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Painting a case and monitor

T

TampaGamer

Junior Member
I have built several systems in the last 15 years, but never really modded a case. I am in the process of refurbishing an old packard bell P166 system for my daughter (a toddler) and am considering painting the case/monitor a brighter color pink or blue or something. I figured because of the heat, I at least need paint that is heat resistant and will not peel. Has anyone had any experience painting a case and/or monitor? Any specific paints work good?


 
Case should be fine with a normal enamel (spray giving a more even coat). For the monitor, I really wouldn't do it, at least not near the vent holes. You'd want to mask off the holes to prevent paint from getting into the guts of the display (the case should either be taken apart, or all the computer parts removed before you paint too). With the display, you run a [real] risk of fire if you do get paint inside it.

How about you just give her some of the paint markers and tell her to go to town on it. Let her express her 'love' of the [dead] dog slow p166 you're being soooo 'kind' in giving her... Really, what's she going to do with that thing, besides baracade the door when you want to get in? It's too old and slow to run any current software, or anything newer than the late 90's... Hell even win98 will run like crap on it. Are you punishing her with this??? I wouldn't even give such a system to a relative that I had NO love for, or even openly hated.
 
while I agree with you, that's still pretty harsh of you akira... maybe he just figured that since she's still so young she doesn't need a computer but seriously you can't do jack with that kind of system, it's a waste of time and space and something she'll never ever touch... it's better off letting her play with her barbie dolls or GI JOe or what you prefer but not with that kind of computer system.
 
Kid's a toddler. Also, she didn't exactly say what sort of component mods she was going to stick in the box.

I had a high-school chemistry teacher who grew up amid coal-miners in Pennsylvania. He frequently would pontificate gently about the use of simpler and used equipment making the best experiments.

I think there's probably a lot a toddler can learn about computers from an old Win 95 system, and there is plenty -- PLENTY -- of surplus software available that caters to that age group and their learning needs.

If you really want to make this a good paint-job, I'd say sand and primer it first -- the metal panels I mean.

Also, check these people out for kid's software:

Computer & Software Factory Outlet
 
15 years old is not a toddler, she's a teenager. That's the point where they start looking to IM with friends and such. Even if she's not going to play games, running any decent version of office is going to be next to impossible on a P166 powered system.

As for learning about computers with windows 95, are you serious?? That's so far out of date it's not even funny. I gave one of my aunt's a computer that at least a P3 with a decent amount of memory, windows xp pro and office xp on it. She wanted to learn about computers (for potential new jobs), so it was better that she learn on what would be most common in the real world. Enough things are similar between xp and win2k that it would be a minor adjustment (some places are still on win2k for their business systems). The versions of office haven't changed too much in the way they work/function between xp and 2003, and the previous version. IF I had given her older items, it would have done more harm than good, since she'd have to learn more just to start a new job.

If a system doesn't at least meet the requirements for xp, don't bother with it... Otherwise, you're wasting everyone's time by even giving it to the person. Better off making some art with it (melting items and such) or seeing how far you can toss it to get it to break into small pieces.

As for being 'harsh', so is the world...
 
akira 34 learn how to read, the kid is a toddler and tampa gamer has been building systems for 15 years. Also, what gives you the right to diss someone trying to do something special for their kid? All a toddler wants to do is bang on the keys and move the mouse around. A P166 should do that fine on windows 95.

I have four kids, each with their own computer and the slowest one went to the two year old which is a XP2000+. I happen to have a lot of hardware lying around (painted it pink including the monitor). I wouldn't hesitate though to give here a low end system because all she does is bang on the keyboard and listen to the music.
 
Blame it on spending a long night putting up with the crowds in the mall...

As for what kids need for a computer, my niece and nephew are suffering with their old p2 compaq (PoS) system. I've built them a replacement computer, but it's not been setup yet (they're waiting for the basement to be finished before setting it up). Even the old p2 system they're using is not enough for the newer games and such (even educational ones) that they want to play. For that, they go upstairs to my mother's apartment (they live in a different town from me, don't get any ideas) that I built her. At least that one has enough power and resources to play anything they toss at it. That's running an AMD 1GHz processor (socketA) that I built a few years back now. When I rebuild my game rig next time, the mobo and processor I have will go to mom, so that she has more power in the box. She might not 'need' it, but it will be a healthy upgrade for her.

Maybe I'm setting the bar higher than most, since even when my niece and nephew were ~2 they were using the mouse on their parents computer and not 'bang on the keyboard'...
 
The metal parts of the box should be sanded and primed and painted with whatever you want. I personally like flat better than gloss. As for plastic parts I have used vinyl dye from Pep Boys or Checker Auto. Pep boys has a better selection of color. Clean the plastic well with alcohol and apply in 3-4 very light coats. For the monitor - I'd just break is all down and use the vinyl dye.

Search google for case mods with vinyl dye.

As for cpu horse power I almost agree with akira, p166 may not be enough for all but the older toddler games. And 95 ...well
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I was worried about the vents on the monitor. If I cannot unscrew the panels, I plan to just tape over them and use a big flower or star template over it and several other places and leave the original color in those spots. As someone pointed out, this is just to get her used to the mouse until she is another two years older - at which point I will be upgrading again and the pass-down will continue to my wife, and downward all the way to her younger brother. It will actually have a P3 600 in it, not a P166 (I am refurbishing some of the inards too), 98SE and a couple of disney software programs that only require a P2 266. I also dabble in programming so I made a custom paint program for her that she will *help* me beta test!
 
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