Colorful Classic MacPlanters

What do you do with half a hundred old classic Macs once you've retired from building Macquariums? Here's what I did. I built MacPlanters.

Getting the Mac ready to be a planter is easier than making it into an aquarium, but still requires some work. In short, all the guts must be removed and the top cut off. I use a Dremel for the cutting.

Before painting, I like to mask the Apple logo and product and serial number tags.

The planter needs a clear front to simulate the screen. I used thin clear acrylic sheets, scored and and snapped to size. A couple of heavy objects keep the acrylic curved to fit the bezel while the glue dries. I sometimes leave this step until after painting so I don't have to mask the clear screen also.

Most of my old Macs are pretty sad looking, with lots of scuffs and old sticky and sun-fade and such. I kept a few of the best in their original finish and painted the rest. 

There is an amazing variety of spray paints these days and so I experimented with lots of different types. I also used my airbrush and meager schlock-art skills to add some fun to a few of them.

I print all sorts of color pictures to use in the planters and for the last couple years we've made a tradition replacing all the pictures shortly after the new year with pictures from the past year. I've also done groups to give away with themes as below. Note the custom diskettes I made for them also. 

The interior support can be anything that gives the pot a solid base. I use cut pieces of PVC and waffle from some old light fixtures for mine.

I think they look pretty good. Hope you enjoyed them too!