BD-ROM Front Panel Recoloring

[ExodusC]

Hey guys. I have had a BD-ROM/CD-DVD Writer (Pioneer BDC-S02) drive that I got a while back as a gift from a friend. Unfortunately, the thing is an off white color- it looks like it's from the 90s. I'm building a new desktop soon, and it's going to be mostly black. I think the drive actually comes in black- but Pioneer does not offer any way to get a different color front panel for the drive. I'd like to use the drive, rather than the old PATA CD/DVD drives I have lying around, but the thing is quite honestly rather ugly.

What do you think would be the easiest way to recolor the drive panel? I wonder if there are swappable front panels I could find from a third party- or will I have to remove the front panel entirely and spray paint each part?

Just looking for some tips- If I break down I might just use a Sharpie and blacken the whole front plate.

Oh, and here's a picture of the drive:

[IFMU]

the easiest, obviously a sharpie. ^_^ lol

but for the best in looks, the typical way is to paint it. you can get 'plastic' spray paint pretty cheaply at hardware stores and can give a very nice look.

i'm going to point out something new that i've ran across recently. over on overclock.net i read that thread. they go through steps on how to use rit dye to dye keyboards & the keys. in that thread there are a few who mention that they've dyed rom drive covers. it can be a bit trickier than keys due to them being so much thinner. but it is doable.
the way they do it is take the dye to a boiling point and soak the parts in the dye. powder or liquid version, both work.

clean the parts to be dyed very well. make sure there's nothing on the parts that could cause the dye to make contact poorly in some areas over others.
boil the dye, remove from the heat and let cool just a little bit. place the plastic parts into the dye. keep the liquid over the whole part. let it sit in the dye for a few minutes. with keys they say 5 minutes (roughly) then pull it out and rinse it off, letting it cool.
repeat several times, many times if need be.
it's better to submerge the parts 5 to 10 times in short durations than submerge once or twice for a longer duration.
the shorter duration helps prevent possible warping of the plastic and gets the dye into the plastic better.
just do that repeatedly until it's reached the coloring you're wanting.

some of the pics of this done to keyboards look really slick imho. i've actually been planning on doing this at some time in the near future.

if my post here doesn't make sense just read the thread some. they explain it pretty thoroughly there on how to go about it and get it done well.

[ExodusC]

the easiest, obviously a sharpie. ^_^ lol

but for the best in looks, the typical way is to paint it. you can get 'plastic' spray paint pretty cheaply at hardware stores and can give a very nice look.

i'm going to point out something new that i've ran across recently. over on overclock.net i read that thread. they go through steps on how to use rit dye to dye keyboards & the keys. in that thread there are a few who mention that they've dyed rom drive covers. it can be a bit trickier than keys due to them being so much thinner. but it is doable.
the way they do it is take the dye to a boiling point and soak the parts in the dye. powder or liquid version, both work.

clean the parts to be dyed very well. make sure there's nothing on the parts that could cause the dye to make contact poorly in some areas over others.
boil the dye, remove from the heat and let cool just a little bit. place the plastic parts into the dye. keep the liquid over the whole part. let it sit in the dye for a few minutes. with keys they say 5 minutes (roughly) then pull it out and rinse it off, letting it cool.
repeat several times, many times if need be.
it's better to submerge the parts 5 to 10 times in short durations than submerge once or twice for a longer duration.
the shorter duration helps prevent possible warping of the plastic and gets the dye into the plastic better.
just do that repeatedly until it's reached the coloring you're wanting.

some of the pics of this done to keyboards look really slick imho. i've actually been planning on doing this at some time in the near future.

if my post here doesn't make sense just read the thread some. they explain it pretty thoroughly there on how to go about it and get it done well.

That's pretty intense for a little piece of plastic.

I mean, the cheapest BD-ROM drive is $55, so I'm looking for a relatively easy and inexpensive solution. Not really sure where to go from here though, I don't know if I can take the time to boil up plastic dye- and I live in a studio apartment, so I was hoping for something easy.

[IFMU]

doing that mod couldn't get any easier. all you need is a pot and a bottle of the dye. the dye you can buy at wal-mart for 2 or 3 bucks.
some in that thread i linked to have said all that you really need to do with the pot afterward is to make sure you clean it real well to remove any possible dye that could be left in it. personally i'd say just go to a local DAV or some place and buy a cheapo for a couple bucks.
you could do this in your apartment with no problems at all. the rit dye is normally used for clothes etc, so it's not like it's a highly toxic chemical or anything. hell, it's used to dye your clothes in your washing machine and wash down the drain like a bad night of drinking! LoL

[ExodusC]

doing that mod couldn't get any easier. all you need is a pot and a bottle of the dye. the dye you can buy at wal-mart for 2 or 3 bucks.
some in that thread i linked to have said all that you really need to do with the pot afterward is to make sure you clean it real well to remove any possible dye that could be left in it. personally i'd say just go to a local DAV or some place and buy a cheapo for a couple bucks.
you could do this in your apartment with no problems at all. the rit dye is normally used for clothes etc, so it's not like it's a highly toxic chemical or anything. hell, it's used to dye your clothes in your washing machine and wash down the drain like a bad night of drinking! LoL

Well, that makes me feel a little more comfortable. I might consider this then. I see no reason I shouldn't use this drive aside from the color.

I'm hoping the plastic button that opens the drive tray is removable, though. I'll have to disassemble the front of the drive and find out.

[IFMU]

yea this method is new to me, just read through the thread last night/this morning. but i've dyed clothes using rit dye on several occasions.
presuming you don't try to drink or bathe in the stuff there are only 2 things you should be concerned about. first is, well, it is boiling water lol and second, this stuff will stain your fingers and any clothes that it may splash onto. so you'd need to wear some type of gloves so your hands don't get stained.
a number of people from that thread use pots they use for everyday cooking, they just clean them out real well before using to make up dinner. lol

if you do decide to look into this option further, i would highly suggest that you read the first post and at least skim through the rest of the thread. that way you can get some input from other peoples trial and errors. ~_^

if you do give this a shot, make sure you post up some shots of how it turns out!!!