Scavenging aluminum from iMac case?

[cdlynch]

I might have access to a completely dead 24" iMac, and I'm eyeing the case and screen protector for potential raw materials.

The screen cover (held on with magnets, also scavengable) might make a couple of pretty tough pickguards if it can be drilled and cut without cracks forming. If so I'd sand and paint the underside.

The aluminum directly below the screen is wide enough for a few control plates, and the edges might work as inlay material. The big L-shaped stand looks thick enough for bridge parts if it's not hollow. I'm at a loss for what to do with the curved back, and I'll have to think about copper heat pipe uses and design elements possible with the cooling fins. That might be a stretch.

I'd have to mess with a piece of the aluminum to get a feel for the grade of material it is, and what happens when you get below the finely textured finish.

Has anyone already explored this area? I didn't find anything in search, and I realize there might be a good reason for that.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Dunno. AFAIK the stand is solid. Most of mine are still running to one extent or another (one has a dead display, at the display driver [so an external monitor won't work either] but I have it working remotely.) I do have a crap-load of G3/4 Powermacs and eMacs, but have found limited uses for the parts.

Based on chips and cracks (without the whole thing shattering) I doubt the screen cover is tempered, so you can probably cut and drill it with care and proper tooling (I'm fond of Remington grit-edge for a saw, but that may be a thing of the past by now.)

 

[cdlynch]

I doubt the screen cover is tempered

Oh, if that cover is glass I don't think I'd want to use it for pickguards! I'm mostly interested in the aluminum anyway, and there's plenty of that.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Oh, if that cover is glass I don't think I'd want to use it for pickguards! I'm mostly interested in the aluminum anyway, and there's plenty of that.

I seem to recall that we had one guy on here wanting to use glass for a fretless fingerboard (though he had some other "odd" preconceptions about necks) and you might be able to cut a long enough strip for that. I'm fairly certain it is actual glass.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I seem to recall that we had one guy on here wanting to use glass for a fretless fingerboard (though he had some other "odd" preconceptions about necks) and you might be able to cut a long enough strip for that. I'm fairly certain it is actual glass.

Wasn't me on the fingerboard but there was a guy when I lived in Idaho, Ned Evett I think, spelling could be wrong, who played fretless guitars with glass fingerboards. Got to talk to him once or twice. He said they had experimented with bass but the glass didn't get along with roundwounds very well.