WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:05.520 If there's one thing that really grinds my gears about computer components, it 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:09.840 is their apparent obsession that their creators have with putting glossy 00:00:07.279 --> 00:00:15.040 plastic on all the places it really should not be. I don't know if how we 00:00:13.120 --> 00:00:20.320 still have this problem. I'll admit it hasn't really been as bad lately, but it 00:00:17.680 --> 00:00:24.400 does still happen. Anyways, in a fit of rage after marking up yet another glossy 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:29.599 plastic surface, I ran to the store and assembled the tools I thought I may need 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:41.200 to transform glossy plastic surface into a beautiful brushed finish. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:48.160 Intel's new 750 series SSDs utilize the NVMe standard, providing speeds never 00:00:46.160 --> 00:00:51.760 seen before on consumer storage drives. Click now to learn more. So, how do we 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:57.039 make this transformation from a piece of glossy plastic to a nice brushed finish? 00:00:55.039 --> 00:01:01.520 I chose to tackle this in the best way I know how. Through scientific testing, I 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:08.479 assembled the necessary tools, sandpaper in 320, 400, 800, and 1,000 grit. I 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:12.960 ideally wanted to feature 600 grit as well, but I wasn't able to source any 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:17.600 locally. I also grabbed uh grade zero and grade three steel wool and three 00:01:15.520 --> 00:01:22.080 rough 3M stripping pads, the kind you'd use to scrub hard to clean things or 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:26.960 remove some type of thing off of a surface. They were labeled as heavy 00:01:24.240 --> 00:01:30.799 contour surface stripping and final. Most of these were used individually, 00:01:28.960 --> 00:01:36.079 but the sandpaper will be used in succession, starting at 320 grit and 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:40.960 ending at 1,000. Once I had these tools at my side, I found some surfaces with a 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:45.360 glossy finish. Namely, an original Nintendo Wii, the back of an ASUS 00:01:43.119 --> 00:01:50.000 monitor, and an old Seagate Goflex satellite. But Luke, you may be saying, 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:54.640 why ruin a perfectly good Wii monitor and Goflex drive for the sake of your 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:58.479 silly experiment? Of course, I would not be doing this with my own Wii. And to do 00:01:56.880 --> 00:02:02.560 this test, the Wii that we're using is actually Linus'. You may have noticed 00:02:00.399 --> 00:02:06.719 its appearance to be fairly nasty with a bunch of marks and old sticky areas all 00:02:04.320 --> 00:02:10.800 over it. Only a man with true disregard for his gaming systems would leave them 00:02:08.640 --> 00:02:15.360 in this state. Plus, he's out of the country right now, so he probably won't 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:19.760 mind anyways. Uh, let's see. Hey, Lionus, do you mind if we use your Wii 00:02:17.040 --> 00:02:24.160 to test like scratching glossy plastic off things? 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:27.840 No answer means no problem. When it comes to the monitor, well, we decided 00:02:25.920 --> 00:02:31.920 to use this monitor because the glossy portion is actually on the back as well, 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:36.400 meaning that we could experiment with it. And if it came out looking 00:02:33.519 --> 00:02:40.160 absolutely terrible, I could just use it normally and never have to see my 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:44.319 massive failure ever again. And if it worked well, I could transition over to 00:02:42.160 --> 00:02:48.720 the front of the monitor and change that side over to a brush plastic finish as 00:02:46.480 --> 00:02:53.519 well with the material that I found to leave the most appealing faux brush 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:58.000 plastic finish. And the Seagate drive, well, I'm sure it was beautiful at one 00:02:55.200 --> 00:03:01.440 time, but nowadays it is pretty faded, a bit scratched, and covered in 00:02:59.519 --> 00:03:05.360 fingerprints. This device will be the last one that I use, and I'll use my 00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:09.519 favorite method on it to see what it can accomplish on something like this. So, 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:13.760 with testing surfaces in place, I tape taped off sections for each material so 00:03:11.440 --> 00:03:17.920 that I could compare the efficiency of each in a well organized fashion. This 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:21.920 may result in a weird look once I pull the tape off and will ultimately kind of 00:03:20.239 --> 00:03:26.560 ruin the aesthetic of these devices, at least at first, but this is a video for 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:31.360 you guys, and I'm sure Lionus won't mind. So, here we go. I started with the 00:03:28.720 --> 00:03:34.959 Wii. I portioned off one side of it for the three levels of 3M pad, and the 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:39.120 other side for the two varieties of steel wool as well as the sandpaper 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:43.599 combination. To my eye, it seems like the zerograde steel wool provided the 00:03:41.519 --> 00:03:47.760 best finish on the white surface of the Wii, but it was actually fairly hard to 00:03:45.519 --> 00:03:51.280 tell as the white brushed plastic doesn't really have the same shine we're 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:55.519 accustomed to seeing on black brush plastic. In the end, uh they all seemed 00:03:53.920 --> 00:03:59.040 pretty similar to be completely honest on white brush plastic. So, I think 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:03.200 you'd be pretty happy with any of these solutions. My favorite part of this 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:08.319 procedure on the Wii was less giving it a brushed look and more just removing 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:12.799 the shine and fingerprint potential. The monitor was where we separated the men 00:04:10.640 --> 00:04:16.400 from the boys, so to speak. The 3M contour stripping pad provided what I 00:04:14.959 --> 00:04:21.199 think was actually a pretty amazing brush look finish for a DIY solution 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:26.080 like this. If I hadn't been doing this for the test, I may have actually been 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:30.400 convinced that it came brushed from the factory without looking all that 00:04:28.400 --> 00:04:35.199 closely. The runner up was actually a tie between the grade zero steel wool 00:04:32.320 --> 00:04:38.720 and the 3M final pad, but it must be noted that it was much more difficult to 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:43.600 get a consistent finish with the steel wool as the material was much more 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:46.080 malleable in hand. And the pads provided 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:50.400 a nice solid base to push against and seem to provide the most even finish 00:04:48.320 --> 00:04:54.800 overall without the need to do as many touch-ups, which can result in it 00:04:52.400 --> 00:04:59.600 looking not as nice as more often than not touch-up require the need of even 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:03.440 more touch-ups. Since the contour surface stripping pad performed the best 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:07.120 on the monitor, I decided to use that for the Seagate drive as well. It 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:11.600 actually provided a pretty amazing result to be honest and I think that the 00:05:09.520 --> 00:05:15.600 new finish looks pretty darn sharp compared to the old glossy version. I do 00:05:14.080 --> 00:05:19.520 think it was a little harder than it could have been due to the slowly 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:23.840 stripping away the from the white logo, but in the end it was totally worth it. 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:28.320 At first I tried covering that logo with tape to protect it, but in the end this 00:05:25.840 --> 00:05:31.680 just looked kind of weird and it wasn't worth it. So I took it off and made it 00:05:29.840 --> 00:05:35.600 look the same as the rest. So overall I think this experiment was a success. 00:05:33.840 --> 00:05:39.840 While it isn't perfect, I was actually able to replicate the look of brush 00:05:37.280 --> 00:05:43.840 plastic fairly well, especially with these 3M pads. I would definitely 00:05:42.080 --> 00:05:47.280 recommend giving these a shot if you're planning on running this experiment for 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:51.680 yourself or if you plan on converting some of your glossy plastic to a brush 00:05:49.840 --> 00:05:55.759 finish on your own. Speaking of improving things, I'm excited to 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:59.759 announce a drop on mass drop today that you will certainly not see very often. 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:05.120 They're providing a build your own battle station setup featuring three LG 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:10.639 24 MC57HQ-P monitors, which are 1080p IPS displays, 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:15.680 and the Ergotech Freedom ARM, a triple monitor stand that has Murka written all 00:06:12.880 --> 00:06:19.039 over it. Get it? Cuz uh Freedom or whatever. Anyways, if you want to beef 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:22.639 up your display and set up a triple monitor battle station, this is going to 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:26.880 be one of the more affordable ways to do so, thanks to Massdrop's group by model. 00:06:25.039 --> 00:06:31.280 You can check out this drop and many others in the link in the description, 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:34.479 drawlinisttips. That link doesn't really give us a 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:38.560 kickback or anything, but it does let them know that we sent you, which lets 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:41.759 them see how awesome the LT community is and makes the decision to keep 00:06:39.919 --> 00:06:45.280 supporting the channel a whole lot easier. You think you ever plan on 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:48.960 converting glossy plastic to a brush finished, or have you done so in the 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:51.919 past? Have you tried varnish? Uh, let me know in the comments down below or over 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:57.600 on the forum. While you're here, like, dislike, favorite, share, subscribe, 00:06:54.400 --> 00:06:59.039 follow, comment. Go in the comment 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:03.840 section down below to get a shirt that isn't from Twitch. Actually, it'll be from us, and we'll probably have some 00:07:02.080 --> 00:07:07.919 kind of funny stuff on it. Over on the forum, you can click on the support us 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:11.840 link to do stuff like change your Amazon affiliates. Uh, install the Linus Tech 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:15.440 Tips notifier so that they can auto change your Amazon affiliate codes for 00:07:13.440 --> 00:07:19.120 you. Uh, become a contributor to the forum because that helps us out a lot 00:07:16.960 --> 00:07:22.240 and you get a cool little badge thing. Uh yeah, there's a bunch of different 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:36.540 ways to help out. Anyways guys, thanks for watching. I'll see you next time.