The BlingPod (NSF56k)

[stormshadow.pa]

Hiya guys, long time listener, first time poster.

Had to post a couple of pics of my gf's polished mini that I finished yesterday. What do you guys think?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/isu98/BlingPodmulti.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/isu98/BlingPodrear.jpg
To do this:

1: Dissassemble your mini. There are some good instructions in this very forum.

2. Use a Dremel moto tool with the small wire brush to strip the clearcoat and paint from the mini, and bring it down to the bare aluminum. I have a digital Dremel and used 10,000 RPM on the indicator. Don't overdo this, as simply touching a single spot will bring it down to the bare metal. Too much will leave scractches and divots. the Mini Shell is really thin, so too much will be catastrophic.

3. Sand the shell until it is completely devoid of paint, and rough spots. You'll need to sand the aluminum in a series of steps with sandpaper, preferrably by hand. Use these grits, in order. The finer grits will take out the scratches from each previous step.

320, 400, 600, 1000, 1500.

4. Polish the mini using a drill polisher. Craftsman sells a great kit for $9.99 at Sears with three wheels and 4 polishing compounds. I used the big wheel and the white compound. Take your time, and use small clamps to affix your mini to your workbench. If the mini goes flying off, it will be severely dented. Not good.

5. Do some final polishing by hand using SimiChrome polish. (This is also really good for touching up your full size stainless steel backed iPod.)

6. Reassemble the mini, and take some glamour shots!

Cheers,

Stormy

[Tomo_kun]

Is it a good idea to remove the anodized layer? Couldn't that potentionally damage the iPod?

[stormshadow.pa]

The only drawback that I can see is that the iPod is now very susceptible to fingerprints and smudges. But the bare aluminum warms immediately in your hand and feels like silk .

Aluminum is pretty resistant to corrosion, etc, esp. if you are handling it a lot--it will be saturated with plenty of oil from your hands. This modification won't affect the internal operation in any way.

I'm not saying that it will be especially durable --I'm considering putting a clearcoat on it.

[Enigma]

did you do the front too?

[stormshadow.pa]

Of course, check the monitor...

:)

[enjoilax]

WOW. Nice dude, lets get pics of the front... did the warranty get lost as well?

[darling_nikki]

Very nice

[Chewie]

Very nice mate, the best mini I have seen

[Cdammen]

That is totally rad :)

[iMacc]

Wow :eek: . That is.......shiny :D

[adept]

haha nice.

[-James]

Nice 'n' shiny. You must have some guts.

[bigmouse64]

Originally posted by Chewie
Very nice mate, the best mini I have seen

Damn right.

Nice work mate!

I wonder if that would work on my 4g, on the front, j/k.

[codvx]

Looking closer, It appears to be a thin steel casing.

[smorzander]

oh sh*t! that looks so cool. but it kinda makes it seem like those really cheap toy swords with the fake crome finish... hmmmm well i have never touched it so i dont know.

[Mr Niceguy]

instead of stripping w/ brush...

you can put it in a bag w/ oven cleaner...and after a while it will just rub off

[chicht]

im looking into doing the opposite.... anodize the back of my 4G 20 GB, anyone see problems, comments?

[bigmouse64]

Originally posted by Mr Niceguy
instead of stripping w/ brush...

you can put it in a bag w/ oven cleaner...and after a while it will just rub off

Wow, has anyone actuallt tried this?

[PJ920]

Why does the wheel look sunken in? As if there is a thin outter layer on the ipod. It looks like you added a layer rather then took one off.

[stormshadow.pa]

I'm glad that you guys like it. The best thing is that you all know now what is underneath, so you can perhaps buy a mini that is slightly abused and produce the same result, without nerfing a mint looking one like I did.

The wheel might look sunken in due to the low quality of the photograph, and might be an optical illusion due to the polished ring around the wheel.

[Quasipodo]

very sweet!!!! love what you've done to it!!!

[I_love_my_pod]

awesome dude dats nice

[LDEE]

Looks real nice but i dont think im going to try this with my mini ipod cuz if i mess it up I wont be getting another one :)

[Ashex]

couldn't you spray it over with a gloss finish to prevent smudges?

[bov]

wow u have guts.

[B0rat]

Originally posted by PJ920
Why does the wheel look sunken in? As if there is a thin outter layer on the ipod. It looks like you added a layer rather then took one off.
Yea thats what it looks like in the pictures. Nice job if u actually did this. Also this voids your warenty right?

[stormshadow.pa]

I was thinking about putting on a clear coat to protect it a bit more.

As for warranty... I guess I really don't care. If anything ever happens to it, i'll just get a new one, swap in the new guts, put the old #### inside the new case and return it. Forced warranty.

[smorzander]

Originally posted by stormshadow.pa
I was thinking about putting on a clear coat to protect it a bit more.

As for warranty... I guess I really don't care. If anything ever happens to it, i'll just get a new one, swap in the new guts, put the old #### inside the new case and return it. Forced warranty.

na you cant do that. the SN is written into the software of each mini, if you switched the outter shell the SNs wouldnt match and apple would find out

[sniper1rfa]

Originally posted by bigmouse64
Wow, has anyone actuallt tried this?

I have.

I don't visit here often, so i didn't know anybody else had done it, but i polished my mini when it broke. It got dropped in a puddle of saltwater, and some of the board got corroded. So i took the sucker apart, dropped it in some lye (oven cleaner, draino, whatever...) and polished it up. I plan on annodizing it purple.

You have to be careful, leaving it in too long will etch the metal too deeply and will make it difficult to polish.


Now for a random question... anybody got a spare mini clickwheel? mines got some corroded traces, as well as bad solder pads by the connector.

[iPac]

eh, now u cud brush it, all over that would look QUALITY

[iPac]

(i meant brush it to make it like, non shiny) :D

[linPod]

Yeah... It would be really cool to combine this with the brushed metal iPod tutorial (I might even do just that). Only thing I'm wondering is how you could get rid of the print on the buttons cleanly (with a grey mini it should look okay, but with any other... and I think plain looks really cool anyway).
BTW, I'm not quite sure that this messes up the warranty, if you have a look at site the tutorial from the thread I just mentioned is on, there's a letter from Apple stating that brushing the back of the iPod doesn't void the warranty. Basically it's extreme scratching (== normal use ;))
Sam

[][mmortal]

check out what's on that iMod :P

[insomniac71]

looks like photoshop to me because in both your original pics all i see is the back of the pod. only front view is the one on the computer. i wouldn't do this until i seen some good pics of the front, anyway cool idea.

[hobo]

This would work with any color, right? Or am I thinking too deep (no pun intended, okay yes)

and, any thoughts on having an iPod mini sent to you to do this (for a small fee)?

[Dirkus89]

do you think I could do the same on a basic wire wheel in my shop class in school? or do you think that the unpredictabilty of its RPM, and the uncertainty of having a poor brush should make me reluctant to try it?

[Dirkus89]

anyone?

[wskitche]

Originally posted by stormshadow.pa

Aluminum is pretty resistant to corrosion, etc, esp. if you are handling it a lot--it will be saturated with plenty of oil from your hands. This modification won't affect the internal operation in any way.

I'm not saying that it will be especially durable --I'm considering putting a clearcoat on it.

Clearcoating would be a good idea, aluminum does corrode (anodization prevents corrosion) but alumnium oxide will appear as a slight haze on something shiny and actually serves to protect the al against further corrosion.

For protection and ease of maintence I would certainly clearcoat this... but i would be very wary of doing it myself. A polishing job that sweet shouldnt be ruined with a botched clear coat.

[xluben]

stormshadow.pa -
Are you possibly a female? I notice the thin eyebrows, and well kept nails.

PS:Good work with the polishing.

[stereo]

Hey. I brushed my iPod Mini tonight! It looks ultra cool.

I used 400 grain sandpaper that I bought at Home Depot. It took me about 3 hours (brushed entire thing, front & back) and lots of elbow-grease.

I bought mine used, cheap. And it was PINK, so I didn't mind taking a chance. Sorry no pics, but solid brushed steel on the Mini is awesome. I taped up the glass with electrical tape. My only regret is that I was too lazy to tape up the circular click-pad. Now I've got kinda of a brushed plastic look on the click-pad. It's not so bad though, and I'm thinking of painting the click-pad, maybe black or blue.

Maybe if I get motivated, I'll brush more with higher grains to get that shiny look! Mine looks kinda scratchy now but still quite nice.

[moe_4eva]

You've got to get some pics posted, I want to see that!

[thesire]

Thats really cool. Not sure if I want to try it tho!!

[Cloo24]

it really looks like a thin case to me but i cna' be positive

[iPod_Greg]

Wow, that looks great! Nice job. I think it would go well with this car (pic taken at the Cleveland Auto Show...the car was a functioning prototype made by Ford. The finish was 100% hand-polished aluminum. Man was this thing amazing!)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v306/GregC/PolishedAluminumSupercar.jpg

--Greg

[Linux_inside v2]

aluminium oxidisation is not as bad as iron oxidisation "rusting"
mainly due to the fact that the aluminium oxide forms a layer which protects the rest from oxidising, where rust doesnt and keeps on rusting. all anodisation really does is toughens the aluminium because its a fairly soft metal

[Paracaine]

Looks fake to me.

Lets see some more photos from all angles.

xluben - The person reflected is also almost definatley a female.

[lovepoke]

Doesn't that void the warranty if the serial code and Apple logo aren't there? Anyways, nice!

[Aceospades1250]

Its not a fake. I searched "Blingpod" on Google and found many other pics of it. Its definetly NOT fake.

[mrdantownsend]

it's pretty sexy, but you're ugly.

[ipban]

I can't see the images, it says bandwith exceeded, can you post them somewhere else plz? I really want to see it.

[doughn]

cool job on your mini there, u should make it a business

anyway u got great speakers too NHT, im also using the same brand, i got NHT 1.5, superOne, superZero. cheers

[jlevi]

That's SO cool. Would you be so kind as to post it on my forum, ModYourPod.com? Trying to build a database of the coolest mods around for people to access without having to extensively search. Come check it out.

Great Mod!
JL