im looking to refresh my hardware. I like being creative and the hardware I have is way above what I need so am going to just mod my hardware's appearance. One of the things I am looking to do it to make a DIY armour for my motherboard. Has anybody got any experience of doing this?

I'm thinking of using this plastic so that I can mound and shape it easily with a bit of heat. However, not finding it easy to find plastic I can use as I want something textured ideally so it will make it look more interesting.

Any ideas?!?!

 

If you're thing about a battle-scarred look for the armour pieces, you might like to try paint effects on top of the smooth plastic. Brush, or spray, a bare metal pigment onto the surface and leave it to become touch dry. You can accelerate the drying of the base coat with a heat gun, or a hairdryer. Be careful not to overheat the paint. It could bubble up or crinkle if it gets too hot.

Apply a second coat of contrasting colour on top of the base coat. Let it go tacky. Then, with a natural sponge, or foam brush, lift off small areas of the topcoat. Repeat until the piece looks well beaten up and battered.

If you are thinking of creating a regular texture pattern, place a plastic mesh on top of the dry basecoat and apply the topcoat with a foam roller over the top of the mesh. When the topcoat is just dry enough to keep its shape, pull up the mesh through the topcoat.

Word of advice if you're building paint layers: the paint solvents in the different pigment layers need to be wholly compatible with each other. If they're incompatible, you will end up with horrid wrinkles in the finished piece.

 

Cheers for that. Hadn't thought of using a mesh to paint over with a roller for the texture!

Any ideas on where/what kind of thin plastic to use?

 

I get sheets of acrylic either from a craft or model makers' store but, more recently, I've taken to recycling Ferrero Rochet chocolate boxes. Bonus! Chocolates and plastic.

 

For large projects, I source materials tools and adhesives from a UK supplier called Easy Composites. I believe they also do an adhesive plastic film that emulates different types of carbon fibre weaves.
Here's the url of the UK firm's carbon fibre sheet page:
http://www.easycomposites.co.uk/#!/cured-carbon-fibre-products/rigid-carbon-fibre-sheet

Ah! I have just this minute spotted some fake carbon fibre vinyl wrap on Amazon. Good for sticking onto inexpensive parts and making them look expensive.

 

Last edited: Jan 28, 2017

You can try something simple like that:

or if You have some artistic affinities You can try something like this:

It is all related to guitars, but the idea is the same...

 

Nice, but not me. I think I've found a design I have tested in terms of paint. Paint a base coast of flat matt black. Then, lay down a laundry sock bag flat and spray a satin black over it. Ends up with a pretty awesome snakeskin-like pattern.

 

UK seems a pain to get sheets of acrylic! I've been keeping ye outta for clip frames though as the acrylic fronted ones tend to be cheap. Annoyingly when the cheap ones seem to be glass in most places now

 

You could try ABS plastic or PVC sheets for your motherboard armor. Both are heat-moldable and durable. ABS is especially easy to shape and comes in various finishes. For texture, you can use textured acrylic or polycarbonate, though they’re trickier to work with. Another option is vinyl wraps with textured patterns like carbon fiber, or even EVA foam, which can be shaped and painted for a unique look. Make sure to test your material first to ensure it’s easy to work with and gives the desired effect.