[itshondo]

A freind gave me this P3 800 mhz Compaq iPaq-



I didn't like the way it looked, and decided on a face lift.

I just finished one on my Mini Rig and decided to use the same Rustoleum Hammered Finish paint- you can see what it looks like here-

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=437395

[itshondo]

The first thing is disassembly. Some of the plastic pieces were melt-weled together which meant the welds had to be cut, and will be epoxied back together later.

Here are the plastic peices of the case -



And the hardware-

[itshondo]

I had to take the front panel apart, to get to the switch and USB cover.

Here's the front with the switch installed- ugly blue color- I'll paint it hammered black-



You can see on the back the heat welds-

[itshondo]

The switch removed and dissasembled-

[itshondo]

Now I had to get the parts ready for paint- I used a large bowl of very hot water, with dishwashing detergent to wash it. I used a new scotchbrite pad to clean and scuff the plastic for paint, works very well.

Here are the parts drying off-

[itshondo]

The front fascia had a big nick in it-



So a little Glazing/Spot putty (automotive) was needed.

Here's the rough application, before I sand it-

[itshondo]

My garage / paint shop....

[itshondo]

Front fascia after sanding smooth the spot putty-

[itshondo]

The front fascia with the paint applied-

[Thumdar]

That paint is awesome. I'm going to have to find a reason to go buy some.

[Turtle Shell]

looking ood so far again kep it up

[itshondo]

Here it is assembled. The photo below cannot convey just how much better the iPaq looks, the paint came out so well!

Now what am I going to do with this rig?????????????????

[shellshock]

Looks good bro! Make it a smoothwall or folding box or something

[itshondo]

I was thinking about using it as a smoothwall- does it need to have 2 ethernet ports to be a firewall, as this has only 1 with no PCI slots available.

[itshondo]

As much as I like this little rig, I have no use for it so it will be in the classifieds soon-

[halo_2_rocks]

how would you set up a stand alone firewall

[moglenstar]

great job with the paint, yeah a p3 would make a nice smoothwall.. or a nice folding slave..