“The 12 Days AFTER Christmas” Giveaway: Day 21 – A DIY delight: USB Drive enclosure and Tools
This contest is closed. Congrats to faithful Macenstein reader Connor.
On the Twenty First Day After Christmas, Macenstein gave to you (or, more accurately, gave you a chance to win…) an OWC Express USB drive enclosure and a NewerTech 11-Piece Portable Toolkit to help you build it!
Yes, there’s nothing quite like the geeky satisfaction that comes from building your own stuff. Sure, it usually doesn’t work as well, isn’t as sturdy, and ultimately often costs you more than the store-bought version, but building your own gear makes you appear smart to your friends, and you can’t put a price on that!
So to that end we have two geeky items up for grabs today to help you get started on your way to DIY geekdom. First up we have the OWC Express 2.5″ Portable USB 2.0 Enclosure for SATA NoteBook HDs, an easy DIY project that will help you add portable, USB-powered storage to your Mac.
Add a 2.5″ drive from an upgrade or build your own with a new drive. Pocket-sized USB bus powered ventilated enclosure for 2.5″ drives. Offering the ultimate combination of style and value in portable data storage and backup.
Of course, no TRUE Do-It-Yourselfer would be caught dead without a spudger, and we’ve got you covered there too! Behold the The Newer Technology 11-Piece Portable Toolkit
Toolkit Contains:
Straight Blade 1.8mm
Straight Blade 3.0mm
Phillips #00
Phillips #2
Torx T6
Torx T8
Torx T10
Scissor Clamp
Tweezers
(2) Nylon Pry Tools (aka “Spudgers”)*
To enter: There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction that comes from building your own stuff. So to enter, leave us a comment telling us “What’s the best thing you’ve ever made? (without help)” Did you build your own computer or hovercraft? Or is the best thing you ever made that slopey, misshapen coil pot in 1st grade for Mother’s Day? Winners will be picked randomly 7 days later and notified (kind of like in The Ring, only with less killing… we hope). Open to ALL readers WORLD-WIDE. Good luck, and thanks for reading Macenstein! (Oh, and be sure to enter ALL our “12 Days AFTER Christmas” Giveaways!)
Please note: Comments may take a while to show up, please do not double-post. Thanks!
A doomsday machine
A Heathkit robot. Almost burned out my soldering iron by the time I’d finished.
a graphics terminal emulator for obsolete WANG hardware.
A Table
my own darkroom. it was so… well, dark.
I built a stereo amp from parts bought with the money I ever earned as a 16 year old in my first summer job. Lasted years and finally I passed it on to my parents.
model rocket
my wireless network
the death star, but that was a long time ago in a universe far, far away…
Actually, my best project to date, before I start finishing our basement, building a deck, recording studio, etc, is this audio mastering desk. I found the legs on the side of the road (solid steel- f’in-A!) and build the rest out of 3/4″ birch plywood and 1 1/2″ half-round walnut edging.
It puts my studio monitors in the perfect position, and lets me slide my 88-key hammer-action MIDI keyboard in and out from underneath the work surface, giving me plenty of room for non-audio work.
Here’s the keyboard: http://files.me.com/daniel.bargen/yjikmu
The plan views: http://files.me.com/daniel.bargen/b28ekc
(Please excuse the dims- they were for construction)
Some Elevations (note the sliding tray): http://files.me.com/daniel.bargen/a9bqm8
and if you’re not geeked out enough yet, here’s a detail of how the legs come on and off: http://files.me.com/daniel.bargen/8nm0ao
my computer desk – out of mismatching parts from an old office building junk sale
Best thing I ever made: College dorm bunk bed suite – many good memories at that place! We rigged up everything between 2 joining rooms, one for entertainment and the other for sleeping and studying. Some of this included making a pipe frame for the bunks; hooking up some box fans with twine for ceiling fans; running some extra coax cable and hooking up every existing video game system. All this met within the guidelines for our school’s dorm “decorating” policies, the biggest one being we couldn’t add any extra holes in the wall. …best dorm room on campus!
Best thing in progress: home theater pc – budget is killing me right now. I’m having to buy things piece by piece and technology is advancing quicker than my budget can keep up.
i built my kids a backyard play set. surprisingly it is still standing after 5 years.
An outdoor pizza oven.
I made all new kitchen cabinets for my parent’s house while I was in high school wood-shop.
I made some awesome hungarian-style shelves, custom-sized to fit the wall in my bedroom.
I made a king size lofted bed. It was 6 feet off the ground. Perfect for an efficiency that needs a bedroom and an office.
House on the Adriatic sea, with my father
A Desk…
I built an rc car. That was awesome, until I wrecked it.
a lego fortress, and not one of those packaged ones!
Clay model of the Great Wall of China.
a relationship 🙂 if that counts.
I made a little ferrari out of wood.. even painted it!
red, of course
BACON!!
built lots of things…
recently built a playmobile castle from craigslist and no instructions on Christmas Eve so my son could be amazed on Christmas morning
that was very satisfying
even if in his zeal to unwrap it he knocked part of it down
a website
Money
I built a similar to macmini computer for m parents 🙂 and they love it!!!
I built an SD card adapter for my gamecube so I could write a homebrew OS for it.
I made a blacklight out of ultraviolet LEDs and LEGOs.
I built my own computer when i was 6 years old
I made up my mind.
A triangular, corner table.
A wood frame with a shelf and the back is cut out with a Apple logo mirror
My 2 kids
a rabbit! well, not the animal, but prepared as a meal. Mmmm bunny
easymac.
A hockey puck with LEDs that that could be turned on or off.
I built a house… for barbies
I think it may have to be my latest deck….
Designed my house. It was awesome…until my ex got it in the divorce 🙁
My two daughters
I make wicked BBQ tilapia!
My mac mini home theater setup
A grilled cheese sandwich!
I made a replica of a fairly famous ceiling lamp out of old Ikea lamps
well i’ve built several houses, a space station, space police department and some medieval castles (all lego)… some computers for my relatives, 2 or 3 hackintoshes and a home made USB fan
even when hammering a nail neatly into the wall I am fully satisfied and happy.
An iPhone OS theme based on Mac OS X. Complete with 2D and 3D docks.
I made the greatest pancakes last year. They were awesome. Trust me.