Last night I bought a Stanley "fixed" knife handle (like for cutting
carpet) and the "scoring" blade they sell for plastics. I sat down
with the printed instructions from this man's website:
<http://homepage.mac.com/wtnb/panel.htm>
The Stanley version of the scoring knife is much more substantial
than the one pictured on the site. For plastic cement I used Liquid
Nails Perfect Glue #2. I also purchased some of the plastic epoxy
putty in case my craftsmanship needed a little filling in :-)
I used a very small blade screwdriver to pop off the shielding on
both the rear panel from the LC 575 and from the Color Classic (CC).
Next I cut the shielding with a good pair of scissors (not any more)
right next to the icons as pictured on the site. I used the cut
shielding for a template on both panels and marked them on the inside
with an indelible pen.
Very carefully I scored the lines with the edge of the scoring knife.
First lightly then progressively harder and deeper into the plastic.
You have to be careful as the panels are hard to hold while using the
knife. It would be very easy to injure yourself while doing this.
Finally I had both pieces cut as they are shown in the photos on the
site. It is easy to become confused because the panels look alike
after being cut and you have to remember which side is which.
I then began the process of scraping and filing and sanding the
plastic surfaces to get a close fit. This takes time but I was
fairly successful with my efforts. After I was satisfied that the
pieces would fit in the CC, I sat down and carefully put a bead of
Perfect Glue #2 on each piece then held them together for about 10
seconds. Man, does that stuff weld the plastic fast and hard. The
pieces were not held perfectly so there is a very slight overlap but
not enough to worry about... and this cement is FOREVER; there is no
way the stuff is not just as tough as the plastic itself...
Next I glued the shielding cut from both panels to the back of the
new rear panel. Again just as shown in the site photos. This time I
used Liquid Nails Perfect Glue #3. These adhesives are specifically
made for plastic to plastic (#2) and metal to plastic (#3) so they
will go nowhere once set. Then as the man shows on his site I used a
40 watt soldering iron to solder the two pieces of shielding together.
The resulting panel clips right into place on the back of the CC.
Even the one screw hole lines up perfectly. I use the COM SLOT for
Ethertalk so I was careful to cut that part out so that the pieces
would fit together correctly. I noticed a photo of a different
approach using just the LC 575 panel and a Dremel tool.
<http://colourclassicfaq.com/mobo/panel.html>
The photos show the LC Ethernet card being used, but the Apple
specifications (and my experience) show that the LC jack on the LC
575 board is not useable... Not sure if other motherboards could use
that board but mine works fine with the COM slot ethernet board
(after I removed the interior plastic prong that helps guide wires on
that side of the inside of the case.
If any of you would like to see photos of my "new" panel, just reply
to this email off the list and I will send you a couple of images.
"everything is easier on a Mac" Well, maybe not everything :-)
Don
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