My Apple iWipe

The new Apple iWipe in action

One of my co-workers was giving away and old Atari 800XL and Macintosh SE case. He had been planning to do a mini-ITX project, but had never gotten around to it. Always wanting an excuse to tinker with something, I decided to take them off of his hands.

Well, as soon as I saw the Mac SE case, I realized that this one had the most potential. So this weekend, I bought a few things at Home Depot and got started making my Apple-powered, wireless, portable toilet paper dispenser -- the iWipe.

The whole project took a couple of hours and cost about $15.

Step 1: Remove the metal brackets in the SE
There were still some metal brackets inside the case, so I had to get those out first. Using a T15 and a Philips head screwdriver, I removed the 7 or 8 screws holding the brackets in place.

Step 2: Clean the case
The case still pretty grimy, so I soaked it in some warm soapy water for about 10 minutes. This loosened up all of the dirt and I was able to rinse it clean

Step 3: Paint the case
Because Apple has gotten all glossy white on us lately, I figured the SE needed a new paint job. So I painted the inside a metallic silver (to match the toilet paper holder) and the outside a gloss white.

Step 4: Mount the toilet paper holder
Once the paint had dried, I used a heavy-duty Super Glue gel to mount the toilet paper holder to the case.

Step 5: Create a faux screen
I used a transluscent binder that I picked up at Target ($1.39) to create a screen for the SE. After I cut it to size, I super glued it into place.

Step 6: Installing the first roll
I inserted a roll of toilet paper into the iWipe and slid the front of the case closed.

Voila! The new Apple iWipe!

Check out more photos

UPDATE: Check out a clip of the iWipe in action over at Vimeo.

UPDATE #2: Check out the photo gallery on TechRepublic.