G4 Case Aluminum/Magnesium Content

Question

Level 1

8 points

G4 Case Aluminum/Magnesium Content

Does anybody know if the outer shell of the Aluminum G4 PowerBooks is aluminium or aluminium/magnesium alloy? I want to mirror polish it with materials from English Polishing. The site says that metals consisting of 20%+ magnesium cannot be polished. Assuming that it is and acceptable level of aluminium, is it anodized or just brushed? I'd like to know before I dismantle my powerbook and screw up the outer shell with a power sander.

G4 1.5 Ghz Aluminium PowerBook, Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on Jan 21, 2006 9:02 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Tuttle

Level 7

29,565 points

Jan 21, 2006 10:33 PM in response to phinnius

I don't think there's any magnesium in the case. It's supposed to be made from "aircraft grade" aluminum. That still doesn't make this a good idea, IMHO.

Reply

Answer 2

phinnius Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 21, 2006 11:05 PM in response to Tuttle

I don't think there'll be a problem. My warranty has been voided for quite a while and i'm used to doing stuff like this.

http://www.englishcustompolishing.com/usca/aluminum1.html

I just need to make sure that the amount of magnesium is below the threshold.

Thanks for the info though!

Reply

Answer 3

phinnius Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 21, 2006 11:07 PM in response to Tuttle

Got the idea from here. It's the same material as far as I can tell.

http://www.metku.net/index.html?sect=view&n=1&path=mods/shinyshuttle/index_eng

Reply

Answer 4

Tuttle

Level 7

29,565 points

Jan 21, 2006 11:13 PM in response to phinnius

That's mad!

Good luck!

Reply

Answer 5

Jrsy Man

Level 4

1,890 points

Jan 22, 2006 12:54 AM in response to phinnius

I can see already that fingerprints will be a big problem..

Reply

Answer 6

Jan 22, 2006 3:02 AM in response to Tuttle

Nice idea, but I don't think I would want to take a sander to my powerbook. If anyone does try it, can they post links to the pictures please! It would be interesting to see

Reply

Answer 7

Jan 22, 2006 10:02 AM in response to Christopher Jennings2

The surface of the aluminum powerbook is painted or anodized, so the composition of the actual metal isn't what matters for polishing it - it's the composition of the coating that matters.

If these were uncoated aluminum, they'd look like junk in a matter of days.

Reply

Answer 8

iSMH

Level 5

4,310 points

Jan 22, 2006 10:04 AM in response to phinnius

If you go through with it, be sure to post some pictures somewhere and let us know!

Good luck, you may need it -

iSMH

Reply