Preserve autograph on nintendo switch

Not sure if the category is right for this kinda thing but…I’m getting a Nintendo switch autographed by someone and I don’t want it to wear out, anyone got any tips on what I can put on the metal back over the autograph or am I stuck getting a clear case for the entire thing

if you can tape it half decent some aerosol clear coat should work

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get a case and have that autographed

I want the actual product autographed tho lol

Clear coat sounds like the right idea if you don’t want the bulk of a case. You’ll need to take the back case off and spray a couple coats on, let it dry for a good while and you should be good to go. It’ll probably give a gloss finish to the case, and change how it feels to the touch. Consider masking the screw holes when you paint it. (I’ve spray coated stuff before, but not a switch chassis specifically.)

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Clear Coat is probably going to interfere with it’s ability to sit in the dock

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Clearcoat should be fine and if applied right it wont interfere with the dock.

My main concern would be with the type of plastic that the switch uses. Might degrade from the solvent used to keep the clear coat from setting in the can

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You could disassemble the switch and have them sign the inside to keep it safe

Laminate?

Anything you do to cover the autograph ie cover/tape over will make autograph unverifiable. Your best bet is to just put the autographed one away after signed and get a new one, or get a new one and get it signed.

Unless you don’t care if psa or some other group can confirm the autograph then a good clear coat would work.

Well it’s being signed by a small YouTuber that I really like so it’s not anyone famous lol more just for my personal happiness, I’ll give the clear coat a try

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On the topic of the clear coat, wouldn’t doing that ruin the matte coating feel the back has?

I took a quick look at a friend’s switch today. I’m almost positive that yes, you’ll lose the matte feel of the back. It will probably feel more like smooth plastic. It will defo feel better than clear tape, though, and probably similar to a clear plastic case without the added bulk. It will also make it reflect light (glossy). However, there’s definitely enough space in the dock for a fraction of a millimeter on the back plate (the joycons extend further back than the plate anyway). The screws are really small; don’t lose them, and do cover the screw holes with tape or some such while painting it. If you get some material in the threads, the screw probably won’t fit back in. The air vents at the top were pretty big iirc, and shouldn’t get “bridged” even without masking. I’d mask the usb charging port too; I’m not sure how much wiggle room the case has.

It’s a mod, and it’ll definitely look different. But to protect the signature, you need something between it and the outside world. It doesn’t get much thinner or clearer than a coat of clear coat. You could try only spraying the center, around the signature, and fading out around it to keep the texture near the edges. If you spray a little bit off the mark, though, you’ll have a bit of clear coat on its own and it’ll look weird. Just covering the whole thing evenly is probably more consistent.

You could always use clear nail polish and only put it over the signature itself just use very thin layers and it shouldn’t interfere with the dock

Thing that I am on wondering is if any sort of liquid over marker will lift the marker off. A lot of paints are solvent based.

If you go that route you should test it on something else first.

Plastic film would not necessarily take away the matte feeling. You could get matte plastic adhesive film and cover the entire back keeping the feel and protecting the entire back rather than one glossy patch.

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