# Kanded my Sindle



## Garand (Jul 14, 2009)

I'm a pretty tactile kinda guy and have refinished, buffed, or polished most of the things around the house. I loath the existence of mold lines around plastic objects, insist the handles of all my tools are either smooth or _appropriately_ rough, and have refinished most wooden objects to ensure they feel right. Somehow _smooth = quality_ to me.

My new K2 was no exception. I liked the way it felt in my hands, but couldn't help but notice the mold marks along the outside edges. For an object I would be holding for hours at a time, that was especially galling. It took about 5 minutes work with 320 grit, followed by a final polish with 1000 grit, and now it feels right to my hands. Of course, all will be for naught once I wrap it in a rubber skin and stow it in a bag. Such is the nature of my disease 

Dave


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Welcome Dave. Glad to have you here and congrats on your early post!

You are a braver man than me, taking sandpaper to your Kindle. I am glad it work for you...yikes, gives me shivers just thinking about it.  

L


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## koolmnbv (Mar 25, 2009)

WOW! No way I could have sanded my kindle.   That scares me just thinking about it.


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## Garand (Jul 14, 2009)

koolmnbv said:


> WOW! No way I could have sanded my kindle.  That scares me just thinking about it.


Nah, piece o' pie! (I like pie better ). I was careful not to scar the back section of the case or the buttons, and concentrated only on the ivory plastic edge with the mold mark. I followed up with a quick blast of air to get any dust out of the various ports and it was good to go.

Understand, nothing is sacred around me...I take almost everything apart and fiddle with it. I actually get most things back together again (eventually).

Dave


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Garand said:


> Understand, nothing is sacred around me...I take almost everything apart and fiddle with it. I actually get most things back together again (eventually).
> 
> Dave


My husband does that too. Sometimes he has parts left over.

Sometimes it works better, then. . . . . .


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

OK...I keep reading this with disbelief...you really sanded your kindle?  I get sanding wooden objects but plastic...Really?


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## Garand (Jul 14, 2009)

Yep, yep...absitively, posolutely sanded it. Not the face, not the screen, not the back...just the edges. It is now a silky-smooth, radiused transition all around the edge. If I'm gonna hold something for that long, I want it pleasing to the touch. 

Dave

p.s., I used to build super-detailed plastic scale models for competitions...I get working with plastic.


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## koolmnbv (Mar 25, 2009)

Cowgirl said:


> OK...I keep reading this with disbelief...you really sanded your kindle? I get sanding wooden objects but plastic...Really?


I feel your disbelief ...Garand seems to be nonchalant about it but meanwhile I am FREAKING OUT! lol


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

But the edges are smooth at least on the K1 they are.....
Kool...glad I'm not the only one freaking out about this.  My K is my baby!


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## libros_lego (Mar 24, 2009)

I want to see it. Can you post a picture?


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## koolmnbv (Mar 25, 2009)

Cowgirl said:


> But the edges are smooth at least on the K1 they are.....


Ok this is what I was thinking...why the need for the sanding? Mine has always seemed smooth to me.


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## Garand (Jul 14, 2009)

While it may seem like heresy, the Kindle is a hunk of microcircuitry wrapped in man-made hydrocarbons and industrially produced metal, and sold by a faceless internet giant. While I am delighted with it, it is ultimately a portable book case and magazine rack, a container. I am thrilled by the contents, and satisfied by the container. I admit to saying to my wife, "I really like this Kindle," but I doubt I will ever love it. I love my bride of more than 20 years, and all the rescued dogs and cats filling the place with hair tumbleweeds, but I struggle with anthromorphizing an electronic device.

I can't speak for the K1 or DX, but the plastic "plate" covering the display and keyboard on my K2 had a rough, raised mold mark all around its perimeter. I removed it to modify the tool to my tastes, simple as that. Since I didn't take _before_ pictures, I doubt the camera will show the absence of these mold marks...all that is visible now is smooth plastic.

Frankly, after seeing some of the Kindle "skins" sold on various websites, I am more freaked out by the thought of someone walking around in public with those.

Let us all enjoy, modify, anthromorphize, deify, etc. this useful device as it best suits us. We share the love of reading and have our own personal relationship with the medium by which we do so.

Dave
(living happily ever-after with Deb, Nola, Kaya, Pepper, Biscuit, Gordy and an unnamed Kindle)

p.s.: don't worry, my Kindle isn't lonely. It rests on the bookcase next to an electronic alarm clock for company and a Sig 220 for protection


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

AT first I really thought this was a joke so I'm not criticizing your decision to sand just trying to understand it.  God knows I have enough of my own quarks ... sanding just isn't one of them.


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## kevin63 (Feb 10, 2009)

I've had a skin on mine pretty much from the beginning.  With the skin on, I guess I just don't see a raised area around the perimeter, but if it works for you, that's all that matters.  Hope your happy with your outcome.


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## KimmyA (Dec 11, 2008)

I couldn't do it but since you've worked with plastics for competition, obviously you're a professional.    I'm glad you fixed it to your liking.

I'm also glad that your kindle lives beside an electric alarm clock. I would hate for it to get lonely.


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## koolmnbv (Mar 25, 2009)

I also think if you want to sand your kindle that is your choice. I personally could not grind mine down and do that and I am amazed of course to each their own. We just posted our reactions to your OP. 

But I am glad your kindle has lots of dog friends and an alarm clock to keep him company.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Garand, I am impressed:  you found roughness on the casing, had the skills to fix it, and did!  Good on you!  I don't notice any such excess plastic on my DX, but I have seen it on stuff before.  And I've been known to take a razor blade or sandpaper to such things.  I totally get how it would be annoying!

As to the anthropomorphizing many of us do, please don't hold it against us!    My Kindles are named, mostly because "Ann's Kindle" is just so boring.  But they're not called "Jane" or "Fred".  One is my "Magic Book", because a friend of mine said that's what it was when I was showing it to her.  The DX is "The Bodleian"  because it's, more or less, a library, and, compared to the other Kindle, it's really big.   

I do have a skin on my K1. . . .I gave it a try because I wasn't sure I was completely happy with the look of it -- though I was completely happy with how it did what it's made to do.  The skin makes it look like fine wood.  And my Oberon Case makes it feel like a good leather book in my hand, plus will protect it if I get fumbled fingered.

So, to each his own. . . .I'm glad we all have so many options!


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## Garand (Jul 14, 2009)

Hi Ann;

Eventually, my K2 will reside in a Noreve case...but that's down the road a bit. Did you ever read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"? While apocryphal, Robert Pirsig was reportedly driven over the edge while contemplating the nuances of _quality_ (more likely, he was already pretty well along that path due to paranoid schizophrenia and depression). While not as potentially damaging to my stability (the 60s, and 70s saw to that), I too find quality lies mainly in perception.

I personally feel putting your Kindle in a case (or skin) which delights you is quality-related, just as gently smoothing (not _grinding_) something improves its perceived quality.

Dave


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Garand said:


> I personally feel putting your Kindle in a case (or skin) which delights you is quality-related, just as gently smoothing (not _grinding_) something improves its perceived quality.
> 
> Dave


I agree 110%: We're all a little compulsive here, and, possibly, slightly nuts. Or, at the very least, we each have our individual quirks. If it makes one happy and doesn't hurt anyone else, well, I can totally get behind it!


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

I completely agree. Garand, I must say, your posts are delightful to read. 

~Heather, who helps keep DecalGirl and Oberon in business.


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## Garand (Jul 14, 2009)

Thank you. 

Now, where is that 'blushing" emoticon?


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## suicidepact (May 17, 2009)

I see no problem with it. You have to make the tool fit the worker. Garand, do you have any pics you can share? Also, what's your warranty situation? I build all my desktop gaming pc's and after my warranty is out, I intend to make some useful mods to my K2. One of my thoughts was a rubberized grip, such as the one you mentioned.


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## Garand (Jul 14, 2009)

suicidepact said:


> I see no problem with it. You have to make the tool fit the worker. Garand, do you have any pics you can share? Also, what's your warranty situation? I build all my desktop gaming pc's and after my warranty is out, I intend to make some useful mods to my K2. One of my thoughts was a rubberized grip, such as the one you mentioned.


As I said in an earlier post, I merely smoothed the rough edges around the top plate. Photographs would do no good as they would only show an edge without a mold mark. Its hard to see the *absence* of something.

The "rubberized" grip is an aftermarket case with a rubbery texture. If Amazon views cases and skins as voiding the warranty, they'll probably have _another_ class action lawsuit on behalf of all the folks who "made it their own"

Dave


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## suicidepact (May 17, 2009)

I didn't realize it was a rubber case, I thought you might be adding directly to the body of the Kindle. My mistake.


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## koolmnbv (Mar 25, 2009)

suicidepact said:


> I didn't realize it was a rubber case, I thought you might be adding directly to the body of the Kindle. My mistake.


That is how I had understood it also.


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