Paint Your XBOX One for $20

Hi this is my instructables for painting your XBOX One for $20 or less. This would be something that you can easily get done in one weekend. This is an easy to medium hard project in my opinion, as long as you are willing to open your XBOX and VOID any warranty you may have.

The supplies that I used are as follows

220 grit dry sandpaper - $2.17*

320 grit wet/dry sandpaper

400 grit wet/dry sandpaper - $3.47*

hand sander block $4.97*

1 can Krylon Super Max spray paint in your color - $3.86*

1 can Rust-oleum Clear Gloss - $4.50*

Total $19.77*

Tools

1 multi bit screwdriver

#8 Torxs bit

#9 Torxs bit

#10 Torxs bit

*Walmart prices as of 3/25/2016

Ok time to disassemble! First and most important, make sure that you can live without your XBOX for a few days :P you can still use it, but I wouldn't recommend it.

WARNINGS! If you manage to break your XBOX or cause injury, damage, destruction, or defaction I will not be held responsible, that will be on you! You will VOID any and all warranties that you may have for your XBOX

First you will need to take off the left side panel, I did this just by grabbing it and pulling it off, starting at the front edge.

Next you will need to remove the side piece by sliding it back, it will just fall of

Third step is to go all hulk and rip the XBOX in half at the back, be gentle but you will need to use a LOT of force. it will hinge at the front, and you will need to watch out for the flex connector so that you don't brake it, just pull the brown part to the right and then the flex connector will come out, but you will need to pull the loop part out from behind the connector.

Next you will need to disconnect the remaining cables from the front circuit board. To remove the black wire just get your fingernail underneath it and pop it up. For the speaker connector just pull it upward and it will come out.

Now you will need to remove every screw that you see, the main screws are Torxs T10, the ones attaching the PCB are T9 screws, there is a main screw hidden under the PCB

Now you can just lift off the the cover, there will be a wire that you just pull up to disconnect.

Now remove the black wire by bending the clips under the cover straight.

You now need to remove the connector for the PCB, it uses T8 screws to hold it in

At this point, just lift off the main assembly with the hard drive, disk drive, and main board, no force required.

There is now a plastic piece on the back of the main assembly that is held on with double sided tape. You can remove it and paint it, or just leave it on as it is in the back where no one will see, your choice.

Now just pull the rubber feet off the bottom, the adhesive will stay on the plastic and need to be removed, you will need replacement double sided tape or some sort of glue when you are reassembling it.

Just a note is I have a Microsoft refurbished console, but there is a LOT of corrosion on the main board, just pay the extra $50 and get a new one.

For different disassembly instructions go to this link at I Fix It (.com)

Ok now it is time to sand you XBOX, it is hard to destroy the perfect shiny finish, but surprisingly satisfying.

First you should take the dry 220 grit sandpaper and rough up all external surfaces. The vents are a pain, just do your best. You just need to rough up the surface, nothing too major. You will now need to use the 320 grit wet sandpaper, just put it on the sanding block and run it under water from your sink, and sand. Next move onto the 400 grit wet sandpaper and do the same as the 320. Do your best, but it doesn't need to be perfect, the paint will fill it in.

Just know that this can be a bit of a mess, especially when you are using the wet sandpaper, so don't wear nice cloths.

Now just rinse off every piece in your shower/tub/sink, dry them with a towel, and leave them out to dry overnight.

Now that all of the pieces have dried it's time to paint! This part determines how good the final project looks, just remember the basic steps of spray painting, you want to do swipes side to side, start before and end after the edge of what you are painting, do several light coats, hold the can 8-16 inches from your project (varies by paint), do this outside or in a well ventilated area, and most importantly read and follow the directions on the can. Your first coat should not even cover everything, go left and right, then rotate 90 deg, then rotate and do it "diagonally" you always want to go the same direction whether it is up and down or left and right. Do one coat (only one direction) then move onto the next peice then the next, until you have made it through all of them, then do the second coat all the way through, then the next. I did around 4 coats, but I should've done a few more. Make sure to spray from all directions so that you will get paint on all of the vents. The metal took the paint the best, and needed the least coats. Just a note, the parts that were glossy are the hardest to get good coverage on. Wence you get good coverage on all of the parts you can move onto the next step.

Clear coat helps seal in the paint, and depending on the paint, adds a glossy layer to your project. You will want to follow the same steps as the normal pant, and apply 3-4 coats. Applying a clear coat will also protect against scratches from inserting discs.

Now you will need to let the parts sit for about 2 hours, altho it may vary by brand. I took mine inside and put them in my bathroom as it has a mini heater, and it was somewhat cold out.

At this point you are done with painting and are ready for reassembly!

It is now time to reassemble the XBOX. This is done by following the disassembly in reverse, although you want the front plate to be the last one to go on as it makes it easier to put on the top piece, and also easier to connect the wire.

To connect the wire attaching the front panel to the circuit board you will need to remove any paint that might be on the contacts of the wire, then insert it under the brown piece and push in then push in on the brown piece, this should take very little force. Now the loop piece on the back of the connector should fit over the back of the connector, if not you will need to try again and insert the wire further.

This project turned out pretty decent, it could've been better but that is due to things I will talk about in just a minute. The XBOX light still shines through the paint well, the photo doesn't do it justice, and the XBOX logo also shows through, as it is indented into the plastic. The paint did not cause any issues with the buttons, I sanded off most of the metal coating on the buttons, but they all worked without any problems. The infrared sensor for the media center remote also worked just fine, but if your paint color causes an issue, there is a port on the back of the XBOX for an external sensor.

You know what they say, hindsight's 20/20, if I was to do this again things I would do differently would be to find a better place to paint, I was on a gravel/dirt surface and that caused a few issues. There was a few tiny rock specs that got kicked/blown onto the paint job, causing them to get stuck, and me to try and remove some, causing fingerprints and spots that I needed to touch up, that caused issues, like paint drips.

All of this would be solved by painting on a different surface like grass or better yet concrete. I may take and sand down and repaint a few pieces in the coming weeks

Thanks for looking, and make sure to vote for me in the competitions.

Please feel free to post any comments or questions about this project down below.

Justin