Advice on PowerMac G5 original restoration

[sleepycal]

I'm looking to do an original restoration of a PowerMac G5 chassis.

I have a chassis but it's pretty beat up, after much reading the process for restoring it seems to be;

1) Remove thin layer by sanding with an abrasive brush
2) Shotblasting / sandblasting to smooth down
3) Anodising
4) Powder coating using a close matching color
5) Second powder coating to add an apple logo

Am I correct in saying that this will restore the chassis to something similar to it's original format?

Following some bits of advice from here;
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=246505

Any thoughts/comments would be appreciated, as any mistakes learnt along the way will have a cost impact!

Thanks

 

[neilhart]

I'm looking to do an original restoration of a PowerMac G5 chassis.

I have a chassis but it's pretty beat up, after much reading the process for restoring it seems to be;

1) Remove thin layer by sanding with an abrasive brush
2) Shotblasting / sandblasting to smooth down
3) Anodising
4) Powder coating using a close matching color
5) Second powder coating to add an apple logo

Am I correct in saying that this will restore the chassis to something similar to it's original format?

Following some bits of advice from here;
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=246505

Any thoughts/comments would be appreciated, as any mistakes learnt along the way will have a cost impact!

Thanks

Sleepycal welcome to the forum. Please produce a project work log and post it here as many are interested in these systems.

In my opinion it is usually better to use G5 Power Mac cases that are in very good condition rather then try to restore a beat up one.

Patience is best. Don’t buy junk. Don’t pay too much. And purchase an intact system so that you have all of the bits to start with.

If you start with a “like new case” you do need to protect it from damage. I fell into using blue painters tape and masking off the entire outer surface of the case.

Anodizing in my area is expensive. Powder coating is more reasonable, but sill very costly and has its limitations. The most practicable is conventional spray painting with baking to facilitate a better cure of the painted surface.



Again, welcome,

neil

 

[sleepycal]

Thanks for the quick reply, I'll certainly keep a log throughout the build.

So far I've been quoted around £150 for sandblasting, £75 for powder coating and £45 for the anodising, which is all quite expensive.

It's possible to do the anodising at home, but would require around £60-£100 worth of supplies (battery acid, lye, lead cathodes, large plastic tub etc). Powder coating at home is very difficult due to the size of oven required. Sandblasting would also be far too messy.

I'm also thinking of cutting out the Apple logo, then filling it with a similarly colored liquid plastic resin, to achieve the same "bright apple" look as the laptops. However this would require CNC laser cutter, adding even more cost.

Sadly all the good quality cases are fetching well over £500 on eBay.

Currently looking at ways to bring this cost down by calling in a few favours, any more hints/tips would be appreciated

 

[neilhart]

[QUOTE="sleepycal, ...

Currently looking at ways to bring this cost down by calling in a few favours, any more hints/tips would be appreciated[/QUOTE]

I love G5 Power Mac cases (much more the Mac Pro cases) and I still have my first Power Mac and first Mac Pro hackintosh systems. Check out this link: http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/neilharts-completed-case-mods.87399/ which points to many of my past projects.

If you are going to do much custom case modding, you will most likely want to use an epoxy similar to to JB Weld which I have used extensively. This then leads one to primers, fillers, sanding and on and on. For painting, you could check your local auto body repair shops.

There is no fixed right way to mod… it is whatever works for your situation. I have seen where some have made paint booths out of cardboard boxes and painted in the home shower stall…

I had so much time invested in the “Short Stack” project that I purchased a vinyl cutting machine just to have control of the scale of the Apple logo for the sides.

My advice is to take your time and enjoy the ride.
neil

 

[SailorJerry]

Look forward to seeing how you go with this one.

I'm assuming you're UK based - try thebookyard.com for a case/parts - can't see any right now but they get Grade A G5 Cases in and are way under £500 - of course just the empty case but they also sell everything else separately if you need it = not the cheapest route but much more on offer than i have found elsewhere.

Good luck!