Phone Mods (and not the software kind)

[TheAmazingDave]

Just wanted to share my most recent "mod". Within 24 hours of having my phone, I put a few marks on it when it fell off of my bike. Mainly just on the back of the battery door, but also on the side just below the chrome ring.

I was pretty bummed, but since I didn't like the "champagne" color anyway, I decided to rubber coat my Optimus with a product called Plasti-Dip. I've used this stuff to rubber coat various items, and thought it would be neat to add some texture to the phone. Here's the results:

 

[jabbawest]

Looks really good.
I thought about doing something like that but was afraid I wouldn't get it quite right.
Can you provide more details?

What I really considered was to plasticote or dip the cheap, plastic, two piece shell that came with the phone.
While the case is cheap, it does do one thing very well. It breaks away from the phone if you drop it, which is obviously dissipating the energy that would otherwise directly impact the phone.

 

[TheAmazingDave]

It was pretty simple.

There's two kinds of the spray-on PlastiDip, I use the kind with the smoother finish. It comes in the can with the round top, as in it isn't entirely cylindrical.

First I popped off the battery door, pulled the battery, and took out the 6 Phillips along the perimiter of the phone, and the screw on the metal plate under the battery.

I used an old credit card to seperate the case halves working it under the chrome trim and plastic case, carefully seperating the parts slowly. It took a few minutes, but it came apart without much fuss.

I washed the battery door with warm, mildly soapy water. I use dish soap since it removes oils so well. After the parts air dried, I wiped them down with a soft cloth damp with rubbing alcohol.

After another air dry, I masked the sensitive parts of the phone case (camera lense, antenna contacts, that metal plate that the screw goes through, etc) and slowly coated the parts, building up a few layers when the coat would dry. This stuff dries pretty quick, so it doesn't take long. I had it back together and in the holster within an hour.

It stays really soft for a few days, and you have to be careful not to tear it until it cures. I also sprayed some of the stuff on some cardboard, sopped it up with a Q-tip, and sealed the edges so it wouldn't catch on anything and pull away from the plastic.

I've coated quite a few things with this stuff, and I've learned a few tricks on using it. It's really trial and error. The good thing about it is that it'll peel right off and you can start over if it doesn't come out right.

 

[jabbawest]

Thanks and that's a good run down.
How long has the coating been on?
Looking at your OP made me think back to an encounter I had with a pickup truck owner while pumping gas.
I had seen flat black paint jobs before, but this one was textured??
Come to find out, the guy had applied bed liner coating to the entire exterior of a brand new Ford F150 and man did it look sharp.

So, I'm wondering if that substance would be more hardy than the plasticote.
That would mean I could do my truck and use the leftovers to do my phone.

 

[TheAmazingDave]

Well it's been on the battery door for several days with no fuss. Last night, I tore the coating on the body near the camera button. I could have easily patched it with the Q-tip method that I sealed the edges with, but I decided to do it again anyways since I smudged the inside of the camera lense while I was untaping the case and didn't realize it 'till I put the phone all back together. :O I'll probably recoat it tonight after work. The credit card works great at opening the phone case, it's not any trouble to redo.

I used this stuff to coat some interior parts on a car I had, and it never peeled. I went so far as to sand those surfaces lightly, however, to create a better surface for adhesion.