2009 - Complete Wooden Ipod Mini

[jozaeh]

Hey everyone,
I'm a newbie here and thought i'd post some info and photos of the wooden mod I just finished on my old ipod mini. I found the forum when I did some searching way back and found the original ZapWizard wood ipod in like 2005ish (the wood ipod pioneer). I was surprised that not many wooden ipod mods can be found online?

It's by no means perfect, but it's been a super fun project for me at home. I tried to make the case completely wooden (with working clickwheel) using the internal workings of the original mini. I also wanted to make an itrip and dock for it. I've added photos to my flikr of the finished ipod as well as a photo collection of the whole making process.

I'm still wondering how I might engrave an apple logo on the back without accidentally stuffing the case up, (the hand engraving tests turned out hideous) and how to get my brain around the logics of making a working hold switch. but for now i'll just say "nobody ever uses a hold switch!".

I'm keen to see what you all think, AND if you have any tips on how to engrave the apple logo neatly or work out how to do the hold switch.

See ya!
Josh

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3303/...6402af.jpg?v=0

[jozaeh]

Hey again, i've worked out how to insert photos, so here's some shots with some descriptions:



It's handmade (with special thanks to my 8yr old dremel) from Australian red cedar, Camphor Laurel for the clickwheel, brass plates, brass screws and the guts from the first ipod i ever had.

I was given a new ipod mini for christmas and I just couldn't leave my trusty old mini to sit unused somewhere. So I decided to finally try a wooden shell mod on him that I had wanted to do for a long time.





I was looking for something to protect the wood ipod mini and I stumbled on this wonderful felt case at my local Kikki-K store. They always have great stuff.



the wooden clickwheel ended up being just as responsive as the original plastic clickwheel. I ended up shaving the clickwheel to only a couple millimetres thick, and the ipod's sensor picks up the signal no worries.

Once again, I don't have the guts to try and engrave the clickwheel's skip, pause etc icons. so i'll just say that i 'prefer' it blank for now, yep, that'll do.









I really wanted to do a complete set of accessories for the finished wood ipod mini, so this is the wooden itrip mod to go with it. Made from light Red cedar.





I really appreciated the original itrip mini's form factor to match the ipod mini, so i shaped the wood itrip to follow the lines of the wood ipod.



I gutted my original white ipod mini dock, and carved a slightly larger box to house the connector and circuitry. Even though Camphor Laurel is a bit of a pest in Australia, I loved the grain this particular piece had.



The finished wood ipod mini dock (front).



I was so happy when it all plugged in and worked fine. yes!





I wanted to not use any glue at all with the wooden shell, and fortunately i was able to secure it all together just using the brass screws. Especially because I'd like to be able to replace the ipod's battery in the future, and possibly add a higher capacity flash hard drive.

The wooden clickwheel is simply stuck down on the sensor with very thin double sided tape.




Some front, back and side shots of the finished wood Ipod mini.



Here's the links to my extra flikr photos of the ipod:

finished: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7609258...7619759688600/

making process: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7609258...7619672667429/

See ya!
Josh

[ScoobZ]

Holy cow, that's fantastic! Well done, sir.

[Chris92]

That looks Fantastic mate!! How did you manage that? Must have taken ages. I'm curious as to how you got the touch wheel to be wooden and still work

That's pretty slick, no joke

[honeybee1236]

Thought this was fantastic. Sent it to our news section here:

iLounge reader creates all-wood iPod mini, accessories
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/new...i-accessories/

[yinyang]

this really is beautiful - well done!!

[Legoman182182]

Amazing, nice one.

[ahmad]

Well done! That's incredible!

Can I ask how the scroll wheel works? It doesn't turn physically so doesn't it detect touch via some micro-electrical circult thingy from your finger?

If so, then how does that still get detected through the wood?

On the logo issue - what about searing/burning a logo into the back?

[djflippy]

Jozaeh, what a phenomenal project. Have you considered whether you could do a similar conversion for the iPhone 3G S? If you did, I would probably buy one from you.

[ZapWizard]

Hey, glad to finally see another proper wooden iPod after all these years.

I looked though your Flick page, top quality work and photos.
I like the brass end-caps. I am surprised no one called it Steampunk.

Consequently mine still is chugging along, granted with only about 30 minutes of battery power at a time.

[iFurkz]

i love it truly awesome.... your laptop looks a bit out of place now, "hint hint"

[jasoncordelle]

Quite frankly, I am astonished! The workmanship and the sheer beauty of this thing blows me away.

Well done. Hats off to you.

Your next project should be using some true quality wood like Native NZ Kauri, Rimu, Totara etc.

Now THAT would be ace!

[earldom]

So...when do you start production?

[jozaeh]

Originally Posted by ScoobZ

Holy cow, that's fantastic! Well done, sir.

Thanks ScoobZ! I'm glad you liked it, i'm still so in love with the thing.

Josh