Shell interchangeability with the 520?

[metrop021]

Hey guys,

I want to add a bit of color to my 521 (specifically cyan ), so I was wondering if the shells for the 520 were interchangeable with the white shell for the 521. At first glance it appears to be so, but I want to be sure before I waste $10.

Thanks in advance

 

[inteller]

no, its bigger

 

[Narse77]

I would suggest going into a retail outlet to test

 

[anon(5857193)]

No, Lumia 520 shells are a little smaller than the 521 and won't fit.

 

[metrop021]

Okay, that sucks but thanks for the info guys. So...

Plan B: What staining liquid would you guys think work best?

Right now, I'm thinking some light blue food coloring. I empty a whole bottle of the stuff into a small, rectangular, water proof container and then I let the white cover soak in there overnight, let it dry, then do it again as many times as needed until it's proper colored.

Thoughts? Am I stupid?

 

[calfee20]

There is a 920 thread where someone painted a shell. If you were into modeling and had an air brush you should paint it. Question? Would metallic paint affect reception?

 

[Gunbust3r]

Okay, that sucks but thanks for the info guys. So...

Plan B: What staining liquid would you guys think work best?

Right now, I'm thinking some light blue food coloring. I empty a whole bottle of the stuff into a small, rectangular, water proof container and then I let the white cover soak in there overnight, let it dry, then do it again as many times as needed until it's proper colored.

Thoughts? Am I stupid?

Yes you might be. You need something better than food coloring. Try fabric dye or spray paint for vinyl. Auto Specialty Paints Fabric & Vinyl Product Page

 

[metrop021]

Fabric dye appears to be the winner. I talked to a high school art teacher and she recommended RIT dye. I then found this video: How to dye Polycarbonate Plastic - YouTube

I have the materials purchased but I'm going to wait a while before doing the experiment because I may need to have some repair work done on my 521 and I don't want to void the warranty on the cover (some of the buttons are being funky).

 

[metrop021]

Okay, I have done this, so here I am to report what happened.

First off, if I were to make a tutorial for this, I would call it "How to tint your Lumia 521". It appears that Nokia uses a 'solvent-resistent' polycarbonate mixture that significantly reduces the effectiveness of solvents like acetone. That said, this is both a good and a bad thing. The good part is that it makes it much more difficult to melt your 521's shell and make it polycarbonate goop, or more likely, a loose fit on your phone, which would be infuriating.

So try 1: I completely screwed it up. I wanted to make Cyan and instead I got a lesson in additive color. I mixed white and blue and got orange. That makes a lot of sense since the dyes mix according to the properties of additive color. Sadly I couldn't tell this was the case by looking at the liquid and I got my phone a nasty shade of orange. I then proceeded to herp after the derp and tried to sun dry the shell. Bad idea. The sun cracked the dye residue on the shell and it looked bad.

That said, I cleaned off as much as I could from the shell and tried again.

Try 2: This time I stuck to a single color, royal blue.

Ingredients:
1 Packet of RIT dye
1.5 cups of water
0.5 cups of acetone
a pair of tongs (in my case, chopsticks)

I won't make this into a guide unless requested, so I'm just going to post pictures of the steps below (all of these pics were taken with the same 521 I was dyeing).

I also preemptively apologize for the lack of cropping. If I get any guide requests I'll actually crop them.

The flecks and discolorations on the shell are from the royal screw up that was Try 1.

The good news is, the light tint that you do get appears to be more than just skin deep. That is, it won't scratch or rub off easily. Sadly though, it appears that soaking it for longer won't get it any darker. I bet if I had a bunch of spare 521 shells, I could empirically improve the whole process. But the least I can do is create a guide if others wish to give it a shot. It seems relatively easy to do, so unless you are really afraid of failure, it's worth a shot.

 

[calfee20]

What did you do about the pad inside that presses against the battery?

 

[metrop021]

What did you do about the pad inside that presses against the battery?

I drenched it in Elmer's school glue and let the glue dry slightly. This was enough to protect it from the acetone and it washes off easily when you're done. I had a picture of this but I guess I must've forgotten to upload it.