Making The Framework Laptop 16 Black (Project Blackwork Part 1)

I thought I would make a thread for the completion of part 1 of my project.

I will be doing a bit of a different approach for the top so stay tuned. Let me know about any suggestions for lighting/editing/etc or anything related to the project

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Very cool!! Thanks for sharing

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Very cool indeed! A black Framework 13 or 16 would be so awesome. I understand Framework’s position on that, but aesthetically speaking I can’t deny how much better a black laptop looks.

Looking forward to seeing the top cover finished as well.

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And where would the stop be, a black, a blue, a purple, a red . . .

We need a company that provides us the means for coloring or selling colored chassis parts.

Well ‘we’ don’t as I don’t, unless you don’t include me in the generic term.

Also why a company, when there are many companies around the globe that will do that ??

Actually, given what they did with the expansion cards, many colors are possible but black wont be. The reason is environmental. I do not agree at all with the reasoning but that is just a personal view of mine. I hope framework does find colors they are comfortable with and start offering those.

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THere are a lot of sacrifices you make like wire holders being gone and you have to remake the pads to the best of your ability. Doing so at scale with the kind of quality you expect from a company needs a high level of knowledge, this is an open invitation for someone with that level of knowledge to do so. Please I would buy in a heartbeat :slight_smile:

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That was done, I’m pretty sure, by using plastic not by colouring the aluminium.

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I don’t have a youtube account, but the manifesto was my favorite part.

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That looks sick! I even like the two tone on the bottom. I’d absolutely love to have a black FW16! The silver looks nice, but looks too much like a generic business laptop. Can’t wait to see if you end up getting other black parts like the lid, dGPU, and expansion cards.

We are starting with top cover and will then move on to those.

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how much was the cost of powder coating? i have been looking into that myself

My quote was $135 but these are very much local businesses so it all depends on your area and the person you find. I was charged less in total so I think it went sub 100 but I forgot the actual price I payed.

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That’s a lot cheaper than I would have expected, but I’ve never done anything like that so I don’t really have any context on price.

In my communication with a local shop that does powder coating told me it was too intricate and declined even when i let them know about the black powder coat you did.

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Might be too late but I guess on the next shop tell them that you will remove all plastic/pads and that you only need the outside of it powder, coated, where the inside can be masked. And then also actually remove all the pads and rubber stuff (including the rubber strip on the back). Also state that you are ok with the magnets demagnetizing, that is a real risk but mine ended up working. I make no guarentees on that because its kind of like rolling the Dice.

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i just talked to another company and they said i wont get a warranty for the work as they think the magnesium alloy would be too soft for the sand blasting the surface and eat through the metal. did you need sandblasting?

My guy also said that the work could warp the thing and gave me no guarentees. I did this on a spare plate I ordered so I was actually prepared to lose it so I said fine. I dont think my process needed sandblasting but I dont exactly know how these things work. He just said he was put it in a hot furnace and coat it.

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would you mind asking the company you used if they sandblasted. i would rather not sandblast if not needed.