Develop Bugs

$hitty Paint Job

SO,
I could take the peeling paint no longer, so I "fixed" it. Or at least I thought I had.
I took apart the unit, very timidly; everything came off but the buttons and what not. I used an old drywall (worn down) sponge, and kept it wet, sanding carefully. Cleaned often as I went, and wasn't too worried about surface scratches, as I was about to paint it.
BTW, the gold finish under that non slip coating is actually quite imressive.
Anyway, only the most advanced techniques, tools, and paint were used. See for yourself...
and yes, that is a roll of toilet paper!!! :lol:
Two days later, the rubber started to peel off. I used "Plasti-Dip" spray paint. I thought a rubber grip might be nice, since I work construction, and black is just plain cool. I tested the tool grip paint on a nokia 3595 dummy, and now I just can't get that **** off of it. I thought it would stick to my wallaby. Apparently, not. I used my fingernail to peel off a wear hole caused by my Al case, and just peeled off the rubber in a few large pieces. Anyway, I'm going to check into good primers soon. I think that the noslip coating that flakes off our units isn't the problem, but the foil finnish that just won't let anything adhere. Anyway, If you have a suggestion or comment, fire away. And sorry, the only digicams i have are a Sony T610 and a V300....
Thanks!

Naked case (vinyl and/or rubber battery cover) ??

OK - I've been using the ATT store Body Glove case since I bought the Captivate, which is ok but I don't really like the stripes on the back, and it is a bit too slippery for me.
I just ordered the Seidio case because it has more of a matte finish and I liked the felt interior. So I don't know if I like it or not.
A few minutes ago I took the phone out of it's case to dust it and clean out the case when I got a call. I was surprised at how slim the phone felt without it's Body Glove case on. I liked it. But I also found it a bit slippery. ( A speaker phone call was put on the arm of the chair I was in - with the case it would hold - without it slid away)
Now I am wondering if I should just use some skateboard tape or something similar on key areas to allow me to set it down and hold it comfortably (where it won't slip) instead of using a case. I don't use a screen protector and I don't think this phone needs it.
Any comments or suggestions?

Now that I've thought about it for a few minutes - I think what I want is a rubberized battery cover. That would be the bomb.

I don't use a case on mine and I've yet to get a single scratch on the front or back - the glass is very tough. I cringe at having to use a case, losing accuracy, clarity, and brightness on the screen and having to touch through that...having it hard to slip in and out of my pocket...not looking as nice. It's like if your wife made you use a condom every time.

just "paint" it with some Elmer's Rubber Cement. Im really kidding but I'm with you I like the feel of the phone and I hate the rubber case I got it makes it a pain to get in and out of the pocket. Personally I plan on selling this phone in a couple of months so I want it in good condition.

vsboxerboy1 said:
I don't use a case on mine and I've yet to get a single scratch on the front or back - the glass is very tough. I cringe at having to use a case, losing accuracy, clarity, and brightness on the screen and having to touch through that...having it hard to slip in and out of my pocket...not looking as nice. It's like if your wife made you use a condom every time.
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Agreed that the screen is fine on its own. But I still think the back needs some help.
Also, I do not like condoms. Neither do my wife and kids.

Ah, well I saw something a while back where someone basically took four little rubber/plastic stickers and put one on each corner of the back of the phone to lift the back up off whatever surface you set it on just a hair. I would imagine that you'd get good traction with that too - I can't seem to find the exact application of it though......

This thread is mostly me think out loud.
I believe that what I want is a rubberized battery cover.
The cover is slightly recessed - it is lower then the bottom locking section and the top section with the camera. It also wraps around the sides almost 1/2 of the way.
I think that if the battery cover were coated with a rubberized, non-slip material, it would be better. If the rubberization made the cover stick out slightly, rather than be recessed, it would allow the phone to be set on it's back and not slide away and keep the camera off the deck. Also, the wrap around side parts of the cover would help when holding the phone.
Now, can someone tell me of a place/process that might do this? (Not rubber cement but close) My pickup has a Rhino Lining coating that I love. There is a place nearby that does that work but the coating is like 1/8-1/4 inches and that is a bit to thick for the phone.
Any Ideas?

http://www.plastidip.com/home_solutions/Plasti_Dip
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=1150/Product/GUN_KOTE_trade__OVEN_CURE__GUN_FINISH
http://www.goboatingamerica.com/products/DM_article.asp?id=3645
Found these

Bought this stuff at Home Depot.

Then tested in on this beer can. I didn't clean or prep the can, just picked it up off of the floor.
This is 5 coats. It is still thin. Dries fast and feels just about how I'd like it to. Not tacky - sort of a hard rubber feel. It is flexible, the can bends and the stuff stays with it.
It can be scratched, you may be able to see a scratch I made with my nail. It didn't go all the way through to the can though - and I had to scratch hard. It looks like it would be easy to spray another coat over any scuffs.
I plan to do the back of the battery cover - thick enough to make it a bit taller than the top and bottom sections of the phone. The way it is going it seem like that may take 15+ coats. I'll keep testing.

Two things about that though, the battery cover is used not only as the speaker output but the battery cover itself also dissipates a good amount of the heat that the phone generates. You probably want to be a more careful than usual in designing something that is going to smother this part of the phone.

not sure how much you're looking to spend but I put the Zagg total protection on mine. You get full protection on your phone but you can't see it, so you still get the sleek look and it's still very thin as well. The clear plastic is also great for gripping, I can set it on the dash of my car and drive normally and it won't budge.

I've had good luck with bestskinsever.com
Used it on my Nexus One and the fit was good, buddy got one for his vibrant and the fit is good as well.

journeyman82 said:
not sure how much you're looking to spend but I put the Zagg total protection on mine. You get full protection on your phone but you can't see it, so you still get the sleek look and it's still very thin as well. The clear plastic is also great for gripping, I can set it on the dash of my car and drive normally and it won't budge.
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Looks interesting. I wish they had the leather skin for the captivate. I would be all over that. In fact I may need to take a trip to the fabric store to see what they have.
Thanks.

Ok to finish up my saga...
I liked the faux leather on the cover mentioned in the post above so I went to the fabric store and ended up with some black, I believe they call it marbled vinyl. It looked and felt similar to the back of a blackberry I once held.
I tested it on my trusty Busch Light can with some 3M spray adhesive and it seemed to hold fairly well.
So I went for it. I taped off the inside and the prongs of the battery cover. Sprayed glue on the cover and the back of a piece of vinyl cut too big. Stuck it on and smoothed it out. I sat the cover on a bag of rice and and put a bag of brown sugar on top (to push around the curves) and topped it off with a gallon jug of tile grout.
Waited an hour, probably longer than needed, and used a pointy x-acto knife to trim off the excess. I had also put a piece of tape over the speaker holes so I cut that back open to. The underside of the vinyl has a white background so once it was trimmed to fit I went around the edges with a fine tipped sharpie, which blended well.
Overall I like it. It is just a bit thinker that the top and bottom bands, so if you lay her on her back those parts don't touch a flat table. It has a leathery, grippy feel without being tacky, which is what I was going for. I do already miss the front edge lip that the Body Golve provided but it is also almost it;s original thickness.
Pics below. (Sorry about the crappy last pic. I had the phone with new back all set up on a white surface, ready for it's glamor shot, when I realized that the phone is my camera)

Staplebox: great job!
Wow that is a nice, careful job.....

staplebox said:
Ok to finish up my saga...
I liked the faux leather on the cover mentioned in the post above so I went to the fabric store and ended up with some black, I believe they call it marbled vinyl. It looked and felt similar to the back of a blackberry I once held.
I tested it on my trusty Busch Light can with some 3M spray adhesive and it seemed to hold fairly well.
So I went for it. I taped off the inside and the prongs of the battery cover. Sprayed glue on the cover and the back of a piece of vinyl cut too big. Stuck it on and smoothed it out. I sat the cover on a bag of rice and and put a bag of brown sugar on top (to push around the curves) and topped it off with a gallon jug of tile grout.
Waited an hour, probably longer than needed, and used a pointy x-acto knife to trim off the excess. I had also put a piece of tape over the speaker holes so I cut that back open to. The underside of the vinyl has a white background so once it was trimmed to fit I went around the edges with a fine tipped sharpie, which blended well.
Overall I like it. It is just a bit thinker that the top and bottom bands, so if you lay her on her back those parts don't touch a flat table. It has a leathery, grippy feel without being tacky, which is what I was going for. I do already miss the front edge lip that the Body Golve provided but it is also almost it;s original thickness.
Pics below. (Sorry about the crappy last pic. I had the phone with new back all set up on a white surface, ready for it's glamor shot, when I realized that the phone is my camera)
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Click to collapse
love it, im stealing that!

Go for it. Usually I prefer to buy a second of whatever I am defacing before I deface it but I didn't find any battery covers online. I also didn't look to hard.
It is still on and I still like it. The only thing I don't like too much are the sides. I completely covered the back, right up to the side edges. It is a perfect thickness on the back but feels too thick on the sides. I wish I could have found a thinner material that I could have built up on the back and tapered to one layer on the sides. I really wanted grippyness on the sides so, oh well, it's good enough.
I'm still on the look out for a better spray on rubber. I'll update if I find anything good.
Hopefully someone will start making aftermarket battery covers with some options.
Thanks and good luck,.

Second the stealing. Awesome idea and writeup. Thanks for sharing.
From a phone on an app

I scrapped the vinyl. The edges were just bugging me to much. I still think a thinner material would work well though.
I cleaned up the cover - looked fine again with all the glue off of it.
I went back to the rubber spray. I've got about 8 coats on in the attached pic. Need to wait about 30 min in between coats. I'll keep going until I go to sleep, let it dry overnight - and test it out tomorrow.
ETA - put it on the phone the today. Love it. Doesn't add any bulk and provides a grippyness to the back and sides. I'll find out how durable it is.

Rubberized back cover for Atrix

So I've got to give credit to the fine folks over at the Nexus S forum for giving inspiring the idea. I am a fan of keeping my phone caseless but I'm also a fan of keeping the scratches away. I bought a can of plasti dip in black and sprayed the back cover of the phone. The inside I sprayed 3 coats and the outside I believe 5. I held the can away from the cover about 15 inches while spraying for an even coat. Let it dry 30 mins between coats and sit 4-5 hours when I was finished just as the can said. It turned out great as you can see and now has a scratch proof rubberized cover. The rubber simply peels off if I ever want to remove it.

Looks good, not a bad idea at all. You say you sprayed the inside of the cover as well? Wouldn't think you would need to bother with the inside, why did you cover the inside. Take care.

smsparks said:
Looks good, not a bad idea at all. You say you sprayed the inside of the cover as well? Wouldn't think you would need to bother with the inside, why did you cover the inside. Take care.
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I sprayed the inside as well so it wouldn't start to peel on the edges. It fits just as snug as it did before despite being sprayed inside too. =) I did cover the hole for the speaker before spraying

How well does it slide in and out of your pocket? Is there any spray that would be more of a soft-touch rubber feel?

icedwhiskey said:
How well does it slide in and out of your pocket? Is there any spray that would be more of a soft-touch rubber feel?
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It slides in and out just fine. It's just grippy enough to not slide around on my seat as I'm driving. The best thing is if it gets annoying or I want to change it the stuff just simply peels off

i've used plastidip plenty of times on things, and i dont know about the durability of that over time. I use it on emblems on cars to black them out and stuff and small rock chips etc pull it off fairly easily. Plus the finish usually isnt too smooth. i'd rather spend 20 and get the feather case....i can peel that off too

seriouslyjeff said:
I am a fan of keeping my phone caseless but I'm also a fan of keeping the scratches away.
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How do you plan to keep that arpo over 70 if you don't sell any cases? lol.

link12245 said:
How do you plan to keep that arpo over 70 if you don't sell any cases? lol.
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Lmao! If we had more than zero cases in the store I would sell em! I take it you work for att too?

poor phone looks like my grandpa's truck bed now.

falconeight said:
poor phone looks like my grandpa's truck bed now.
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Too bad it can't haul

case companies need to stop making ugly ass cases and make some back cover replacements.
First one to make a soft-touch back cover with kick stands wins my money

Very cool idea! I decided just to wet sand the back cover to keep it looking like carbon fiber AND to make it a little easier to grip on to - pics are in the link on my signature.
I don't know if I agree with spraying the inside too just to get the edges uniform.... spraying the inside (and, well, the outside too I guess) will help trap in heat, something you don't want when charging a phone with a dead battery because this thing gets HOT as it is!
Also, I don't know if I would advertise the ability to simply peel the rubberized coating right off if you want to remove it. I've used this stuff dozens of times, I actually have my race car's tow hook covered in it, and that thing sees a LOT of abuse, but doesn't come right off.... If you can use this stuff to protect against giant metal hooks scratching off the coating with exactly as many dips in the can as you have layers of spray, I doubt this stuff would come off completely without a fight!

seriouslyjeff said:
Lmao! If we had more than zero cases in the store I would sell em! I take it you work for att too?
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Yes sir. We also have no cases, no accessories, but do have a few of the phones left.

GarciaM25 said:
Very cool idea! I decided just to wet sand the back cover to keep it looking like carbon fiber AND to make it a little easier to grip on to - pics are in the link on my signature.
I don't know if I agree with spraying the inside too just to get the edges uniform.... spraying the inside (and, well, the outside too I guess) will help trap in heat, something you don't want when charging a phone with a dead battery because this thing gets HOT as it is!
Also, I don't know if I would advertise the ability to simply peel the rubberized coating right off if you want to remove it. I've used this stuff dozens of times, I actually have my race car's tow hook covered in it, and that thing sees a LOT of abuse, but doesn't come right off.... If you can use this stuff to protect against giant metal hooks scratching off the coating with exactly as many dips in the can as you have layers of spray, I doubt this stuff would come off completely without a fight!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about it overheating at all although I haven't noticed any problems. As far as it peeling off it peels off without a hitch.. almost too easy, I am going to sand the back of the case in hopes that it will stick a little better. I assume the glossy cover makes it easy to peel but I've peeled it off and sprayed it again already once.

andy2na said:
case companies need to stop making ugly ass cases and make some back cover replacements.
First one to make a soft-touch back cover with kick stands wins my money
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Dude yes I am totally with you!

andy2na said:
case companies need to stop making ugly ass cases and make some back cover replacements.
First one to make a soft-touch back cover with kick stands wins my money
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+2 !!!!!!!

How is it holding up, 2 weeks later?

Ah sorry for the late response. It was holing up pretty well. I peeled it off a few days ago due to it peeling.. I think I might lightly sand the back first this time
Sent from my Google Nexus S using XDA App

Good idea and all but why would you not buy a rubberized case instead (replaces battery door). I have seen a dozen shops selling them in the US but none that ship (or none afford-ably yet) to Australia.

mrinternet said:
Good idea and all but why would you not buy a rubberized case instead (replaces battery door). I have seen a dozen shops selling them in the US but none that ship (or none afford-ably yet) to Australia.[/QUOeditTE]
Oh because when I did it 6 weeks ago (right after release of the phone) there were none available
Edit: I misread. I don't like cases. They make the phone too bulky. I now use best skins ever. This peeled off after about a week each time I did it.
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Rubberized battery cover?

Is there a rubberized battery cover? I just tried to install a full coverage Zagg but it wont stick to the textured back. I need to add some grip to this thing as i almost launch it every time i want to open the keyboard. This phone is slick! Especially coming from HTC phones.

Yeah I iknow where you're coming from, I'd appreciate a new cover too. It'd make the phone easier to open too.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I927 using XDA App

I got the zagg to adhere to the back. It takes some time and patience to get it on there.
-Use minimal spray.
-Use extra bits of the zagg material as tape to hold the corners down.
-Let it sit over night on top of a radiator or some where warm.
-CAREFULLY remove the bits of zagg.
-Use your thumb to gently, but firmly rub the zagg into the texture.
-Avoid sitting the phone down on glass and other smooth surfaces it can stick to.
I can now open it with out sliding out of my hands
For most of the time there was a fog that developed in the air gaps under the zagg, they eventually went away.

I know the feeling, especially here in the cdn winter, where my hands are cold and dry. This phone becomes slippery.
I'm almost thinking we could do a back cover, MacGyver style.
Maybe order a spare back cover if possible or take the current one and coat the back of it with rubberized spray. There's the infomercial for Flex Spray [seems dodgy] or hit your local auto parts store for bed liner such as this one.
http://www.amazon.com/Dupli-Color-BAA2010-Bed-Armor-Aerosol/dp/B004SJ16QG
I would guess to take off the back, tape around the small flat edge that goes around the back cover and spray!
That's how I would tackle it.

clockwork58 said:
I know the feeling, especially here in the cdn winter, where my hands are cold and dry. This phone becomes slippery.
I'm almost thinking we could do a back cover, MacGyver style.
Maybe order a spare back cover if possible or take the current one and coat the back of it with rubberized spray. There's the infomercial for Flex Spray [seems dodgy] or hit your local auto parts store for bed liner such as this one.
http://www.amazon.com/Dupli-Color-BAA2010-Bed-Armor-Aerosol/dp/B004SJ16QG
I would guess to take off the back, tape around the small flat edge that goes around the back cover and spray!
That's how I would tackle it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have thought of that, but at the time i could not find a new battery cover, and did not want to try this on the only one i had.

The stuff on the TV is the same stuff as natural spray rubber, only twice the price for a half-size bottle. With some practice, you can get it to spread thinly and evenly, but something like undercoating or bed liner will apply thick and lumpy usually...

Self-made skin with Plasti Dip

Hey guys,
I was searching desperately for a back rubbered skin, but I never found one for my Z3C. Recently I heard of rubber spray (Plasti Dip f.e.) and thought this was a good idea, so I ordered one via Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006SU3QW
I had 2 dbrand skins, but I was never really satisfied, because they are too slippery for me. If you are used to Moto X 2013 and/or the famous Motorola Kevlar backs, you don't like slip in your hands So I used one of the dbrands and sprayed 5 thin layers of rubber onto it. It looked very good - the bad side was, that the vinyl bent at the edges after a few hours. The rubber had a bit of traction probably.
Then I used the plastic back cover from Sony, which was with my Z3C, grinded it with sand paper (much fun ) and sprayed also 5 layers of rubber to it. The result looks amazing and now I'm looking how good and how long it lasts. When this is recommendable, I will try to make a custom back side from an OEM glass back cover, which I ordered at ebay.
Enjoy! (and if someone has a source of a real rubber back side, point me to it!)

wow nice idea

Very cool ! Looking forward to the updates

and to think I've got cans of black plasti dip in the garage right now! (for my car)
keen to see how this works for you, I've got a few spare cases that would look better matte black

I almost forgot this thread, found it via Google just because I searched for rubber skins
To make a long story short: It worked for one week, then the back started to peel itself off due to mechanical stress. Pocket in/out, fingers, etc.
Joy for a short time but definitely no solution