Mac Pro G5 Case Hackintosh Project

[Anthonyx82x]

Hi everyone, Here is some pictures of my Build. I bought a case off a guy for $40 which was a darn good deal. There was nothing inside except for the original fans.
I bought another cheap $20 case, cut it apart to use the Motherboard tray and backing. I couldn't find a cheap Motherboard tray itself. So I cut one myself. Wasn't to hard to do. And best of all I saved money. I put sticky Velcro on the Power supply so I could take that off if need be. Cut an old power supply cord, and mounted that in the inside so I don't have to plug the power cord inside and and unplug it if I want to move it. Spliced it to an old power supply jack so I can use a new cord on the lower backside like the original PowerMac design.
I took out the original fans and used two blue one's I had from my old case. I put a Brushed metal Vinyl Apple on the front to make it look a little different. Cosmetically mine isn't that great on the back, but I plan on either putting some Brushed Metal Vinyl on the back or covering the back with some new thin metal to make it look a little nicer.
It's still a work in progress. I would like to get the original power button and USB/Firewire ports to work, if I can find a wiring diagram for my board.

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[Fadiddy]

Hi everyone, Here is some pictures of my Build. I bought a case off a guy for $40 which was a darn good deal. There was nothing inside except for the original fans.
I bought another cheap $20 case, cut it apart to use the Motherboard tray and backing. I couldn't find a cheap Motherboard tray itself. So I cut one myself. Wasn't to hard to do. And best of all I saved money. I put sticky Velcro on the Power supply so I could take that off if need be. Cut an old power supply cord, and mounted that in the inside so I don't have to plug the power cord inside and and unplug it if I want to move it. Spliced it to an old power supply jack so I can use a new cord on the lower backside like the original PowerMac design.
I took out the original fans and used two blue one's I had from my old case. I put a Brushed metal Vinyl Apple on the front to make it look a little different. Cosmetically mine isn't that great on the back, but I plan on either putting some Brushed Metal Vinyl on the back or covering the back with some new thin metal to make it look a little nicer.
It's still a work in progress. I would like to get the original power button and USB/Firewire ports to work, if I can find a wiring diagram for my board.

Nice work Anthonyx82x! I like how you incorporated the ATX I/O panel from another case into the G5...looks flush and clean! Keep us posted...good ideas.

 

[Fadiddy]

Okay....so I went to work on taking apart everything in the G5 case. I pretty much unscrewed, unglued, etc... just about every nut, bolt, washer, wire, etc...there was. The only exception is the power button...because it's in there pretty good and feels really fragile when trying to pry it...I don't want to risk breaking it and its LED. I didn't feel it was necessary to take pics of the disassembling process as it is very very straight forward. It is just a series of screws, double sided tape, and a few nuts here and there. Not to sound like a jerk but, if you can't take this case apart, don't even bother with the rest of the tutorial. The case lock/release mechanism is screwed on using about five screws...use an Alan Key tool (size 9) to remove these. Any plastic that is glued or stuck on the case can be pried of very easily (thanks Apple). If your lucky like I was, and you got two antennas attached in the inside of the case, be careful not to break them when removing, as they might work down the line. The CD drive bay simply pops off by squeezing the tin metal cover inside...be careful, it is SHARP! The rest is simple....take your time and check twice before yanking or putting pressure on anything. I will have a list of tools I have used so far by Saturday. In the mean time, here is the progress:

This is the inner perforated part of the case. It is held on to the outer frame by over two dozen screws. The screws are size 8 star bits...so be ready with this tool.

I managed to scrape most of the slight corrosion off the inner cases edges, as you can tell in the photo.

This is the outer frame. It is the strongest and heaviest part of the entire case. BE SUPER CAREFUL WHEN REMOVING THIS....IT WILL SCRATCH THE INNER PORTION IF YOU DON'T PUSH OUT THE HANDLES TO RELEASE THE INNER PART OF THE CASE.

The motherboard lifters are very easy to snap off....so don't be afraid to bend them in any direction. They feel like they are going to break, but they won't.

As you can see, the motherboard lifters are in place by pre-drilled points.

Keep these motherboard lifters somewhere safe....you will need them later.

 

[tonymacx86]

Moved to Customization forum.

 

[Fadiddy]

Tools You Will Need:

• Apple Mac G5 case (dual rear fan slots): $80.00 price varies.
• Dremel rotary tool. (I purchased the 300 series, w/ attachments): $49.99 ea.
• Soldering iron: $9.99 ea.
• Soldering metal: $3.99 ea.
• Size 8 Star bit attachments: $1.29 ea.
• Size 9 Alan key: $1.30 ea.
• Heavy-duty pliers: $4.98 ea.
• Painter’s tape (I used the 3M brand, one inches thick blue type): $3.95 ea.
• Phillips-head Screwdriver: $1.99 ea.
• Flat-head Screwdriver: $1.99 ea.
• Corrosion resistant spray paint (I used Rustoleum, any color): $2.99 ea.
• Filling putty: $5.99 ea.
• Sand paper (I used a pack of fine grit): $3.99 ea.
• Aluminum sheet (I used a 20in x 20in sheet from Grainger): $5.99 ea.
• Poster paper: $.89 ea.
• Pencil: $.25 ea.
• Marker: $.99 ea.
• Paper towels pack: $1.29 ea.
___________________________________________________________________________

Total: $181.85 (approx.)*

*The price above DOES NOT include internal parts such as cooling fans, motherboards, power supplies, etc… These should already be purchased and can vary from user to user preference.

 

[Anthonyx82x]

Thanks, can't wait to see yours all finished.

Hi everyone, Here is some pictures of my Build. I bought a case off a guy for $40 which was a darn good deal. There was nothing inside except for the original fans.
I bought another cheap $20 case, cut it apart to use the Motherboard tray and backing. I couldn't find a cheap Motherboard tray itself. So I cut one myself. Wasn't to hard to do. And best of all I saved money. I put sticky Velcro on the Power supply so I could take that off if need be. Cut an old power supply cord, and mounted that in the inside so I don't have to plug the power cord inside and and unplug it if I want to move it. Spliced it to an old power supply jack so I can use a new cord on the lower backside like the original PowerMac design.
I took out the original fans and used two blue one's I had from my old case. I put a Brushed metal Vinyl Apple on the front to make it look a little different. Cosmetically mine isn't that great on the back, but I plan on either putting some Brushed Metal Vinyl on the back or covering the back with some new thin metal to make it look a little nicer.
It's still a work in progress. I would like to get the original power button and USB/Firewire ports to work, if I can find a wiring diagram for my board.

Nice work Anthonyx82x! I like how you incorporated the ATX I/O panel from another case into the G5...looks flush and clean! Keep us posted...good ideas.

 

[Fadiddy]

Today, I began the time consuming process of filling in the motherboard lifters pre-drilled spots. I used the putty and sand paper pad described in the "tools used" section in my previous post. I started around 5:30pm and finished around 8:00pm so it wasn't too bad, but long nonetheless. Okay so, this part requires alot of attention to detail, because your going to need to paint over it later. This means, making sure the surface is ABSOLUTELY FLAT!!! From my experience with paint prep, the tiniest imperfections will come out if not sanded and filled properly before painting. I also washed the aluminum surface a few times in between fillings when dry to work with a cleaner area...this is personal preference. However, if you do wash it, make sure to dry it off RIGHT AWAY and get every spot. Now...remember the motherboard lifters I told you to keep safe? Yeah well get them out because the edges on the base of the lifters need to be sanded down with the Dremel to line up evenly when glueing back on the board. When you snap off the lifters, there is a "left over" aluminum solder around the base...this needs to be shaved down with the Dremel to give the lifters a cleaner look. Tomorrow I will begin the process of glueing the lifters in place and masking of the board for paint. Here is the progress so far:

What I did here was, I filled in all the lifter holes with putty and used a credit card type tool to smooth the putty across the board to fill in nicely. Take your time and don't use too much in each hole, as it will be a pain to sand out.

Next, I began sanding...again, take your time and sand evenly. The trick is, you want to only see a dark even circle filled in with putty. If you have left over along the circle, it will show after paint, and means you didn't sand evenly.

When I finished sanding, I cleaned the board and dried it completely. Then, I went back for a second layer of putty to be 100% sure.

I sanded again for final even layer.

When done sanding, I washed the board again and dried completely. The board is ready for the lifters to be glued and paint.

The best way to sand the edges of the lifters is to use two fingers and hold it firmly at an angle as you twist to the sand bit on the Dremel. Each one should take about a minute or two to complete.

Finished sanding/shaving.

Another view.

 

[Fadiddy]

Today, I decided to change things up a bit, and work on something small. I took the PSU power port and retrofitted it in the G5 power cord housing. I took it from a slightly old Antec PSU I had. I had to cut it to get it through the old PSU case. The G5 plastic ring fit almost perfectly around the PSU power port, however I did have to sand/round off all four corners of the power port to make it fit perfectly in the G5 plastic trim housing. In the end, it ended up looking AWESOME!....just need to reinforce the edges from the back to make it stable, and its done. One less thing to worry about. Here are some pics:

Here are the two pieces I started off with...the G5 OEM plastic trim piece (left) and the PSU power port (right).

Side shot....fits leveled and even.

Back shot....straight...notice how the power port locks into the smaller inner area of the G5 trim piece. It's like it was meant for it!

Final piece...just need to reinforce the edges to prevent the port from popping out with force, and I should golden!

 

[zionic]

You're getting down to the nitty gritty. Looking aweeesome!

 

[Fadiddy]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Its been a while since my last post, but I have definitely been working on the G5 Hackintosh project. I recently masked the inner case and painted it three layers thick. You actually need to paint it at least two to get a flat surface. It came out looking pretty nice and clean. I also completed the wiring harness for the G5 front panel to ATX motherboard conversion. This wiring harness was a PITA to do....it took me two days to figure out whats what, and still I don't if it will work or not because I can't test it yet. I found Lexrst's diagram from another G5 thread very handy....used it to many times as a reference. I used parts from another Antec case I had laying around, so the USB and Audio Ports were taken directly off that Antec case. One piece of advice, DOUBLE and TRIPLE check your work before wrapping it all up. The wiring and soldering is straight forward, so no instructions are needed for that. Here are some updates and pics, enjoy:

Original G5 Front Panel cable.

Original G5 Front Panel cable.

Original G5 Front Panel circuit board.

Original G5 Front Panel cable and circuit board (side by side).

The Rustoleum paint and Painters masking tape.

The inner case wrapped and ready for paint.

The case painted three coats/layers thick.

Fully dried.

Nice and smooth surface.

Straight painting...this is important when masking, take your time and do it right.

Cables I used from an olde Antec case.

Cables I used from an olde Antec case.

Final Converted cable.

This was a PITA, but its finally done.

Its kind of neat how the ports are labeled to make plugging in easier.