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| What Kind of Plastic is the Shell of the Apple PowerBook G3s? |
Posted by: DiTBho on 2025-07-07 12:42:31
So .... I broke the shell of my PowerBook G3 Pismo, again.
Believe it or not, this is the laptop I use the most for writing, and for developing weird stuff with GNU/Linux for PPC.
But I have the bad habit of keeping it on my legs when I'm on the train, and this... stresses the shell.
And now I have two cracks, right where Apple put their logo, carving it into the bottom shell.
Nice to look at, these two logos, but they introduces structural weaknesses.
I would like to try filling the cut with plastic or resin, sand it, weld it to the rest of the body with "repair plastic" or resin, finely scratch and repaint the whole thing.
But what Kind of Plastic is the Shell. I don't know ...
Yes, I could buy a replacement, but this is the third time I have the same problem: I would like to try to reinforce the chassis.
There is a similar problem also on the upper chassis of the ThinkPad X61. In this case not because there are "logos" carved, but because the plastic of the left palm rest is too thin. They did it this way to make "room" for two PCMCIA cards. |
Posted by: Byrd on 2025-07-07 15:19:37
It's ABS, you could consider some sort of metal mesh on the other side to reinforce it |
Posted by: DiTBho on 2025-07-09 09:18:13
Thanks.
What would you recommend for closing a very large hole like the one used to insert the Apple logo on the bottom case? |
Posted by: Byrd on 2025-07-09 22:49:18
That's popped out too? A thin sheet of flexible plastic might to, JB welded on the other side. But if really damaged = find a junk Pismo for the parts. |
Posted by: ArmorAlley on 2025-07-09 23:11:26
This plastic is so strong that when my brother had a car accident some decades ago, his Wallstreet was propelled from the backseat, through the front windscreen and was left unscathed and working. I have it now. |
Posted by: MacUp72 on 2025-07-10 00:03:46
the logo is on the back side of the display, did you damage it by laying it on the logo side? |
Posted by: DiTBho on 2025-07-10 04:01:55
There are about 3 cracks along the entire bottom case, and 2 cracks on the LCD cover, d'oh.
The holes to be filled are approximately 40x40 mm. Apple inserted a white polycarbonate logo in each of those holes.
It's not glued, it just fits, but cracks have appeared along the edges of the hole, so it needs to be filled because it's a stress point.
I'd like using products and techniques from the automotive plastic repair industry. |
Posted by: DiTBho on 2025-07-10 04:04:47
the logo is on the back side of the display, did you damage it by laying it on the logo side?
The plastic on both the LCD cover, where the logo is, and the bottom case, where the logo is, are cracked.
I think someone put something heavy on my bag when I loaded it onto the plane.
It was in the trolley; I only removed the hard drive; it must have been crushed. |
Posted by: Dude.JediKnight on 2025-07-10 06:53:57
i doubt it would work to fix major structural damage, but I used superglue to fix a busted standoff and a small case crack on my PDQ PowerBook. Granted, I’m not hauling it around and using it daily, but it seems to have held alright for the past year. Actually going to be opening it up to upgrade the spinning HDD to a SSD this weekend, so I’ll get a good look at how well the glue has held up.
As mentioned above, you’re probably better off just finding a parts machine with an outer shell that’s in good condition. |
Posted by: DiTBho on 2025-07-11 04:45:20
Can find neither a whole Pismo in good condition nor its plastic shells for cheap.
But, also I'd like to try a different approach. |
Posted by: MacUp72 on 2025-07-12 00:16:55
a good method of glueing cracks or broken off standoffs is using superglue and then sprinkle some baking soda on it, can be repeated to build two or more layers ( a model maker method)..
this creates a much stronger bond, standoffs will not break there again. When you use that on the inner side of a broken shell it will be much stronger, too.
at minute 10.00
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Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2025-07-13 13:22:15
This plastic is so strong that when my brother had a car accident some decades ago, his Wallstreet was propelled from the backseat, through the front windscreen and was left unscathed and working. I have it now. Was. Was so strong. Unfortunately, it’s starting to go brittle now, just like the earlier PowerBooks. I ran into this when disassembling mine last year. I had some cracked standoffs and other similar problems. |
Posted by: ArmorAlley on 2025-07-13 22:12:46
Was. Was so strong. Unfortunately, it’s starting to go brittle now, just like the earlier PowerBooks. I ran into this when disassembling mine last year. I had some cracked standoffs and other similar problems. Good point. I shall take more care of it. |
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