Hi... ... I bought an Apple iBook G4 some month ago... I love it and it's supersexy.. the only thing that hurts is the limited harddrive space an the fact that the 12'' iBook has no Superdrive option... so I decided to use 2 external devices to reduce the pain. A 120gb Harddrive from Samsung and a DVD Writer from NEC. But all those nice looking external housings are way to expensiv and way to "not looking good with my baby". So, in consequence I have to build my own case with lot's of goodies... So, I made my plan and decided that the case should be out of MDF (don't know the english word). Unfortunately there was no store in town with MDF <16mm... so the measurements are a bit larger than a thought, but i don't care... yet What would/should be inside is: - DVD Writer - 120gb HDD - Bluetooth USB Stick (for cellphone, printer, mouse) - 4x USB2 Hub I ordered 2 of the cheapest 3.5'' USB2 external Cases and cannibalized them in order to get these things... Then I start to build the housing... first of all I rounded all edges with an "Oberfräse" (Sherlock calls it "mill to fixture"?!)... Then I drilled the holes for the DVD Writer... After that I milled some airslots for the Harddrive and one the backside, and a slot for the DVD Writer. I also added holes for the powersupplies. Then I primed some of the parts... The last thing i did so far was to add the mandatorily apple logo an glue the hole thing together... That's it so far... i need to round some more edges, make the apple logo a bit more smoother, bondo everything, prime all over again, paint the whole thing and taadaaaa. What do you think so far?
very good work man. I love it. Macs are very sexy machines but two things discurages me from them 1 being price the other being the lak of software I am used to or the fact that I would miss windows crashing on me. Top notch work keep it up
@msb... ... ya, like i said before @Gizmo... ... i reduced the thickness of the mdf-plate to 10mm und sawed the logo out and put another 10mm mdf plate behind the logo
I love the idea. Unfortunately you will not be able to get the shine on the wood as Apple does, since they basically use acrylic (plexi).
Ya, true. But I will paint it with a highly glossy lacquer... polished it's quiet close to the original apple look... i just painted my mouse with it and it looks great.
In one of the next pics, could you stick a DVD case or something next to it to give us some idea of how big it actually is?
Sure, i will add a photo with something to compare... but i can tell you also the mesurements... 14x18x24cm
in that i have all computer ) (19x24x26(no itx, no barbeone/shuttle)) i will make the aplle logo from plexi and add some lights
@gigik... ... you don't remember my other computer, do you? I wanted to do the logo out of plexi, but it didn't work the way i wanted it to i'll try another one soon...
I moved on with my external case and gave the hole thing a nice bondo and sanding job (i also smoothed the apple logo an all egdes)... here's the result: And this is the fastening for the harddrive. I wil glue it in, when the paintjob's done... Next step was priming (again)... unfortunatly i left my cam at home so i'm not able to shoot any pics of that step... i can start the paintjob tomorrow... hopefully. so long...
Nice, I hope the color looks like real mac's (with that glossy type finish)...it would be a perfect mini-computer for mac. THE iMini!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111 good job there, just hope paint job pulls through
Ok... weekend's over and my external case is ready to go... i sprayed it already but i couldn't post any pictures because i left my camera at home... so, here you go. The case with it's fresh and new color. unfurtunatly it's not this glossy i wanted it. And because *everybody* wanted a plastic apple... i did one. And i like it... woohooo! Here's a picture of the backside with a bunch of electronics, that need to be fixed inside. All screwed up And here a "family-picture" with my ibook. That's it... see you guys next time!
looking fine to me! However.. it IS possible to get wood to shine as much as anything.. just a case of sanding it enough and then lay enough layers of paint/laque on it.
