Shop Mac
by Justin Campbell
Question: What does an 8 Gallon Shop Vac, and an Apple B&W G3 have in common?
Answer: Nothing! 
This case took about 10 hours of labor to create. Why did I do it? Good question... I think I just wanted to do something a little different with my B&W G3.
Here's my system specs:
- Apple Revision 1 Motherboard
- G3 350MHz CPU
- 128MB of PC100
- 40gig Maxtor DiamondPlus HD
- 10x Toshiba Slot-Load DVD
- 6x/4x/24x Ricoh CD-RW
- Rage128 w/DVD
- Voodoo3 2000 PCI
Step 1
Well seeing that I didn't have any plans to follow, I decided to compare what I had and brainstorm a little...
As you can see, I had a lot of work ahead of me :).
So I began by gutting the Shop Vac and the Mac, laying out all the pieces on my kitchen table. The first thing I had to do was install the CD-ROM Drives, and HD. I decided that these parts were going to have to be put on the bottom as I found that the motherboard would not lay flat in the case due to its size.
Step 2
Well on to cutting the CD-ROM openings...
(One quick note... When cutting plastic using a Body Saw, use a coarse blade. As I found the blade heats up and melts the plastic you're cutting back together...)
I don't have a picture of the HD installation, but it's mounted using the 3 1/2" to 5 1/4" Drive adapters directly underneath the CD-ROM's. That way I can just use (2) Pieces of Sheet Metal to bind the CD-ROM's to the HD brackets (which is screwed into the bottom of the case).
Step 3
Now on to the motherboard installation... This wasn't too hard to do, but a couple things I had to consider (below):
CD-ROM's are metal, therefore you have to cover the bottom of the motherboard before you lay it in the case. Also VGA Cables don't have as much give to them as USB or Network Cables, so you will have to cut openings out for them. Cooling is a must in a case like this, but that's easy to install.
In the center of the case is a Gamma Blower from Radio Shack. It's pointed down to help get air to the HD. The other fan is blowing air out to assist the power supply that's going behind it.
Step 4
Next was the power supply installation. This was a little tricky to figure out, but it's a practical solution. I orginally wanted to install it into the motor housing on the top of the case, but due to size limitations I couldn't. So that in turn became the new home of the Front Panel.
The power supply is fastened to the lid using 2 screws that I pre-drilled into the power supply. I'm glad mac power supplies have open cavities in them for a little 1/4" screw to penitrate.
Step 5
Now it's just a matter of hooking up the wires/misc cabling. Here's some shots of what the final product looks like. I have some decals in the works, but for now the Shop Vac ones will have to work.