HTC Sensation 4G Chrome Polished Frame

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c19932

Senior Member
Jun 9, 2010
1,407
152
Google Pixel 6
So I did this today. And the result wasn't good, which makes me sad. First of all I used oven cleaner, and the chrome frame wasn't very mirror like. Also, when I glue the pieces back together, I put too much glue and it leaked through in between the gap. I was stupid and tried to wipe it off but it madew it worst and spread it instead. So now there's a splash of glue on the cover. Which makes it very ugly. I'm so sad about this :( took me 3 or 4 hour of work
 

big_sw2000

Senior Member
Mar 12, 2010
1,211
567
Abergavenny
So I did this today. And the result wasn't good, which makes me sad. First of all I used oven cleaner, and the chrome frame wasn't very mirror like. Also, when I glue the pieces back together, I put too much glue and it leaked through in between the gap. I was stupid and tried to wipe it off but it madew it worst and spread it instead. So now there's a splash of glue on the cover. Which makes it very ugly. I'm so sad about this :( took me 3 or 4 hour of work

Well the dull finish is easy to sort out. Just go buy some metal polish. You will need pleanty of rag, as you polish it the rag will go black. You may need gloves on.
If that dont work, sand it with 2000 grade sand paper, from a car shop, Halfords for exampe.
You may be able to remove the glue, with sticky suff remover, or Methylated spirits. Try on a small area 1st, may melt the plastic.
Steve

---------- Post added at 10:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:15 AM ----------

Well the dull finish is easy to sort out. Just go buy some metal polish. You will need pleanty of rag, as you polish it the rag will go black. You may need gloves on.
If that dont work, sand it with 2000 grade sand paper, from a car shop, Halfords for exampe.
You may be able to remove the glue, with sticky suff remover, or Methylated spirits. Try on a small area 1st, may melt the plastic.
Steve

Most diy shops sell, superglue remover. Again test 1st

Steve
 

c19932

Senior Member
Jun 9, 2010
1,407
152
Google Pixel 6
Well the dull finish is easy to sort out. Just go buy some metal polish. You will need pleanty of rag, as you polish it the rag will go black. You may need gloves on.
If that dont work, sand it with 2000 grade sand paper, from a car shop, Halfords for exampe.
You may be able to remove the glue, with sticky suff remover, or Methylated spirits. Try on a small area 1st, may melt the plastic.
Steve

---------- Post added at 10:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:15 AM ----------



Most diy shops sell, superglue remover. Again test 1st

Steve


thank you for your help.

I have no idea how people can just polish their case for 10 min. I did mine for at least 30 min and the black stuffs just never stopped coming off. It's like inifinite :confused: so I gave up.. so that's why my case isn't mirror-like
 

matt95

Senior Member
Aug 8, 2010
5,962
2,370
Milan
thank you for your help.

I have no idea how people can just polish their case for 10 min. I did mine for at least 30 min and the black stuffs just never stopped coming off. It's like inifinite :confused: so I gave up.. so that's why my case isn't mirror-like

don't give up man :) the final product is awesome
 

c19932

Senior Member
Jun 9, 2010
1,407
152
Google Pixel 6
don't give up man :) the final product is awesome

haha. So i just spent more time polishing the middle part again (where the HTC sign is). After more than an hour, it finally looked more mirror-like, but i could still get a LOT of black stuffs out if I keep polishing. It does look pretty awesome after more polishing.

For the bezel, I don't think I should polish any more (even though they are not shiny at all) because I already glued the 2 pieces back onto the frame, and it would be a mess to polish the frame with the 2 pieces there.
 

matt95

Senior Member
Aug 8, 2010
5,962
2,370
Milan
haha. So i just spent more time polishing the middle part again (where the HTC sign is). After more than an hour, it finally looked more mirror-like, but i could still get a LOT of black stuffs out if I keep polishing. It does look pretty awesome after more polishing.

For the bezel, I don't think I should polish any more (even though they are not shiny at all) because I already glued the 2 pieces back onto the frame, and it would be a mess to polish the frame with the 2 pieces there.

it took me a day! so :) i have polished so much that also the black htc logo had become chromed :D
 

big_sw2000

Senior Member
Mar 12, 2010
1,211
567
Abergavenny
I was disappointed when the black HTC was chromed so I started to rubb it with my thumb and voila some black paste came out and now it's black again. :)

Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium

The htc logo are some black coloured chrome stickers. You could just pull them out, clear away the glue with a cocktail stick. Then its black undeneath


Steve
 

Snake_skw

Senior Member
Oct 25, 2011
99
12
does anybody know where to buy only these?
1330343091-clip-45kb.jpg

mine broke when i was taking them off :(
 

Snake_skw

Senior Member
Oct 25, 2011
99
12
you can put it in hot water,it's much easier to take em out that way

Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e
 

psycho1

Senior Member
Oct 14, 2010
310
53
escondido
I bought some on ebay.. check the earlier post.. I think I put the sellers name..

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using xda premium
 

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  • 73
    Hey guys I have polished the frame of my HTC Sensation 4G. My phone now looks like it should be in the window at some high end luxury retailer. I wrote up a tutorial on my blog for anyone who wants to do theirs. Lots of Pictures too.

    HTC Sensation 4G Chrome Polished Frame
    13
    Hey guys!

    Bought the blue magic stuff, DEFINITELY not interested in sanding, so I decided to use the chemical route instead. I bought some Klean-Strip aircraft paint remover at my local pep boys for like 8.99, im on my third coat now which I let sit for 20 minutes per coat and NOTHING IS HAPPENING WTF lol...

    How many coats is it going to take before I start to see aluminium? it says that the paint is supposed to blister / peel but there is nothing like that at all.

    *note for process thus far, using a hair dryer I EASILY removed the plastic pieces without any prying (because I was too afraid to bend and bow things out of place)

    what should I use to seriously get this stuff of, I was told aircraft paint remover was serious business. guess not.

    Hey, Do you want to learn an interesting bit of science??? Impress your friends and tell them something very cool??

    not saying this paint remover it will remove it or not, however, it will not bubble up.. its NOT paint..

    Anodising something is NOT painting it.
    Paint is a layer of a 'carrier' + colour you put on something. Think red nail-polish - its a clear varnish (Carrier) with some red colour in it.

    The colour is mixed in the varnish, the varnish sticks to the thing you are going to paint. (well hopefully it does!)
    The paint (well actually the carrier) might scratch off, chip off, have a chemical put on (paint remover) that makes it change its state, go soft and bubble off...

    ...but when its all said and done, paint is just something stuck on something else.

    What anodising is...

    When you anodise something, you are creating a layer of oxide to form on its surface. The oxide is not 'stuck on' the surface, it is part of the molecular structure of the surface. It's just the aluminium that has changed a bit on the surface due to a reaction with oxygen and some electricity. (thats where the name oxidise and anodise comes from oxygen and anode)

    So this 'mutated layer of aluminium' oxide on the surface from anodizing... - if you look at it under a POWERFUL microscope, you will see it looks like honeycomb in a bee hive. It's a series of microscopic 'tubes'. all standing next to each other 90 degrees from the surface of the metal.
    Now here is the cool part... You can fill these tubes if you like with a coloured dye. (and in this case HTC has done this with black dye on the sensation)

    That makes it bloody hard to get the colour off as its not ON the surface (like paint), its IN the surface. Inside the tubes.
    So really the ONLY way to make the colour go from aluminium that has been anodised is to bleach it out of the tubes (not sure how well this can be done 100% or if even possible)
    OR
    Remove the 'tubes' which means sanding/grinding back the surface or eating away the top layer of the aluminium. (ie with cleaning salts and an electric current)
    Edit:(Thanks psyco1) There is also a product greased lightning. It is sodium hydroxide - which basically chemically eats off the surface oxide layer - so it is a good way to remove it. - it will do it evenly - unlike sandpaper which relies on YOU doing it evenly.

    Its just like if I put some paint on your arm, you could wash it off. If I punch you in the arm, and leave a bruise, there is no way in the world you can wash off a bruise. A bruise is blood (dye) trapped in the skin cells in the skin. The only way to remove a bruise is to wait for it to go away, or perhaps slice/grind/sand off the skin containing the bruise, or eat that layer of skin away with acid or some chemical.

    WHY IS ANODISING a VERY GOOD IDEA?
    aluminium is quite soft. if you anodise it, you are making that 'honeycomb' series of tubes form as the top layer. Its a lot stronger than the 'normal' aluminium underneath. So your item will scratch less. It now has a toughened aluminium 'bumper-bar' or 'fender' (for you USA folk) You don't have to put a colour dye in it when you anodise it either. so you can anodise something clear (ie so it stays that chrome/silver colour) and it will last a hell of a lot longer.

    The aluminium will slowly oxidise naturally over time anyway if you don't anodise it on purpose and go a dull grey. - so you will need to polish again, and again to keep it looking tip-top.
    The only way to prevent that would be to anodise it with a clear colour..

    One thing to watch out for when anodising
    I mentioned above that the honeycomb series of tubes is at 90 degrees to the surface.
    that means that if you have a surface with SHARP EDGES - like a cube, all the edges will not anodise to a colour - because the tubes go at 90 degrees to the surface there will be nothing on the corners will there?
    the easy fix is to have no corners on your object, and if there are, just round them off a bit with sandpaper. then your series of tubes will fan out from the surface on the 'corner' instead of being either up and down OR left and right.
    Then the corners that are no longer sharp get some protection and the ability to colour.

    I LOVE SCIENCE and COOL FACTS- Don't just exist in your world, try and understand it!!!!
    Remember it took me a while to write this for you, if you learnt something, found it interesting, please hit the thanks button below my post.

    Warmly, Marty
    3
    Just finished polishing the metal ring for the camera port. Very easy to do and looks great!
    3
    My attempt:



    I used 400 grit paper for most of it as it was taking FOREVER with 800 and 1000 paper. After that I went over it again with the 800 and 1200 paper and left it with the brushed metal look.

    I wouldn't say it's finished, I still need to fix the HTC logo and some minor marks, but overall I'd say it looks pretty cool.
    3
    Here is my attempt:

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    I used 1000 grit sandpaper for most of it. After that I went over it again with 1500 and 2500 sandpapers. Total time 7 hours. I think it looks very good but I want to "fix" the HTC logo letters, does anyone know how I can do that? :p