Apple G3 Disassembling

Using my sonic screwdriver, I disassembled the Apple G3 down to the metal chassis. As you can see it is just metal riveted together. Without the plastic coverings, it has a post-apocalyptic modern look about it, that maybe Steven Spielberg could use it in his next film. In its time, the Apple G3 was a marvel of engineering and even today, you can see that a lot of thought went into its design. Although, I think I could have done better job.

Borg Snaps

Here are some quick snaps, the way the Borg would see. I had to work hard at disabling the focus and reducing the light level to get these...

This Apple G3 has a strange cooling exhaust system, which is supposed to blow the exhaust air through holes in the base. However, most of the air escapes back into the case.

The power supply unit is the same as that used on ATX style PC computers. All the connectors are the same as well.

There is this metal drive cage, which sits on a bulkhead type shelf, which runs along the length of the case.

Here is another view of the inside with the power supply removed.

There are these raised metal tabs along the edge which will need to be flattened otherwise they will short the motherboard from underneath.

These are the original standoffs, which were of no use for an ATX style motherboard.

There is a G3 sticker on the metal chassis, which is removable, however I decided to leave it there.

This cooling ventilation system is the most awful I have seen because it is so far away from the holes on the base that all the air remains trapped inside the case. The reason why this computer worked was due to the excellent Motorola processor, which NASA used on the Mars Rover Curiosity.

There is a thick translucent plastic, which remains between the metal chassis and the motherboard for protection.

This is a very long IDE parallel cable for connecting the CDROM drive to the motherboard.

These appear to be PCI style sockets of the same shape and size. More importantly, their cut out holes is the same size and pitch used in ATX style cases.

The cooling fan attached to this metal plate blows air through the sides as well.

This appears to be a standard connector used on PC as well.

I removed all the plastics, which headed for the kitchen sink for a good cleaning.

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