iPlanter

Let me preface this blog post with a disclaimer and also a possible plea. I am not trying to infringe upon Apple’s world domination and claim to the prefix ‘i’, so please, Steve Jobs, do not sue me for every penny I don’t have!
Now that’s dealt with, onto the blog!

Sitting at home, one day, I was day dreaming about my next planter project. I am trying to find weird and wonderful places and objects in which to plant flowers and as my eyes panned across the room, they settled on an old, broken, no longer working G4 PowerMac.
My creative brain immediately kicked into gear. I knew that it would be a waste to just dump the thing at the local waste disposal site as it would make an ace thing to stick plants or flowers in.

I adjourned to the workshop and set about removing all the now useless electronics. I didn’t want to just rip the guts out willy nilly as I’m sure I can make something out of them, eventually. I also kept all the screws, too, as it’s never a bad idea to have a wide selection of fixings.
The huge aluminium heat sink was first, then the motherboard, then the power supply and then all the final bits like the hard drive. This left a rather empty space which I would soon fill with soil and plants. Well, someone else will fill it with that stuff. I’m a good craftsman but I’m not no botanist!
The next job was to remove the top plastic cover and mark out where I would be cutting a hole in the top. This would be another chance to get my angle grinder out. Any excuse...
By cutting a hole in the top I knew that I would mess with the locking mechanism on the side panel. This would mean I’d have to find a way to keep the side panel closed. Cable ties solved this problem. Wonderful invention is the cable tie. Solves many fixing problems. Top tip!
I marked a rectangle on the top that left a good solid border of the metal frame and broke out the cutting disc.
*Safety Alert*
Remember folks, safe use of power tools is a must. Ensure all power cables are away from any cutting device, wear the appropriate safety gear such as goggles and ear defenders and ensure that there’s no chance of the sparks igniting anything.
Safety alert over!

Once the hole had been cut and the edges smoothed, I looked at my handy work. Something was missing. I could envision plants being in the now gutted G4 but there were too many holes in the box. Ventilation holes, connection ports, etc. I gave it some thought and decided upon a removable box design. Using some left over ship lap tongue and groove and some 30mm square pine, I constructed a quick box, threw some rope handles on to the ends of the pine posts and inserted it into the G4.
Voila, the iPlanter is finished.