Apple Toaster

The next step is pretty easy, just cut a slot up the back for the lever to stick out of. Center it and make it wide enough for the lever. The part that was hard was doing it, I ha sure others would have the right tools for the job but I ended up making two cuts with a hacksaw then remove the center.  Be sure to use the back of the G4 Cube as there is extra reinforcement there. I know this picture looks rough but I cleaned it up with a file so the finished looks better.

With the slot cut I can put the internal into the case and get an idea how it fits. Unfortunately it is still to tight but the offending piece is the fastener for the magnet.

This is a simple fix though because there is allot of excess and there is a slot on the piece to bend the metal into (after you lop off the tabs and shape it a little)

One other thing that did not fit in the G4 Case is the controls for light dark… I think I will have to put the controls on the bottom (keeping with the Apple function over form mentality).

The end result is beautiful and it is really starting to come together. Here is it all in one piece, you can see it is a little sticky but I am sure I can fix that. I think I need to widen the slot just a little bit… and grease it up of course.

The part that runs through the unit and holds the bottom of the bread needs to be chopped off to fit in the Apple G4 Case. There is another function to consider here and that is the mechanism that operates the little holders that come in from the sides and squeeze the bread.  This amounts to needing some type of cross bar at the two ends with a hole in it so the wire that operates the bread clamp can go through.

I trimmed this right before the excess upward tab that was left over from the longer toaster.the metal is pretty soft so you can just score it then bend it until it breaks.

Next we are using a piece of metal let over from one of my 4 toaster (I kind of lost track). it is just a little strip and we are going to bend it into an arc and drill through the ends of the guides and attach. This will have a small hole for the wire from the spring mechanism. the wire goes through the hole and then is bent so that when the leaver is pushed down the wire will get pushed down as well.

Next up is the simple task of securing the cross bar that the center heating panel attaches to. This is pretty self explanatory, just drill two 1/8 inch holes at each end through the end pieces and screw in some computer screws. this makes the unit more rigid and keeps the heating elements in the center of the square.

Cut the slot for the top of the toaster to stick out of the commuter case. This is pretty much just a straight line from the sides of the existing center opening. When cutting the opening you should remove the metal bracket on the inside, it will go much faster and I needed to remove it eventually anyway.  Remove the plastic top (will put it back after it is done).

As you can see it does fit into the computer case quite well but I did have to trim it up a bit more. There is some excess on the non lever side that I took off as well. and after this point it just needs some touching up here and there to fit perfectly.

The side panels fit on pretty easily, holes need to be cut to allow the wires out of the enclosure at the ends. Drill the hole then Demel on both he top and bottom locations.

(Top)        

(Bottom)   

The top tabs and openings match up and just needs a little extra push and that’s it. The second tab is pretty simple, I just lined up a screw driver to where the slot should be and punched it through with a hammer.  The middle tab slot ended up just below where the side line gets greater in size. The bottom also lines up well and just needs a little extra push.

I now have the center element in place. Putting this thing together is a bit of a pain, all the pieces have to be just right place and all at the same time. Getting the center heating panel completed was the hardest part so far,  the heating elements are so fragile and the cardboard like material breaks so easy I am four toasters in on this project because of the panels…The center one specifically. The panel attaches  to to metal pieces that in turn connect to the sides. The bottom is easy because it is the same process of drilling a hole and sticking it through and bending the tabs. The top piece I will have to come up with a better way to attach it because the tabs do not exist on the donor ends.

I am also in the clear for the retaining grates not touching any of the elements in the center. There is not much clearance but it is safely out of the way. When I settle on a way to attach the top metal piece I will be certain to center it so nothing touches.

Got the toasters mechanically merged for the most part and it will fit with little room to spare. It looks a little rough but the next step is getting the heat panels and electrical system in place.

The last couple of steps that led up to this point was moving the mounting slots for the non lever end of the toaster closer to accommodate the shorter cage.

Next step was to shorten the base to fit into the Apple Cube case ( then internal case). Both ends needed to be tightened up. A little bit was taken off the lever side then a bund of the non lever side. The lines are in blue for the cut.

Here is the shortened base.

Combing the toasters is not going to be as easy as I had hoped. So far, the main end parts that hold the guides in place will need to be relocated. The new holes are simple but the guide area that allows the grates that clamp down on the bread are a little trickier.  The parts I am going to use are the one on the right.

Here is the outline on the part that will need to be modified. The boxes are marked on the top and the holes are the ones drilled on the bottom. To create the odd shaped holes at the top I used a Dremel tool with a grinding bit to take out the areas that drilling did not get and to clean it up.  I will also need the Dremel when it is time to modify the Apple Cube.

Here is the compact guides in the newly created holes.

After this step I can put it together to asses how it will fit into the case and it looks like a go. In the picture below there are a few things that will change. The base from the larger unit will be cut down taking off all excess. 

I went to the Thrift store the other day in search for another toaster for the Case Mod. The thrift store was very disappointing and I won’t be going back to one any time soon… so many things wrong with thrift stores. They were selling IDE cables for a dollar… seriously … if IDE cables are worth a dollar I am sitting on a gold mine..

After that disappointment I went to Sears looking for toasters again. This time I went with the idea that the space between the cage where the bread goes and the beginning of the lever had to be an extremely small distance and the surface from top to bottom on the end had to be flat. This mindset really paid off. The model I found was another Oster. (Model: 6325)

Now this toaster was designed with a longer cage for waffles and such and the cage alone would not fit in the cube. Notice how short the distance from the beginning of the slot and the end of the toaster where the lever is.

  The internals of this toaster are a jackpot, everything is modular and appears to be easily moved. The quality of this toaster is much higher than the other Oster I got from Walmart just a few days earlier ..This one has an all metal shell and is now 10$ cheaper. Out of the two, if I were to buy one for toasting alone this would be the one.. The only thing the other one has going for it is that it has a compact area where the bread goes.

Ok, the first toaster (Oster model #6315-000-000) I got from WalMart for like 29$ and it really looked promising for this project.  This was one that I was already thinking may work. The best feature that it has for this case mod project is that the area that receives the bread ( I will now call the cage) is very compact and has a metal chrome top that will look nice as the top piece. The weakness is everything else. Notice how nicely the outline of this toaster’s guts appear to fit unfortunately this is misleading and I will need to find another toaster to add other parts to make a even more compact toaster.

The push down mechanism and controls take up to much space and as it is do not fit into the cube.

I did not know this butt apparently toasters are held down by an electro magnet and this implementation does not allow for it to be moved.

This is just a start and I am liking the possibilities.