I am Back...

I left aside my mod work during the last 3 months. Now I am back:)

During those period, I was not on vacation, I just started do something else, namely, writing articles in Cantonese  (the Hong Kong language) at Blogger; making Chinese lanterns for the Chinese Lantern Festival and establishing the "DIY Lanterns" Channel at Youtube.

Here is some of my work:

Asurada GSX | Minion Bob | Doraemon | My Melody | Bee-Do Minion | Traditional Chinese Lantern

Doraemon | Hello Kitty | Kevin Minion | Miffy

Those character lanterns were made with steel wires and crepe papers. If you are interested, please go there and have a look! All those videos are "how-to" tutorials.

Enjoy～

DIY Lanterns Youtube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwXeRg-r2VOw50ftkr9H1Sw/feed

Written by: Erik Siivel (@siivel.com)

Modder | Producer | Blogger | Youtuber 

Email: siiveldotcom@gmail.com

The New Airport Exterme Harddisk

Last year, we turned an Apple AirPort Extreme into an external hard disk. Now it comes with some upgrades: (1) upgrading the 1T SATA Drive from 5400 rpm to 7200 rpm; and (2) turning the USB from 2.0 to 3.0. We haven't change its outlook at all.

Link of the video:
https://youtu.be/7PJTlZikXKM

The font view of the Airport Hard Disk

Its rear view (you can supply additional 5V power supply via the power supply jet; the modem is just dummy)

When the Airport HD connects with the Mac, its LED will turn on. While writing files, it flashes.

Icon appears on the screen, you may even configure it as a TimeMachine Hard Disk :)

Those upgrades make the Airport Hard Disk more powerful.

Written by: Erik Siivel (@siivel.com)

Modder | Producer | Blogger | Youtuber 

Email: siiveldotcom@gmail.com

Full Body DIY Protective Skins for Apple Watch

Just finished making a full body protective skin for the Apple Watch. The image below is the blueprint in scale.

For "The Making of" video, please watch this in Youtube:

http://youtu.be/e2bWSjk1ZkM

It is how the Watch will look like after Application of DIY skin.

iMac G3 Mod - Its Innards

After we have custom-made a CRT back for the LCD Panel, we put all the hardwares needed therein, which include logic board, fan, harddisks, sound controller board, and wires.

After several attempts and amendment, We were successful in putting those stuffs firmly and orderly inside the CRT back respectively, we call the whole structure "CRT-shaped Console" because it is now the brain of the new iMac.

In fact, connecting the wires between hardwares would be another challenge, it is because space inside the CRT-shaped Console is very limited. We have to use as least wires as possible to seize every milli-meter inside the Console.

Apart from making a CRT-shaped Console, we also retain the video board inside the iMac. By doing so, the modify iMac will be more resemble to the original one. However, this improvement comes with the expense of a heavier iMac.

Related Articles:

iMac G3 Mod - What is iMac G3?
iMac G3 Mod - iMac G3 "i7": an iMac G3 with i7 CPU

iMac G3 Mod - The LCD Panel

iMac G3 Mod - The Side Panel

iMac G3 Mod - Its Innards

Written by: Erik Siivel (@siivel.com)

Modder | Producer | Blogger | Youtuber 

Email: siiveldotcom@gmail.com

iMac G3 Mod - The Side Panel

Just finished making the Side Panel of iMac G3 i7 Version 2.0. Compare with the Version 1, this version has greater connectivity ability.

(1) Mic Jet;

(2) 3.5mm Stereo Jet;

(3) Firewire Port (could be changed to USB 3.0);

(4) and (6) USB 3.0;

(5) a Thunderbolt Cord; and

(6) Gigabite Ethernet.

Mic and speaker jets are new features of Version 2.

If you still have vintage devices like iSight Camera, iPod Gen 1-3 ..., you still need a FireWire Port, or just dropped it.

As there is no "female" Thunderbolt Port available in the market (unless being disassembled from a Thunderbolt device), the Thunderbolt Jet has no choice but to be built this way.

Related Articles:

iMac G3 Mod - What is iMac G3?
iMac G3 Mod - iMac G3 "i7": an iMac G3 with i7 CPU

iMac G3 Mod - The LCD Panel

iMac G3 Mod - The Side Panel

iMac G3 Mod - Its Innards

Written by: Erik Siivel (@siivel.com)

Modder | Producer | Blogger | Youtuber 

Email: siiveldotcom@gmail.com

iMac G3 Mod - iMac G3 "i7": an iMac G3 with i7 CPU

The original meaning of iMac G3 refers to the all-in-one desktop computer produced by Apple computer during 1998 to 2003 with a PowerPC G3 processor.

As a product of more than a decade. What can we make use of it in 2015?

(1) it is still a perfect tool for word processing.

(2) it can be used as a music player.

Anything else?

Honestly speaking, even if its hardware is still in good condition, its specification is unfit to meet our needs these days. Nowadays, computers need to handle more complex tasks, such as, backup data of mobile devices, edit and play HD movies, storage of photos, entertainment... Some tasks even need to implemented wirelessly, like sending media messages, syncing data with iCloud, and so on.

If we still want it to be our perfect companion, why don't we upgrade its hardware to meet this goal? Accordingly, we need to treat the iMac G3 housing as an ordinary computer case, in which the elements inside would be replaced and upgraded with latest ones.

iMac G3 "i7" is an integration of old with new elements. We replace the PowerPC G3 logicboard of iMac G3 with an Intel i7 logic board. The outlook of the iMac G3 has no change, but there is "a big change" inside. Instead of calling this modified machine iMac G3, we name it as "iMac G3 i7".

Up to this moment (March 2015), the iMac G3 i7 could be upgradable to the highest possible specification of 4GHz Intel Quad Core i7 with 32GB memory. 

Related Articles:

iMac G3 Mod - What is iMac G3?
iMac G3 Mod - iMac G3 "i7": an iMac G3 with i7 CPU

iMac G3 Mod - The LCD Panel

iMac G3 Mod - The Side Panel

iMac G3 Mod - Its Innards

Written by: Erik Siivel (@siivel.com)

Modder | Producer | Blogger | Youtuber 

Email: siiveldotcom@gmail.com

iMac G3 Mod - The LCD Panel

The iMac G3 has a translucent plastic case. in our opinion, when upgrading its hardware, if the original inward structure could be preserved at the same time, as if nothing has been changed inside, it would be so cool~

To achieve this goal, we have made a CRT-shaped Console for the iMac G3 as a storage for logic-boards, hard-disk, fan, wires and cables.

The front portion is the 15" LCD with 1024x768 resolutions whereas the rear, the CRT Console.

Related Articles:

iMac G3 Mod - What is iMac G3?
iMac G3 Mod - iMac G3 "i7": an iMac G3 with i7 CPU

iMac G3 Mod - The LCD Panel

iMac G3 Mod - The Side Panel

iMac G3 Mod - Its Innards

Written by: Erik Siivel (@siivel.com)

Modder | Producer | Blogger | Youtuber 

Email: siiveldotcom@gmail.com