Remove engraving?

[bxojr]

I wouldn't be surprised if this has been discussed before, but if so, I haven't been able to find it.

I'm thinking about upgrading to the 2014 Moto X and passing my 2013 X on to my wife. But the back of my phone has the custom engraving with my Gmail address. Is there any way to remove the engraving short of sanding down the plastic? Or should I just forget about it and tell her to cover it up with a case?

 

[SpookDroid]

You have very limited options when it comes to engraving, especially if it's on plastic (it's a lot easier on metal).

1) Sand it down. This will get rid of the engraving but leave the markings on the plastic. You could try to sand it down in a straight, rectangular bar across the phone and making it look like it was on purpose.

2) Fill it up. For this you would need a plastic injector or a silicon mix that matches the color of the plastic and fill out the etching grooves with a needle. I don't think I need to tell you this is very difficult and the detailing part to get it to be unnoticeable is arduous.

3) Cover it up. Place a sticker, a cover, anything over it.

4) Melt it down. This is plastic, so a hot soldering iron should do the trick. You can melt the edges of the etching and make it disappear. This, of course, damages the rest of the plastic and will leave a noticeable groove with molten edges on your phone. A similar case than with the sanding, but with uglier etches.

 

[Roger Gibbens]

At least your wife won't need to remember your gmail address....

 

[natehoy]

You can always spend $25 and buy a Toast back for it. It's a pretty much permanent glue-on, so it would effectively cover the etching.

Toast!

 

[megatomic]

Has anyone used a dbrand skin on their Moto? I might take over my wife's abandoned XT1053 to get Android L faster than my XT1058 will, but she opted for a purple back with her name engraved on the back. A dbrand skin would fix those issues for me.

 

[4runnerbrett]

Rock the purple!

 

[megatomic]

Haha! Yeah, I might actually. With a soak test out there on the XT1053 there may be something interesting coming up...