 So the super dirty shirt, yeah, there's a reason for that. This is gonna be a bit of an unusual video for me today. While we do tackle DIY projects with reasonable frequency, we, especially lately, haven't been particularly focused on doing them correctly. So today's monitor painting guide will probably come across a little weird. On the subject of guides, let me know with the like button below if you want to see us tackle optimizing a 10 gigabit network as a short guide. It's something I've been working on for a while for our new office, I'm just not sure if it needs its own video. With a 10 gigabit network, we can use the 10 gigabit network to optimize our video. FreshBooks is the super simple invoicing solution that lets you get organized, save time, and get paid faster. Click my face now to try it for free! So we kick things off by finding a nice a comfortable place to disassemble our LG 34 UM67 AMD FreeSync capable ultra-wide gaming monitor. It's a beautiful day for a painting monitor. I actually did a full review of it already and you can check that out in the little eye in the top right corner of the screen. I thought this was a great candidate for a paint job because while it's 75 Hertz variable refresh rate panel has got the proverbial business in the front, the rear of it is a little lacking in the party in the back department. The first step was disassembling the display. You could paint a monitor by simply masking off the screen and ports and spraying it, but you wouldn't end up with a nice finish and you'd risk damaging it. So I used LG's recycling disassembly guide to take it apart starting with the screw on the back. Then by using a plastic pry tool, which I quickly replaced with the metal one, even though that actually did damage the plastic on the bottom a little bit, to get the clips released to pull the backing off. Next the guide says to remove the speaker, so I pulled those off. Then I started forging my own path, removing the arm that attaches the monitor to the stand and the screws around the outside of the edges of the rear of the inside panel. With this done, I was able to remove the clips at the rear bottom and actually extract the panel from the top slash bottom slash side bezel as well as that little front fascia piece, which was able to pop off just fine after that point. So I put the panel away safely. I won't be needing that until much later. Next it's time to work on the plastic. So I followed this guide on automotivetouchup.com. I know that spray bombs are not the best way to paint something, but I don't have and nor do I have any interest in acquiring a spray gun for a one-off project, and neither do a lot of people. So we're going to try it this way. We needed masking tape, some prep solvent, sandpaper, and a scuff pad, tack cloth, plastic parts adhesion promoter, sandable primer, base coat, gloss clear coat, and finally rubbing compound for the finishing touches. Not actually as expensive as it sounds when I list all those things. So I started by cleaning off the plastic pieces with soap and water, although I suspect this step is more relevant for super dirty cars. Then I used prep solvent to ensure it was clean, and after that I used the scuff pad to rough up the plastic a bit to help the primer adhere better. It really seems like this step could and probably should actually be done before washing when you're working on something like a monitor, but honestly, it's not that much work after scuffing and sanding, in my case to remove a weird line on the back panel, to just wash it down quickly one more time. Now before applying any material, you're going to want to mask anything you don't want paint on. So just the control button at the bottom for me, and set up a decent workspace. Obviously a spray booth with no dust flow and a mask would be the best way to keep dust out, but I don't have one of those, so I made myself a little all-clove undercover in my garage, something that I ended up discovering later that I really needed to improve. The first two coats are adhesion promoter, and the rules for applying this are basically the same as any spray balm. 20 centimeters or so away, smooth overlapping strokes, press the nozzle before actually being pointed at the surface you're trying to paint, and release it once you've passed to avoid drips, and don't over apply on a single coat, or you'll get drips from that too. Then finally, always follow the re-coating instructions to ensure you don't bung everything up. If it says wait 15 minutes before reapplying, just wait! Don't touch it! Just wait! After the adhesion promoter, it's time for primer. At this stage, you can still make some mistakes. I mean, obviously you want to do your best, but don't worry too much about it, because after three coats of primer, you're gonna give it another light sand with 600 grit sandpaper. Anyway, clean off those prime parts with water, and then use one of those sticky tack rags to remove any dust and lint. Now, you need to step up your game. So our painting location wasn't good enough, and we didn't have an anti-static treatment for our panels, which means dust was a real hassle for us over the next few steps, where every stupid little mistake has a chance of showing up in the finished products. We were able to help ourselves out a lot by covering our work area with a tarp, but even then, we'd get dust problems with almost every coat. The best advice I can give you now that I'm finished the project, though, is no matter how tempted you are, don't try to fix anything while the paint is wet. Wait until the coat you're working on dries, and you can actually usually get little bits of dust out with the tack rag, and even if you can't, you're better off having one very small problem than several big ones, and I was surprised at how little of the junk that got stuck in it shows up once you're done with polishing. So it took four coats of our Lamborghini Red, Diablo, whatever that color is called, base coat to reach the desired evenness of color, so I had breakfast and then came back to work on the clear coat after the 30-minute interval that it asks for. This stuff is sticky and also much easier to screw up than paint. Go slow, don't touch it, and you'll be fine. It took four coats of clear for me to reach the desired glossiness, but your mileage may vary, and if you do more coats of clear, then you'll leave yourself more room for polishing the finished product. So with the clear coat done, I left our parts out to dry in the shade. Never let paint dry in the sun or work in the sun for 24 hours before returning to finish the project off. So all that's left at this point is take a run at everything with some 1500 grit sandpaper for removing any serious orange peel and texture, and then rubbing compound to bring out the shine, and that does take a little while, guys. I was at it for a couple of hours, and really if I'd gone for, you know, another six hours, I could have gotten a better result, a really shiny result, but eventually we had to kind of go, okay, it's time to put this back together and find out if it even works, and it turns out, yes it does, and boy is she beautiful. Well, okay, I won't finish that. I'll let you guys be the judge, but I think considering the reasonable cost of the paint and materials and the fact that this mod was done in a total of 8 to 10 hours, I'm really pleased with my now totally one-of-a-kind looking gaming monitor. I think to take it a step further, I'd really like to stencil, maybe not an LG logo again, but maybe like something on the bottom here, and I'd like to stencil something on the back in like matte black Plasti Dip or something. That would look sick, but it's not terribly critical, and I'm really liking the shiny smooth red of the entire monitor here. I consider this project a success, and I hope it inspires you guys to go paint something. It doesn't have to be a monitor. Speaking of things that don't have to be a monitor, Ting.com, they're the mobile carrier that's focused on customer service and customer satisfaction first. When you call them, and I've tried this, you legitimately do not speak to a robot, you get put through directly to a person, and their billing is different too. The average Ting bill is apparently only about $24 per month per device, but because it's paid for exactly what you use, you might kind of go, well, gee, I don't know how much I'm going to use every month, blah blah blah. The solution is use their calculator. So head over to Ting, excuse me, Linus.Ting.com to try out the savings calculator. Enter your last few bills from your current plan, as well as how much you're paying, and then boom, it spits out and goes, okay, yeah, you'll save money on Ting, or oh no, maybe you won't. And the best part is, if you visit that link, then you can get $25 off a service credit or towards a new device, just for using the link. Wow, amazing. Also, if you're worried about your existing contract, they'll cover 25% of your cancellation fee up to $75. So that's Linus.Ting.com to try it out today. So that's pretty much it, guys. Thanks for watching. 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