- Joined
- May 27, 2010
- Messages
- 2,363
- Motherboard
- Dell Optiplex 9030 All in One
- CPU
- i5-4690K
- Graphics
- HD 4600
- Mac
- Classic Mac
- Mobile Phone
This is a quick and dirty hack, you have been warned!
A real 10 minute job.
If you have an old Cube or old iMac G3 that had a slot loading CD or DVD drive you'll know these drives slow down and eventually stop ejecting disks.
Also if you have a Cube and want to bring it up to date you might be looking for a good way to mount a laptop drive without actually gluing the thing in position. This hack is for you......
Here is the original drive from a Cube:
See how huge it is compared to a normal laptop drive
Well, it's no use as it is so 5 minutes with a small screwdriver later.
Here is a laptop drive lined up inside it:
and with a cable attached:
Depending on how quick and how dirty you like your hacks....and if you just wanted to be able to mount your laptop DVD writer into a Cube or iMac G3 housing you can tape the drive to the old housing interior and then screw the old housing to the original Apple fixing points and you are done -
If you want to tidy things up a bit then you may want to fix the plug in place and make a sled for the new drive to sit more nicely. In which case I crack out the Polymorph.
Polymorph is the modders friend and is instant plastic. Heat up some water in the kettle, pour some hot (not boiling water) onto Polymorph granules and it melts into transparent goo:
It melts at 62 degrees C in water and is completely flexible, it hardens solid as it cools. If you get stuff wrong you can melt it in water again (however many times you like). When hard it is really tough.
Don't mix water with electricals though so I first cling film wrapped my drive, put it where I wanted it, and shoved the SATA plug through my cling film:
Take the polymorph from the bowl (work it in your fingers and get the water off it so it's not completely soaking) and shove it all over the wrapped drive and connector:
At this point if you want to have a smooth(ish) top surface or to eventually close the box on this you need to use finger power to smooth out the finish a little.
When its hardened enough pull out the drive and pick away at the bits of cling film. Alternatively just leave it there.....
I want to make this box re-useable though so I pulled the drive out and got this:
That's it. You have made a housing for a laptop drive that will mount to existing mount points in your Cube or iMac and you have re-used a bit of old Mac tech to do it.
Of course you can close it up and make it pretty and as nice as you like, but that's all that has to be done.
A real 10 minute job.
If you have an old Cube or old iMac G3 that had a slot loading CD or DVD drive you'll know these drives slow down and eventually stop ejecting disks.
Also if you have a Cube and want to bring it up to date you might be looking for a good way to mount a laptop drive without actually gluing the thing in position. This hack is for you......
Here is the original drive from a Cube:
See how huge it is compared to a normal laptop drive
Well, it's no use as it is so 5 minutes with a small screwdriver later.
Here is a laptop drive lined up inside it:
and with a cable attached:
Depending on how quick and how dirty you like your hacks....and if you just wanted to be able to mount your laptop DVD writer into a Cube or iMac G3 housing you can tape the drive to the old housing interior and then screw the old housing to the original Apple fixing points and you are done -
If you want to tidy things up a bit then you may want to fix the plug in place and make a sled for the new drive to sit more nicely. In which case I crack out the Polymorph.
Polymorph is the modders friend and is instant plastic. Heat up some water in the kettle, pour some hot (not boiling water) onto Polymorph granules and it melts into transparent goo:
It melts at 62 degrees C in water and is completely flexible, it hardens solid as it cools. If you get stuff wrong you can melt it in water again (however many times you like). When hard it is really tough.
Don't mix water with electricals though so I first cling film wrapped my drive, put it where I wanted it, and shoved the SATA plug through my cling film:
Take the polymorph from the bowl (work it in your fingers and get the water off it so it's not completely soaking) and shove it all over the wrapped drive and connector:
At this point if you want to have a smooth(ish) top surface or to eventually close the box on this you need to use finger power to smooth out the finish a little.
When its hardened enough pull out the drive and pick away at the bits of cling film. Alternatively just leave it there.....
I want to make this box re-useable though so I pulled the drive out and got this:
That's it. You have made a housing for a laptop drive that will mount to existing mount points in your Cube or iMac and you have re-used a bit of old Mac tech to do it.
Of course you can close it up and make it pretty and as nice as you like, but that's all that has to be done.
great minds....