Scratch Build – In Progress THINeMac - Intel Rebuild

This is my first project log. Modding this with my friend Schut.
We're building a PC into a modified eMac case with a LCD. The case is going to be chopped to make it much smaller.

The display chosen was a Apple Studio display simply because we had one to use.
I got too excited and took it apart without taking any pictures. This is what they look like:


And the eMac we sacrificed.



The panel taken out of the Studio Display casing.



Seeing what the fit will be like with the bezel from the eMac case.


The display turned out to be slightly too big for hole in the bezel.
To the workshop to make adjustments to the bezel.


Tool of choice for some of the screw mounts that we couldn't use anymore, because they were getting in the way.


Made a little jig from scrap wood and clamps to cut the hole with the router.
We used the bezel from the studio display case as a guide. Then with the flush router bit we could make a pretty clean cut.



It's not mounted yet, just sitting there so i could have a look at it. But the display seems to fit well.


Next project update will have the screen fully mounted, and i'l reveal some more plans.
Hope you like it,
Blaise

 

looks good

can you show the emac parts that you took out

 

seconded.

and this looks like it will turn out great

 

Thanks. I'll take some pictures of some guts a bit later.
Time for an update.

Made some brackets out of some of the spare metal that i chopped off the lcd plate earlyer. To get the display mounted to the bezel.

I'm making use of some of the already existing screw mounts.

Drilling and tapping the threads for those brackets.




Two top brackets:


Did the same thing to the bottom brackets.



The bottom brackets aren't too sturdy. But I'm not worried about this yet since the whole things going to be mounted to the rest of the eMac shell.

The display mounted to the bezel:


Put some of the display electronics back on to give it a test.


Slipped the unmodified eMac shell back on to see how it looks.


The shell will be cut a lot shorter then it is right now.

The motherboard will be mounted onto a plate that covers the lcd electronics.
We've planned to put a card reader in the disk drive slot and have it open with a motor system. Putting a dvd drive there would make the computer too deep.
So, were going to go with a slot loading drive on the side.

More to come,
Blaise

 

very nice

 

I had this idea a couple years ago with a friend........to bad we never got around to actually getting the parts, glad to see someone doing this project as I'd still love to do this, and may take some of your ideas when the day comes that I can do this project

 

wow....after an entire year of searching, i think i found a mod log i can probably follow along that would give me some pointers...i have a really old blueberry emac that someone launched a pole through the screen, so i still have the shell of the entire thing and have and lcd monitor i would like to retro-fit to go in it, but was never sure it would ever work or even plausable...i will most definitely keep a close eye on this one!

 

eMac guts by request.



Here you see the surrounding for the ports that were originally on the emac. We plan on reusing this and mounting it in the side of the computer, slightly indented for easy access.



We also plan on reusing the backing of the display. When we cut the emac case shorter, this will probably be modified and glued in place of the hole, it should be quite convenient, as it already has vents and a hole for a power connector and possibly a DVI port.

Cheers,
Schut

 

always nice to see someone tearing a mac open

 

those are some nice looking heat pipes, lol.

 

Thanks for all the positive comments.

Yeah, It's a beast.

I wired a couple things to get the eMac motherboard running again, just because it might be useful for something.

The power connector



Vga cable


Power attached. This thing can run off a single molex.
And, it actually works now. Didn't take a picture.

On to the real update:


The goodies.
-ASUS P5K-VM mATX
-Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180
-XFX GeForce 7900GS XT
-Nmedia Icecone Copper CPU Heatsink
-Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB 2X1GB PC2-6400
-ASUS WL-167G USB2.0 Wireless LAN Adapter 802.11G
-Thermaltake TR2 W0070 430W ATX12V V1.3 24PIN/20PIN Power Supply



Testing the components, They work.


Had to chop off one of the arms on the stock speakers to get them to fit with the LCD in the way.


Looks good.


Set the motherboard in place to mark some holes. We've decided to just mount everything to this handy plate.



Drilled them, then put some nice risers on.


Motherboard mounted.

Went to deal with the Power Supply. It will be mounted internally without the case to save space.





Unsoldered all the excess molex cables that we won't be needing.


Back to drill more holes for the power supply mount.



Screwed in, looks good.


Hot drink of choice


Mounted everything, checking my clearance.



More pictures of the parts installed.




(the case actually fits on that, lens distortion is deceiving, and the DVI-VGA adapter is just there to hold the card up for pictures)
The unmounted parts are sitting there to give you an idea of where the rest of the components will go. We will make a separate cage to hold the dvd drive, and HDD.
The 7900gs will be mounted somewhere around there with a handy pci-express riser card.
The panel ports will all be soldered to a seperate board with the stock eMac connector panel.

It will come together once we chop the back of the shell.
And to give you an idea of the space were saving by cutting the shell:


Cheers,
Blaise

 

I'd worry about EMI from that open power supply, and the fact that it only has little moving air around it's heatsinks and no convection unless I'm missing something.

I plan on doing the same to an a strawberry Imac G3, but with lower power parts you're giving me some good ideas keep it up good stuff.

 

Were going to install some fans to have some airflow later. Theres definitely going to be a couple of 80mms at the bottom with vents in the bottom of the shell blowing air up and out vents in the top-back. We might also put a 80mm to the side of the powersupply if we decide it's necessary. They will all be speed controlled so we can have this thing be as quiet as possible. EMI might be an issue, if we find out it is we will simply make a thin grounded metal cage (either with lots of vents, or just use metal mesh for it) to solve that.

Thanks for your interest

 

nice mod so far. out of interest, how are you going to cut down the back? just lop the dome off and have it flat? or remould it?

RwD

 

Were still thinking about this. Open to suggestions.
At the moment, were thinking were going to cut the dome off, then use the back of the LCD case to cover it up. Which is nicely curved. Probably would bevel the edges to get it to fit nicely, then secure them with some kind of glue. Whats the best adhesive to use on this plastic?

 

Sounds like a good idea if it's slightly domed. especially if you can round it off. I'd go for some form of epoxy myself, though there are undoubtedly better solutions. Works quite nicely as the rear case is the same material / colour as the rest of the case!

RwD

 

Looking good. I like what I'm seeing. Keep up the good work.

 

i was thinking of doing somthing like this, using the G4 imac.

but keep up the good work it looks great!

 

I'm working on a similar but less complicated mod of an eMac, do you still have the photos of your process? How would I power the lcd monitor from the psu?