iPhone Mod

[KnightKrew]

Since the debut of the iPhone I thought it needed a bit more sparkle and wow. Changing the color through paint was out of the question due to durability issues, I wanted to create something special. I have seen some mods online where people paint their phones with spray paint, even one place that gold plates the black. Paint is crappy especially spray paint. Trying to get it to bond on metal is impossible and with keys in my pocket and everything else it would end up looking horrible after a month. The place that gold plates the backs has the same problem. Anyone who knows anything about metal plating knows that while gold plating aluminum is possible it is really scrappy and wears off really easy. This wasn't a viable solution. After a lot of research and analysis of the iPhone hardware itself I came across an interesting technology, TiN.

Used on industrial drill bits and high wear applications this plasma deposition seemed like the perfect solution. With my research I found it is used on many high end watches to create an extremely durable beautiful surface finish.

You can check out its cool properties on your own, for me it became the holy grail for my iPhone modification. Again a lot of work ensued and a lot of $ spent but I have finally done it. Here are some pix, The gold is TiN and the black is TiAlN. Let me tell you these things are a bear to take good pictures of. I also tracked down some new aluminum backs and had them hard anodized black to match the black antenna cover.













I call it the "iPhone Custom"

[Mommy's lil' fucktoy]

thats cool

[jojitb]

how much did you spend for this mod?

[EllitoGay]

bling bling biotch!

good work..

[typhoon43]

Looks sharp man!

[KnightKrew]

Let me explain a little more what went into the process. To understand what processes I could use to treat the surface of the phone I had to first know what it was made of. I began by using an optical microscope. I forget the exact model but I was informed this particular microscope cost $30,000 and used Karel Suse optics.
Here are some of the photos taken at different magnifications.

LCD screen, its crazy how you can see the pixel breakdown


Front speaker, I think their is some lint in it...


Back housing, you can make out the "i" and "P" in "iPhone"


Front bezel, you can see how scrached up the stock coating gets from just pocket use...


My goal was not only to change the color of the phone but also make it more durable then Apple.

These microscope pictures are fun but told me little about the chemical makeup of the device itself. For that I needed something a bit more powerful. I turned to a scanning electron microscope. I am fairly certain I am the first person to ever analyze an iPhone under an electron microscope. I will post more about this and some pictures once I scan them.

[jodynicH]

[Skadebo]

Couldn't just call Apple to find out, eh? Also, your phone is tits

[NegativeOne]

THAT
IS
FUCKING
AWESOME


Bravo dude, that looks really well done. Very nice job.

[kooshball]

wow dude.....


so how much for you to do one of them mod for me?

[ryanvsrobots]

how do you have access to that equipment?

it looks fresh

[Marker]

dot folder, i want to see the SEM images...

maybe ill look into taking some of my own before leaving school.

[chronage]

Sell that service on iphone forums $$$

[Nizofoshizo]

holy fucking awesome

[cirial]

damn man..