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OffTopic > My DS Case Mod

#116899 - tetsujin - Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:07 pm

When I'm not a coder, I'm a modeler, so when faced with my silver DS's waning coolness in lite of the newer models, I decided to mod it. It's Gundam-themed, basically:

My Modded DS

I'd actually been planning to do a similar mod to my GBA SP, and to install a headphone jack in it - but once I got the DS and the Micro there didn't seem any point in following through on that project. I got as far as installing the headphone jack but not wiring it.

I think it's a big improvement over the boring old silver - but it was a bit frustrating as delays in the project left me DS-less for several months. Now I think I'm pretty content to stick with my fat DS, at least until another new version of the DS comes out.
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I think that all the work that's been done by the homebrew community so far to support people who want to program for the GBA or DS is amazing.
Thank you, everyone, I look forward to taking advantage of your work.

#116900 - NeX - Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:43 pm

That's pretty cool.

#116908 - spinal_cord - Tue Jan 30, 2007 10:46 pm

I hope the paint doesn't rub off on your hands. But it is very cool. B)
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#116921 - tetsujin - Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:19 am

spinal_cord wrote:
I hope the paint doesn't rub off on your hands. But it is very cool. B)


The paint will wear down eventually from handling and other forms of wear (like putting the thing in its case) - but I did a few things to delay that.

First off, I cleaned the whole casing before painting it. (Oils from the skin weaken paint adhesion)
Second, I used tough paint with a primer coat underneath. (Mr. Color lacquers - once it's fully cured it's some of the toughest hobby paint out there.)
Third, with the way I painted it, wear won't necessarily be a bad thing. :) The case parts underneath are slate gray, and under all the green paint is silver paint. So if the green wears through to the silver - all the better, natural wear & tear effect. If it wears through to the gray - the effect's not as good, but still reasonable. I was originally going to use the silver case that came with my DS, so that if the paint wore through it'd be silver - but for various reasons that didn't work out. There are already some spots where the gray shows through - like around the stylus slot, and near the buttons. The effect there is not too shabby. As more of the paint wears down - most of it will probably be on the edges of the case, which, again, will be a fairly good effect I think.
_________________
---GEC
I think that all the work that's been done by the homebrew community so far to support people who want to program for the GBA or DS is amazing.
Thank you, everyone, I look forward to taking advantage of your work.

#117221 - Vich - Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:51 pm

Why didn't/don't you add a thin coat of varnish then? That could protect the paint easily.
ps: the link doesn't work anymore
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#117238 - tetsujin - Fri Feb 02, 2007 6:49 pm

Vich wrote:
Why didn't/don't you add a thin coat of varnish then? That could protect the paint easily.
ps: the link doesn't work anymore


It's holding up quite well as it is - and as I said, since the whole idea of this paint scheme was to look worn anyway, a certain amount of natural wear is quite fine. As for putting on a clear topcoat, there are a few reasons I didn't do that. I didn't want the project to drag on any longer, and I'm a bit skeptical of how much good a topcoat would do. If the paint underneath has adhesion problems (which I suspect was the case with the very few areas where the paint has already come off) then adding more paint on top won't help. The top layers would just come off along with the bottom layers. If, on the other hand, the danger is from the paint being worn down or scraped off, adding another coat on top will at best prolong that process. Plus from various model projects I've come to the conclusion that it's generally best not to build up paint thicker than necessary.

Nothing is gonna be permanent. Even the original silver finish of my DS started to wear and chip from regular handling before I did the case mod, and that finish is tough stuff. I'm quite OK with the idea that this finish may at some point degrade to the point it would need to be redone - the thing is that right now I have my DS decorated. If I need to redo this - that's OK. Maybe I'll do a better job with the wear & tear effects next time. (They look kind of splattery, at present) - or maybe by then I'll have some new piece of hardware that I'd rather work on - a newer version of the DS or some new system altogether. If the finish lasts for a couple years (and I think it will) that's a distinct possibility. If I had decorated my GBA SP two or three years ago and the finish was worn down now - I doubt I'd care. I hardly use that thing anymore.

As for the link - My homepage hosting is a bit flaky sometimes - it's what I get for relying on my ISP to host my homepage - but the link does work.
_________________
---GEC
I think that all the work that's been done by the homebrew community so far to support people who want to program for the GBA or DS is amazing.
Thank you, everyone, I look forward to taking advantage of your work.

#118503 - HyperHacker - Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:58 pm

Nice. I've considered painting my DS, since I'm gonna have to open it anyway to fix the L button (assuming I don't just buy a Lite, but that's a lot of money to replace something that still mostly works). However I've been worried about the paint wearing off, since my designs would not take to that well. (I'm not sure what they'll be yet, but I know they'll be nothing like yours.) Is there no way to prevent it at least for a few years until the next handheld comes along? The original paint on mine is even pretty worn down, so I fear there may be little hope for anything I do. (Also, would I have to remove that or could I just paint over it?)

Slightly off topic, I've also considered painting my computer case, which is black metal. Does anyone know how one might do this? This wouldn't be hand painted (even using a stencil would be nearly impossible) due to the complexity of the image. I'm essentially looking to "print" a JPEG file onto the metal itself just as you would onto paper with a printer, and have it look about as good as it would on paper (assuming decent printer and paper). I realize this will probably be expensive, and will likely consist of me taking the case into some sort of shop and giving them the image file and just letting them do it, but I'd like to know anyway. Assuming I could do it precisely enough (e.g. with a custom-made printer), would plain old paint work? Would it look as good as on paper? (Maybe if I used a white case?)
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