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You are not logged in. [Log In] AppleCentral » Forums » Mods and Hacks » Desktop Mods » Hardware Mods » Ode to my BW G3
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#476215 - 11/08/08 12:21 PM Ode to my BW G3 [Re: REDJONN]
mordaskyt Offline


Registered: 01/25/05
Posts: 360
I remember the first time I saw the BW G3, it was 1998 and our graphic arts studio was populated by sterile beige mac clones, not even real macs, clones. 150mhz ones at that. And here was our IT guy, unboxing this beautiful tower with curved lines, rounded handles, it looked like a spaceship and it was friggen blue! There was a crowd of everyone in the office staring in awe. I was next in line for an upgrade so much to my delight this icon of design and progress went into my cubical. The tech tried to put it on the floor and I asked him to put it on the desk instead. Wow.

I bought my own a year or so later and it performed loyally until a couple of years ago when it was finally mothballed as my computer room turned into a nursery. Well forget the mothballs the old girl is back with a vengence. I am a collector of junk and every now and then I clean house. I had no less than three powermac chassis sitting around so I went to town. I used a Quicksilver chassis as the core of the mod. I added the case plastics from the BW. As the back panels are different I kept the gray back plastics from the QS. I removed the front plastics from the BW and cut out the area for the drive bays and power buttons, leaving a large gap for the components. I cut out the steel of the QS chassis to enlarge the opening for the front drives so I could fit a bit more in there. I used a 4 port USB 2 hub, A single 5.25 drive bay and a slimline optical drive from a laptop. The best part is the plastic face. I work about 5 blocks from a plastics shop that does custom laser cutting while you wait. Takes about half and hour and the results are fantastic.

[attachment=2]<!-- ia2 -->BW4.JPG<!-- ia2 -->[/attachment]

The plastic is a frosted white and nearly a perfect match for the original G3 case.

[attachment=1]<!-- ia1 -->BW3.jpg<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->BW2.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]

Her current specs are a Dual g4 800 with 1.25 gb ram, 120 gig and 250 gig hd, 64mb NVIDIA card, 6 USB 2.0 A Sonnet 802.11G Wirless card and a Slot loading combo drive.

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#476216 - 11/09/08 02:55 AM Re: Ode to my BW G3 [Re: REDJONN]
oojacoboo Offline


Registered: 03/01/04
Posts: 1468
hell yea! fantastic work. ;D
_________________________
"Fix it 'til it Breaks."

Jacob - EiC & Director of Technology
Mac Pro Quad 2.66 - 4GB RAM
160 GB SATA RAID 1 - 650 GB Storage
Quad 19" Widescreen LCDs
Accessorized to the Hilt

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#476217 - 11/09/08 06:52 AM Re: Ode to my BW G3 [Re: REDJONN]
TonimusMaximus Offline


Registered: 01/08/08
Posts: 137
It's beautiful. Well executed. I'd like to see a picture of the mounts for your gear in the front.
_________________________
"Far better it is to dare mighty things than to take rank with those poor timid spirits who know neither victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt

-USMC Corporal Hess Sherrod B:6/6/84 D:4/6/09 I miss you, my brother.

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#476218 - 11/09/08 12:45 PM Re: Ode to my BW G3 [Re: REDJONN]
mordaskyt Offline


Registered: 01/25/05
Posts: 360
I will get some more pics up soon. Working on the lighting now, a nice blue glow all around...

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#476219 - 11/10/08 02:19 AM Re: Ode to my BW G3 [Re: REDJONN]
zenstate Offline


Registered: 10/16/04
Posts: 586
Loc: Vancouver, BC Canada
That is downright pimpilitious! Very nice work! Pat yourself on the back!

The slot load optical and usb hub are very nice touches..


I have done some plastics trading with a couple of my macs also. I had my B&W plastics painted then put them on the faster of my 2 Sawtooth. I then put the Sawtooth plastics on the B&W. My slower Sawtooth remains stock..
_________________________
Mac mini C2D 1.83GHz - 2GB RAM - 200GB 7200rpm HD
Sawtooth w/G4 1GHz - 1GB RAM - SIIG SATA w/2x1TB HD
B&W w/G4 600MHz - 1GB RAM - 2x80GB HD
Sawtooth G4 400MHz - 512MB RAM - 40GB HD
Dell Ultrasharp 2007WFP 20" Widescreen LCD
2.94TB Total Storage

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#476220 - 11/10/08 03:39 AM Re: Ode to my BW G3 [Re: REDJONN]
mordaskyt Offline


Registered: 01/25/05
Posts: 360
Lights! A lighted 120mm fan, the Musketeer dials and two cold cathodes. Its like a shrine to geekdom...

[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->Glow.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]

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#476221 - 11/10/08 04:13 AM Re: Ode to my BW G3 [Re: REDJONN]
oojacoboo Offline


Registered: 03/01/04
Posts: 1468
yea, its bad ass ;D
_________________________
"Fix it 'til it Breaks."

Jacob - EiC & Director of Technology
Mac Pro Quad 2.66 - 4GB RAM
160 GB SATA RAID 1 - 650 GB Storage
Quad 19" Widescreen LCDs
Accessorized to the Hilt

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#476222 - 11/10/08 03:08 PM Re: Ode to my BW G3 [Re: REDJONN]
mordaskyt Offline


Registered: 01/25/05
Posts: 360
I will post some interior shots once I am done cleaning up the wires. Its funny how the 5.25" drive bay (if not the entire concept of the tower chassis, hello mac mini) is basically obsolete. The laptop optical drive rocks. The dials in the big bay are basically eye candy. There is even a JAE50 slimline cd adaptor to SATA now. I only wish the drive I had on hand was a dvd burner and not just a combo drive. But in all honesty I have one in my laptop and my mini and I think I have burned like two DVDs in about as many years.

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#476223 - 11/11/08 12:43 PM Re: Ode to my BW G3 [Re: REDJONN]
Scott in Japan Offline


Registered: 07/03/06
Posts: 6
Very well done, indeed! Clean and simple. Makes me wish I worked near that plastics shop too !

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#476224 - 04/13/09 05:44 AM Re: Ode to my BW G3 [Re: REDJONN]
geekdude Offline
n00b

Registered: 09/08/08
Posts: 45
"entire concept of the tower chassis, hello mac mini) is basically obsolete."

yeah but on the g4 you can just pull the handle and open it without any tools or anything. the mac mini requires delicate surgery with a putty knife

love the computer by the way. this is what i want to do but i don't have a smurf to skin.

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