Start of a new G4 Cube

[rafamundez]

Start of a new G4 Cube Mod

Hey All,

Just got my cube a few days ago (on Saturday) for an amazing deal ($50). I spent most of the weekend cleaning it (in my free time of course). I cleaned it with just soap and water + alcohol wipes for the more stingy sticker adhesives, dirt, etc.

My goal for the first few months is the aesthetics of the cube. I want to make black painted cube with a glowing Apple logo. Something similar to this design: http://www.123macmini.com/macminicube/

(final design from the mod linked))

Currently I'm stuck on the removing the original Apple logo step. I tried removing it with tweezers, hot soapy water, cutting it with a razer, etc. but nothing can get under it enough to give me leverage to pull it apart without hurting the cube. Apple really glued it on well..

(from the mod I'm mimicking)

I don't have access to a guitar pick (yet..) but I read online that immersing it in WD-40 overnight is a really effective way to loosen adhesives while not hurting the acrylic. This is what I tried last night, we will find out later today if it works. Any ideas (aside from a guitar pick) if this doesn't work? Anyone have experience removing it?

Next steps is to remove scratches and polish it, I have the Novus 7100 Plastic Polish Kit and from testing it on a small corner, it looks amazing!

From there, there is a very small crack on the bottom of my cube that I am also going to attempt to fix. I've done some research online into this as well and it seems like that this can be done using some acrylic solvent or some cyanoacrylate (Loctite 401 Prism Instant Adhesive which is essentially a transparent superglue). It won't repair it completely, but it should help quite a bit. If anyone has experience in this too, please feel free to share any tips,tricks, advice . Acrylic crack repair link: https://vimeo.com/103296536

 

[neilhart]

Just my 2 cents worth... I have come to see the scuff and scrapes on classic Apples as badges of honor and now I do not put that much effort in getting a hack to "like new" condition. Most of my collection is not for sale and these imperfections no longer bother me.

You can check my projects here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/completed-mods/87399-neilharts-completed-case-mods.html

Good modding,
neil

 

[rayd]

I got the apple logo off my cube using a heat gun/ hair drier to warm up the adhesive and pryed it up using a plastic pry tool (similar to a plastic flat head screw driver/ spudger)

soft scratches on the acrylic polish off well using brasso

 

[minihack]

Hey All,

Just got my cube a few days ago (on Saturday) for an amazing deal ($50). I spent most of the weekend cleaning it (in my free time of course). I cleaned it with just soap and water + alcohol wipes for the more stingy sticker adhesives, dirt, etc.

My goal for the first few months is the aesthetics of the cube. I want to make black painted cube with a glowing Apple logo. Something similar to this design: http://www.123macmini.com/macminicube/

View attachment 142479(final design from the mod linked))

Currently I'm stuck on the removing the original Apple logo step. I tried removing it with tweezers, hot soapy water, cutting it with a razer, etc. but nothing can get under it enough to give me leverage to pull it apart without hurting the cube. Apple really glued it on well..

View attachment 142477 (from the mod I'm mimicking)

I don't have access to a guitar pick (yet..) but I read online that immersing it in WD-40 overnight is a really effective way to loosen adhesives while not hurting the acrylic. This is what I tried last night, we will find out later today if it works. Any ideas (aside from a guitar pick) if this doesn't work? Anyone have experience removing it?

Next steps is to remove scratches and polish it, I have the Novus 7100 Plastic Polish Kit and from testing it on a small corner, it looks amazing!

From there, there is a very small crack on the bottom of my cube that I am also going to attempt to fix. I've done some research online into this as well and it seems like that this can be done using some acrylic solvent or some cyanoacrylate (Loctite 401 Prism Instant Adhesive which is essentially a transparent superglue). It won't repair it completely, but it should help quite a bit. If anyone has experience in this too, please feel free to share any tips,tricks, advice . Acrylic crack repair link: https://vimeo.com/103296536

Good luck with your Cube project - these are always fun!

On the acrylic repair side, the scratches aren't too hard to get rid of, but crack repairs are a bit of a black art (one I have not mastered yet). What I would say with that type of adhesive, which if it is similar to the 'Plastic Weld', then it is more of a weld than a glue, is that you need to be very sparing with it. It is super runny and so easy to make a mistake with. The point about not wiping any excess off if you do put too much on is very important. Just leave it and much of it will evaporate and then leave kind of a smudge behind that you can later polish out.

As Neil has said, take a good look at the crack you have and see if you can live with it. In most cases if the answer is 'kind of' then I would leave it alone. For instance the minor crazing you get around the top of the Cube is probably not even worth bothering (in my opinion) to try and repair. Try the repair method (if you have decide you will) first somewhere that will not be noticed.

If the crack is big and ugly and bits of the acrylic are missing then it is probably not going to respond well to anything much.

Always make sure the area around is clean before you start as contamination can cause bad results.

As well as the syringe method I have had some good results using a cotton bud - something I sort of invented myself as I have never heard anyone else suggest it - from underneath the join so that the saturated surface of the cotton bud just touches the crack area (don't ram it in there!) and you can then, if the crack is a nice responsive one (?), just watch the methyl acrylate being drawn magically up and out of the cotton bud and spreading into the crack.

I DON'T recommend trying to make the crack bigger (in contrast to what the guy in the video says) as it is important that the surfaces are really absolutely next to one another so their surfaces can melt and re-melt to each other.

Good luck.

 

[rafamundez]

Thanks for the tips/advice guys! Super helpful!