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SpeedBump613
Gawd
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2009
- Messages
- 761
Hello everyone. I personally have been modding since 1997 and it is probably my favorite thing where computers are concerned. I'm posting this to possibly help out some other guys who have had the same issues I have in the past. Stripping paint and PC from computer cases. Anyone who has done this can surely agree , what a PITA it is. I have used solvents, sanding, sandblasting and just plain spent HOURS and HOURS just getting a new case "ready" to start modding. Well, I have found a fantastic solution. A close family friend started a business many years ago mostly directed towards the industrial side of businesses. From there, it branched out to the automotive restoration crowd. That is where I come in. Me and my father have been building custom street rods and 50s styled Rods for close to 30 years. I have owned a few over the years, but with a wife, kids and little time or money to invest, very difficult hobby. My father owns a few cars atm, and we are building one right now. Modding PCs is very similar to building a custom car. Everything must first be taken to bare metal to see what you have to work with and give you a nice clean base to go on. We had taken some body panels to our friend, Paul, owner of MEC (Maintenance Equipment & Chemicals) to have stripped to bare metal. He uses 100% non toxic solutions and they work great. Well, this got me thinking. If it will strip old crusted, rusty car parts, industrial equipment, it sure as heck should work well on a small little PC case. I bought a new Fractal Design XL and promptly took it over to see what Paul thought. After explaining what I wanted, he said "no prob". The next day, I got a call from him with a concern. His concern was with the rivets holding the case together. He explained to me that if they were in fact aluminum, they would basically disintegrate. WOW! GREAT! Even less work for me to do. He looked puzzled when I was pleased about that. I then explained to him that I would need to DRILL out every rivet anyway to dismantle the case before I modded it. A few days later, I dropped by to pick up my case. There it was...all bare metal, completely dismantled already. Now for the cost, $25.00 That's it. Heck, I have spent more than that on sandpaper and stripper to do one case and THEN had to spend countless hours working. When I went to pick it up, I asked him if he would be interested in doing more cases. He said sure, just drop em off. I explained to him it was not for me, but for others like me looking to get a clean stripped case, but saving time and effort. He said no problem. You can contact him, ship him the case, either assembled or in pieces, he will dip and strip it, box it back up and ship it back. You obviously will have to pay shipping or deliver it to him. I know UPS and Fed Ex are in everyday, so the turn around should be only a few days to a week. (Check with him to make sure, don't want to put words into his mouth as his work load will vary.) Anyway, here is a pic of my case temporarily put together after the stripping. As you can see, very clean and ready to work on. If anyone is interested, give them a call or an email. Ask for Paul, as he has some office workers that may not know much about this and tell him Craig (Me) got ya pointed to him. (NO, I'm not making anything on this. I just figured it will help out you guys and his business) Here is their website . http://www.mecchemicals.com/ Hope this option will work out for some of you hardcore modders, I know I freed up lots of my time.
