Ableton Forum

Here are the instructions to remove/disassemble/paint the UC33e.



DISCLAIMER! This tutorial is a high risk tutorial. If you are not careful, you can really fck up the display and or circuitry. DO NOT TOUCH ANY INSIDE COMPONENT WITHOUT PROPER STATIC PROTECTION.

Materials

Phillips Screwdriver "X Driver"
1 Butter Knife "or blunt and thin object, like a wedge"
1 can of spray paint of desired color "I used black... so sexy."
Scotch Tape or Packaging Tape
Time
Hardwork
Static Protection (WET TOWEL AROUND FEED OR STATIC BAND!"
Paper cutter and paper

Also you can ask questions before you do somthing if your not sure what to do. Breaking anything in this is REALLY BAD.

PUT ON STATIC PROTECTION NOW!

1 - Remove all knobs and faders from your UC33e using the butter knife or such object. All you have to do is wedge it under the knob and lift.
2 - Remove all 6 screws on the back of the UC33e to expose the inside componets.
3 - You will need to carefully unscrew each componet inside so that all wires are attached. Start from the keypad board and make your way to the port board and then to the main mother board. Once you have all three boards removed then CAREFULLY remove the LCD. THIS LCD IS FRAGIL AND TAKE A LONG TIME TO GET WORKING IF PARTS ARE MOVED. The keypad will have the buttons under it so take those out aswell.
4 - Once all inside componets are removed, then take the main plasic front and laydown some newspaper or somthing on a hard surface in a garage or outside and then lay down the plasic front. Tape over the LCD plasic so not to paint over it.
5 - Cut 9 strips of paper as wide and as long as the fader tracks. Lay each piece in the tracks. This is so you don't paint the cloth in the tracks.
6 - WARNING! You will be painting over everthing, even printed lables, this is the point of no return.
7 - Shake up your spraypaint and paint the first coat on the plasic panel. To do this, hold can about 2 feet from panel and equally cover the whole surface. DO NOT PAINT THE SIDES YET! Wait until the face dries.
8 - Once the front is dry, then flip to a side and hold it up and paint on that side. Then let dry. Do step 8 until all sides are dry.
9 - Search the panel for any unpainted areas. At this point detail paint "short sprays" those areas.
10 - Let dry "NOT TO THE TOUCH, BUT REALLY DRY!"
11 - Replace all componets in the UC33e back into the panel. Starting with the buttons for the keypad and then to the motherboard and then the port board and then the LCD. Make sure all are screwed in without any parts missing.

CHECK MY PHOTO FOR ALL PARTS

12 - While not touching ANY of the inside componets, connect USB or a power source and turn the UC33e on. CHECK THE LCD NOW! If everything lights up then your good. If the LCD is blank then go to the CODA step at the bottom of the page. If not, then just continue with the tutorial.
13 - Turn off and disconnect power source. Reinstall the back metal panel and then place back on your desk.
14 - Connect everything and test and then reply to this topic about your experiance and if you ran into any problems. Also you can ask questions before you do somthing.

CODA STEP

If your here then your LCD is fcked up. Don't worry, its probably just not aligned.
Check for all parts in the LCD and make sure the glass part of the LCD is aligned with the board. Make sure also the padding is still in place. Reinstall and turn on. If the problem continues, continue to check and adjust the LCD. I got it to work on the 29th try .

POST PICTURES WHEN YOUR DONE!

FINAL PRODUCT

Cool! More modding for the people!!!

I actually started out a project where I disconnected eight pots of my UC-33e and replaced them with 4 joysticks. Thing is I never accomplished my custom enclosure. So now it's all packed in a cardboard box somewhere.

I do not fancy that blueish color of my BCR and BCF, though...

Cheers,
Mikael

Lo-Fi Massahkah wrote:I actually started out a project where I disconnected eight pots of my UC-33e and replaced them with 4 joysticks. Thing is I never accomplished my custom enclosure. So now it's all packed in a cardboard box somewhere.

Ehy! Can you show me some pictures, thinking about modding mine aswell - changing the knobs for something more fun (or at least different knobs for eq, sweeps etc) and also do a paintjob with it..

yanquiuxo wrote:

Lo-Fi Massahkah wrote:I actually started out a project where I disconnected eight pots of my UC-33e and replaced them with 4 joysticks. Thing is I never accomplished my custom enclosure. So now it's all packed in a cardboard box somewhere.

Ehy! Can you show me some pictures, thinking about modding mine aswell - changing the knobs for something more fun (or at least different knobs for eq, sweeps etc) and also do a paintjob with it..

Still not finished. probably never will be!

.m

Lo-Fi Massahkah wrote:

yanquiuxo wrote:

Lo-Fi Massahkah wrote:I actually started out a project where I disconnected eight pots of my UC-33e and replaced them with 4 joysticks. Thing is I never accomplished my custom enclosure. So now it's all packed in a cardboard box somewhere.

Ehy! Can you show me some pictures, thinking about modding mine aswell - changing the knobs for something more fun (or at least different knobs for eq, sweeps etc) and also do a paintjob with it..

Still not finished. probably never will be!

.m

damnit, oh well.. I'm picking up paint for mine today - it's going white. I'm thinking about switching the diodes in it for red ones aswell and ordering these:


or these:



Do you know any god stores for knobs i Malmoe, maybe I'll give electrokit a try..?

mine is now white.. more pics soon!

yanquiuxo wrote:
Do you know any god stores for knobs i Malmoe, maybe I'll give electrokit a try..?

Kolla Elfa - ute vid Jägersro. www.elfa.se Under "Elektromekanik/Pneumatik-Knappar/Rattar"

Not cheap, but as long as you're not ordering a bunch it might be worthwhile since you save on shipping.

.m

Luckily my playstation eye does not take pictures that good.
I sanded the UC with a very fine "sandingsheet" (=english? ) and I sprayed it very carefully but it seems the printed letters (sanded away) on the back and front kept shining trough.
A complete can of black paint and gloss later the result is somewhat decent but it's not perfect

I love the matte black finish - looks 'nuff sexy. I'm sure you could go to work with some acrylic paint, and get your graffiti groove on...

Frederik654 wrote:Luckily my playstation eye does not take pictures that good.
I sanded the UC with a very fine "sandingsheet" (=english? ) and I sprayed it very carefully but it seems the printed letters (sanded away) on the back and front kept shining trough.
A complete can of black paint and gloss later the result is somewhat decent but it's not perfect

thin layers do the trick
do 2-3 thin layers/coats, evenly, let it dry
once dry check to see if everything's good (evenness usually)
if the letters still show up, do single coats (you don't have to do it thick)
once dry, check
if letters still show up, repeat single coats but let every coat dry first
once dry check and repeat individual coats as neccesary till letters do not show


=)

Frederik654 wrote:Luckily my playstation eye does not take pictures that good.
I sanded the UC with a very fine "sandingsheet" (=english? ) and I sprayed it very carefully but it seems the printed letters (sanded away) on the back and front kept shining trough.
A complete can of black paint and gloss later the result is somewhat decent but it's not perfect

Glossy looks really nice, maybe I should try it with my white one aswell.. Mine is far from perfect, forgot to clean it properly before painting it so on som parts the paint just wouldn't stay if I didn't spray a lot.. oops.

Took some pictures from my adventure last week:


starting to dismount the knobs and sliders


nothing left


knobs knobs knobs


protection!


inside!


dismounting the inside, lot of screws..


nothing left


electronical parts not being treated properly..


starting to paint, total catastrophy


look at that mess:C


after much correction..


everything in it's right place, almost..


As featured above, the final product.. (mirrored thanks to photo booth)

Ambioun - Techno Man wrote:
CHECK MY PHOTO FOR ALL PARTS

wow. thats one detailed photo man.
:p

ddddddddddddddd

You could have pushed the glass out .. it's glued but very badly .. 1 soft press and it came loose. I did spray in more layers and always let them dried first but still the printings came trough .. So I redid it and sanded the finished one again with the finest sandpaper and sprayed again .. now it's perfect .