Ever since I first heard of Macquariums back in high school, I have wanted one.
With time the desire fell to the back of my head.
That was until I watched the Apple/Mac documentary “Welcome to Macintosh”.
For some reason it gave me the desire for a Macquarium again.
Now that I am older and I am not a poor high school kid I thought I would finally make one.
It would also get me from out from behind the computer monitor, while still being geeky.
(Plus every now and then I really enjoy working building things (that aren’t computer programs))
So I started searching Google to find the best process for making one.
This lead me to the following site:
http://home.comcast.net/~jleblanc77/cube/
While the G4 Cube was not a huge success for Apple, I have always been a fan of it from a design stand point.
So now I knew what I wanted to do.
I used Carrie Ann & Joe’s site as a template, since theirs worked and looks great.
Then it was on to eBay to find a Cube.
I was able to find a Cube that was cheaper then the rest, as it had no cables and had not been tested so they could not guarantee that it worked.
Since all I really needed was the casing, it did not matter if the actual computer part worked or not.
I was able to pick it up for $100, and I am going to repost the “innards” on eBay to get some of that back.
I was a little upset when I got the cube as it had some scratches that did not show in the eBay picture, but they were still minor enough to not make the case unusable. (in fact you can’t really see them in the final project unless you are up close)
My first step was to try disassemble the cube.
The main innards come right out, as Apple designed it so you could access the components to add RAM, exchange the hard drive, etc)
Next was the metal casing that was connected to the shell.
This also was very easy, as there are only a few screws that connect them, and keep it all hanging within the casing.
Then I cleaned the casing and tried to buff out some of the scratches (making a couple of them on the back worse in fact…)
That was my sign to stop before I did something I would be mad at myself for.
Then it was off to the hardware store.
I purchased myself a Dremel and the Plexiglass for the bottom.
The only piece of Plexiglass that was the thickness I wanted, was larger then I needed, but it was cheap and I knew I had to cut it to size anyways. (This turned out to be a good thing)
I then traced the bottom of the cube on the plexiglass with a dry erase marker, and started cutting the process.
As I had never used the Dremel before, the bottom did not turn out as I wanted, but thought I could sand it down.
So I used the Dremel sanding wheel and started sanding it down and then tried placing it within the Cube to make sure it was correct. (The inside tappers as it moves from the bottom to the top, so the trace is even too large)
However I was VERY unhappy with how it turned out.
The corners had huge gaps which I knew would not work.
Luckily as I stated before had extra plexiglass.
This time I took a different route.
I got a Jig Saw and traced the inside of the cube instead of the outside so there would be less to sand down.
Half way threw cutting out the new piece I knew this one was turning out even worse.
On to try 3…
I went back to the Dremel for this attempt, and just tried to go slower and be more accurate.
This piece was better but still not what I was hoping for.
Since this one was better I thought maybe I could fix it with sanding.
I went with manual sanding this time, as I had less to sand down and it would be more accurate.
This time I took my time more and started a sanding and then testing placement process.
I left it a little larger then the taper required, to help guarantee a tight fit.
It was so tight that it took a lot of attempts to get it into place and level, but when I got it right it was in there tight and the corners ended up fitting really well.
I then used clear liquid nails to attach the bottom, on both the bottom and top of the bottom piece and let that dry for 24 hours.
Then I used a drill bit with the Dremel to drill 3 small nail size holes on the back into the case and the bottom piece.
Then 2 holes on each side.
One side more towards the front and one side more towards the back.
I then placed liquid nails into the holes and inserted the nails into the holes, and lightly hammering the nails into place.
Then it was time to wait another 24 hours of drying time.
Next up was clear aquarium safe sealant.
I placed this across the top and bottom of the bottom piece, and over the nail heads.
And then more waiting time for drying, and then another round of cleaning to remove any excess “goo”.
That was it!
Here are some pictures of some the basic Cubequarium with fish, and then the final product.
