My customized 8910

Zellarman · Post by **Zellarman** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 7:56 pm

I've seen a few pics of other peoples remotes, and given some input into the painting of keys, though I haven't done that, but this is what I have done.

I used different colored electrical tapes to emulate the colored buttons of my DVR Satellite box. To cut the shapes that I think fit pretty well, I
1) placed the tape on an old credit card, though something not so thick might be a little better
2) cut out a piece of each w/ a hole punch
3) cut the very small circle I just made in step 2 w/ a nail clipper (sounds a little gross, but it works) the trick here is to realize that you'll need the smaller piece of the two, the one you don't see when you're making the cut
4) carefully peel and affix the piece of tape above the button, another trick is to use tweezers

Some other things to keep in mind are that you want to keep your fingers clean when first applying the tape in step one, make sure the remote is clean before you put these 'stickers' in place, and press them down really well.

The 4 labels above the numbered buttons came w/ an x-10 device (IR-543) I use w/ the base unit of my 9910 to control lights.

I did this all about a month ago, and they show no signs of peeling yet.

I hope this helps someone out there.

I've managed to successfully set up my remote w/ an extender, using Custom Mode name and LDKP, but still consider myself GREEN, so I'll stick w/ offering up simple things for now

jimdunn · Post by **jimdunn** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:12 am

I've been considering getting an 8910, and the lack of coloured buttons has been one of the things that has dissuaded me.

One thing I'd idly considered while wondering about that dilemma is painting "blocks" above the keys through some sort of a stencil - which would give a similar effect to your "tape" approach - i.e. with the markings on the remote rather than the keys.

Recently, though, I had to disassemble a URC7562 to repair some circuit board damage caused by a combination of my wife and a glass of wine, and I noticed that the coloured buttons on the rubber key sheet insert seem to be just spray painted onto the rubber.

It would be really easy to do that if one knew the correct paint to use - otherwise it would be a total "bodge" when it started to peel/flake off.

xnappo · Post by **xnappo** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 8:27 am

I bet the paint that comes with vinyl repair kits would work well... Nifty idea I may have to give it a shot.

xnappo

Zellarman · Post by **Zellarman** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:41 am

You might be onto something xnappo, I'm not sure exactly what type of paint you're talking about, but I know there's an automotive use spray paint made for hard plastic car interior parts perhaps that would work. Maybe if someone lightly sanded the existing markings off the keys they wanted to change they could apply presstype before painting, and remove it afterward while the paint is still wet you could get the effect of the backlight to read through. I wonder.......... I'm thinking letters R,G, Y, B to correspond to colored buttons Red, Green, Yellow and Blue

jimdunn · Post by **jimdunn** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 6:53 am

See..

I knew if I sowed the seeds I'd find a couple of willing guinea pigs to test my cunning plan without getting my own hands inky...

Be sure to report back when you've thoroughly tested all this, fellas...

Mwuhahaha

Seriously, though - backlight shining through - wow !!! - with RYGB - double wow!!!...

Could it work ?

We may need another new forum section - "Magnificent Mods"

[/frivolous]
Joking apart, I'd just be happy to find a paint which I was confident could be sprayed onto the rubber and be permanent. I think that alone would be more than sufficient - and it would look "like a bought one".

underquark · Post by **underquark** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 7:06 am

The problem with paint is that you're unlikely to find any supplier willing to sell you 0.5ml of each of four colors. I wonder if I could use Halloween as an excuse to buy some glow-in-the dark paint for the kids?

jimdunn · Post by **jimdunn** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 7:08 am

underquark wrote:The problem with paint is that you're unlikely to find any supplier willing to sell you 0.5ml of each of four colors. I wonder if I could use Halloween as an excuse to buy some glow-in-the dark paint for the kids?

But there are 4 of us now, so that's 2.0ml (plus inter-group postage)

Where's your ambition, man ???

chrisexv6 · Post by **chrisexv6** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:02 am

What is the keypad made of? Is it silicone rubber?

Vinyl repair kits are pretty cheap, Amazon has one for 5 bux plus shipping that comes with a whole slew of colors (obviously we'd only need the basics).

My concerns would be if the paint would stick to the keypad, and once it did would the pressure of pressing the buttons wear the paint off when it pushed against the contacts on the circuit board.

If the keypad is silicone rubber, would it be akin to painting silicone *caulk*? In that case it seems acrylic paint is your best bet, and I think its probably readily available at an arts and crafts store.

I might have to give this a shot

I have 3 HTPros that I would love to mark with RGYB for my DirecTV DVRs.

-Chris

jimdunn · Post by **jimdunn** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:18 am

chrisexv6 wrote: My concerns would be if the paint would stick to the keypad, and once it did would the pressure of pressing the buttons wear the paint off when it pushed against the contacts on the circuit board.
-Chris

Yeah - and would the painted buttons get stuck in the case aperture with the increased thickness ?

But, welcome Chris - the more the merrier to my macchiavellian experiment

again - mwuhahahahahaahaaahaaa

chrisexv6 · Post by **chrisexv6** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:29 am

A better idea has popped up....

Someone suggested using nail polish to "paint" the buttons. Ive taken the idea one step further and thought.....why not dab the "paint" onto the buttons, let it set for a couple minutes and then try to wipe it off......would this effectively "stain" the buttons the color of the paint? *That* would be pretty darn cool if you ask me.

Unfortunately all of my HTPros are in working order....Id hate to mess one of them up in this experiment. And go figure, the only other remotes I have are the venerable 15-1994s!!!

Maybe Ill see if Walmart has a cheapie I can play with.

-Chris

jimdunn · Post by **jimdunn** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:47 am

chrisexv6 wrote:A better idea has popped up....

Someone suggested using nail polish to "paint" the buttons. Ive taken the idea one step further and thought.....why not dab the "paint" onto the buttons, let it set for a couple minutes and then try to wipe it off......would this effectively "stain" the buttons the color of the paint? *That* would be pretty darn cool if you ask me.
Unfortunately all of my HTPros are in working order....Id hate to mess one of them up in this experiment. And go figure, the only other remotes I have are the venerable 15-1994s!!!

Chris:

Get out of here, and do it now....

They're all going to try to drag you down this "paint" path..

Go..
Run for your life...

But if you work out a really good way of doing it, please let me know
Because me and underquark're setting up a business...

Post by **ElizabethD** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:23 pm

Perhaps not as elegant and fun as already suggested:
Waterprof, aka permanent magic markers work well on the 8910 buttons. The black and translucent letters are still visible. The colors are quite stable though not as pretty as the proposed paints. Only one solvent cleans it off - alcohol. And alcohol does not affect the black letters and the black area surrounding the clear letters.

Zellarman · Post by **Zellarman** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:43 pm

Here's my plan for now. Of course I'll keep everyone posted as both my idea and remote evolve.

Step one is to remove the markings from the buttons I want to change - I used a 220 grit sandpaper. Though it took a little longer than I would've liked it worked well; while the key isn't rough, it is slightly less smooth than untouched keys.

That's where I'm at right now, while I'm pretty sure that I'll use presstype letters, initials for each color, I still have to decide if I'll leave it on, or use it as a negative stencil for the backlight to pass through, and lastly, and perhaps the most difficult decision is what kind of 'paint' or coating to use to get my colors.

jimdunn · Post by **jimdunn** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:59 pm

ElizabethD wrote:Perhaps not as elegant and fun as already suggested:
Waterprof, aka permanent magic markers work well on the 8910 buttons. The black and translucent letters are still visible. The colors are quite stable though not as pretty as the proposed paints. Only one solvent cleans it off - alcohol. And alcohol does not affect the black letters and the black area surrounding the clear letters.

Thanks - I had wondered about that.

Applying magic marker sounds a lot easier than paint.

Does the colour look "washed out" at all this way, or does the rubber accept a pretty solid coat of marker ink ?

jimdunn · Post by **jimdunn** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 10:02 pm

ElizabethD wrote: Only one solvent cleans it off - alcohol.

I suppose that could be a problem, though, given that:

jimdunn wrote:I had to disassemble a URC7562 to repair some circuit board damage caused by a combination of my wife and a glass of wine