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Hardware

Give an old Mac new life by turning it into an iWipe

By Shawn Morton November 16, 2005, 1:03 AM PST

Image
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iWipe (1 of 12)
iWipe (1 of 12)
Give an old Mac new life by turning it into an iWipe

Shawn Morton

One of co-workers was giving away and old Atari 800XL and Macintosh SE case. He had been planning to do a mini-ITX project, but had never gotten around to it. Always wanting an excuse to tinker with something, I decided to take them off of his hands.

?Well, as soon as I saw the Mac SE case, I realized that this one had the most potential. So this weekend, I bought a few things at Home Depot and got started making my Apple-powered, wireless, portable toilet paper dispenser — the iWipe.

?The whole project took a couple of hours and cost about $15.

Shawn Morton
Give an old Mac new life by turning it into an iWipe

There were still some metal brackets inside the case, so I had to get those out first. Using a T15 and a Philips head screwdriver, I removed the 7 or 8 screws holding the brackets in place.

Give an old Mac new life by turning it into an iWipe

The case still pretty grimy, so I soaked it in some warm soapy water for about 10 minutes. This loosened up all of the dirt and I was able to rinse it clean.?

Give an old Mac new life by turning it into an iWipe

This is the front of the case after removing all of the old brackets.

Give an old Mac new life by turning it into an iWipe

Because Apple has gotten all glossy white on us lately, I figured the SE needed a new paint job. So I painted the inside a metallic silver (to match the toilet paper holder) and the outside a gloss white.

Give an old Mac new life by turning it into an iWipe

This is the front of the case after several coats of white spray paint.

Give an old Mac new life by turning it into an iWipe

This is a shot of the inside of the case with the toilet paper holder installed. I used a thick Super Glue gel to hold it in place.?

Give an old Mac new life by turning it into an iWipe

This is a shot of the inside of the case with the first roll on toilet paper installed.

Give an old Mac new life by turning it into an iWipe

Give an old Mac new life by turning it into an iWipe

I used a translucent binder that I picked up at Target to create a screen for the SE. After I cut it to size, I Super Glued it into place.

Give an old Mac new life by turning it into an iWipe

Here’s the finished product.

Give an old Mac new life by turning it into an iWipe

Here is my new Apple iWipe in its natural habitat.

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