both horizontal and vertical movements to achieve an even coverage. Make sure that you spray from at least around 30cm away from the laptop - any closer than that and you'll have an orange peel effect. Be careful not to use too much paint for each coat too, as this can cause the paint to run.

After a day or so, the paint should be hard enough to apply any graphics you want, or to mask off areas to which you want to apply a second colour. We opted for the scorpion decal, which costs £8 from www.kustompcs.co.uk. We used a small amount of soapy water to ensure that we could move the parts of the sticker around before they stuck fast, and you can remove any air bubbles by running a credit card gently over the sticker.

In order to provide a glossy finish, you can then apply several coats of clear lacquer (500ml cans cost around £6 from Halfords). This will also provide a protective layer, which will prevent the underlying colour getting chipped. You then need to leave the parts to harden in a warm place for a couple of days before reassembling the laptop, although you can remove the masking tape once the lacquer is touch-dry.

Give your laptop the Voodoo treatment without breaking the bank

If you're handy with a can of spray paint, and have the patience of a saint for all the necessary preparation, then there's no reason why you can't transform your laptop from its current boring state into something that will get you noticed. Whether you want a simple one-colour design, or multiple colours with graphics, all it takes is time, skill and around £50.

You will, however, have to dismantle your laptop to achieve the best finish. Spraying an entire laptop without taking it apart won't provide optimum results, since masking around the ports won't leave perfect edges, and paint always finds its way onto areas that aren't properly covered. Also, it isn't advisable to spray paint through fan vents and speaker grilles.

This means that you'll need to get busy with a screwdriver, carefully noting and storing any screws and parts you remove. There will be many different types of screws, so don't rely on your memory when it comes to replacing them later, as you won't be able to reassemble your painted parts for a few days. It's also worth carefully peeling off any rubber feet or screw covers, and sticking them to a clean, smooth surface so that you can replace them later. As long as you don't leave fingerprints on the sticky pads, you should be able to reattach them without any problems.

We tried out our skills on a Dell Latitude laptop, and were able to remove the battery, keyboard, wrist-rest, air vent, LED block, screen hinge covers and lid badge, although the screen bezel wouldn't come off, even after removing all the visible screws. Never force parts off your laptop or you'll end up breaking them, and it won't be easy to find replacements.

At this stage, you'll need to use masking tape and thick paper to cover up any areas that you don't want painted. Take as much time with this as necessary, leaving perfect edges with the tape. If you don't do this, you'll regret it later when you remove it, and find overspray and uneven lines with some of the original colour showing through.

Once this is done, clean every surface to be painted with an alcohol-based solvent or soapy water. Avoid using nail varnish remover, as it can eat away at the plastic. Now you can start on the actual painting, and car spray paint is the ideal choice for this. You can get 300ml cans for around £5 from Halfords, and we used three of these on this ultra-portable laptop. However, there's no need for an undercoat unless you're using a light colour on a dark laptop.

Before painting, you'll need to make sure that the surface you're painting is resting flat horizontally, as painting it when it's upright can cause the paint to run. After that, you can apply the paint using both horizontal and vertical movements to achieve an even coverage. Make sure that you spray from at least around 30cm away from the laptop - any closer than that and you'll have an orange peel effect. Be careful not to use too much paint for each coat too, as this can cause the paint to run.

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