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How I DIY fixed a Power Mac G5 Case

tevion5

tevion5

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 12, 2011
1,967
1,603
Ireland
I bought a late 2005 Power mac G5 on ebay for only €120. However, the useless delivery company damaged it in transit causing very noticeable damage to the front of the case.

S2010001.JPG

Luckily there was no damage done to any of the internals so I decided to do a crude job of the metal work. The aluminium casing is far stronger than you would imagine so simply bending it was not an option.

First I clamped it together at the front so the handle thing was temporarily bent into the proper shape.

IMG_1997.jpg

Next (and don't hate me) I drilled a hole either side of the Mac just below the broken handle.

IMG_2004.jpg

Then I put a metal rod through it and fastened it with a washer and bolt at either side before cutting off the excess.

IMG_2003.jpg

The end result was this. It isn't as perfect as new of course ;). However it is the furthest anyone has ever got in attempting to fix this kind of damage I have ever heard of, based on researching this exact issue online.

IMG_2009.jpg

Just thought I'd share my bit of DIY repair and hope this might help anyone with the same problem :D
 
Looks much worse than before "repair".
This is perfect example of really bad work.
Sorry, I had to.
 
666sheep said:
Looks much worse than before "repair".
This is perfect example of really bad work.
Sorry, I had to.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately my magic skills aren't as powerful outside of Skyrim :(

There was simply no other way to go about it, I didn't enjoy hacking at what should be such a beautiful piece of art.
 
Which shipper? If it was UPS or FedEx, everything's covered for the first $100. Should have contacted them and seen if they'd pay for repairs. UPS is especially stingy about that sort of thing, but if it was clearly their fault, you can get them to pay.

Unless, of course, it was very poorly packed, then they won't (nor should they) do anything about it... if that's the case, I hope you left negative feedback or at least gave the seller a piece of your mind. For what it costs to ship a heavy G5, they could at least put some care into packing.
 
jbarley said:
Did the shipper not offer any compensation for the damage they caused?
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They offered full refund or partial refund and keep the machine. I took the latter because they had sold it thinking it was an early 2005 with PCI, but in fact it turned out to be a late 2005 with PCIe and an Nvidia 6600 so I said nothing ;)

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Frost7 said:
Which shipper?
Click to expand...

DPD.

It was from Northern Ireland to to the Republic of Ireland so the careless folk only had a few miles to drive over land across the border...
 
I bought a Dual 2.0GHz G5 off eBay a little over a month ago and the same thing happened to me only on mine it is the bottom feet so the G5 now tips sideways:( but still works fine, I also got a partial refund it came with a retail Leopard disc and 1.5TB HD and 4GB Ram so for $90 after the refund i still figured it is worth it maybe some day i will get a new case for it, I think we need to start a thread on how to safely pack Macs for shipping:D
 
MAC MAN JW said:
I think we need to start a thread on how to safely pack Macs for shipping:D
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Ha! I agree with you there! :D

I suppose the postal companies think "Christ this is heavy, no way anything delicate is in there, might as well treat it like a slab of titanium..."
 
tevion5 said:
Unfortunately my magic skills aren't as powerful outside of Skyrim :(

There was simply no other way to go about it, I didn't enjoy hacking at what should be such a beautiful piece of art.
Click to expand...
I think your fix is just fine, and shows ingenuity, plus it does not look too bad. A good solution considering the partial refund from the shipper and the surprise model-year update.
 
Last edited:
tevion5 said:
Ha! I agree with you there! :D

I suppose the postal companies think "Christ this is heavy, no way anything delicate is in there, might as well treat it like a slab of titanium..."
Click to expand...
Seriously.

This is why I always put a premium on a Mac shipping in its original box when I buy used, if at all possible. Some people just do NOT pack that stuff properly, and shipping companies are all too happy to fire your items out of cannons or whatever it is they do at their sorting facilities.
 
tevion5 said:
Unfortunately my magic skills aren't as powerful outside of Skyrim :(

There was simply no other way to go about it, I didn't enjoy hacking at what should be such a beautiful piece of art.
Click to expand...

No offense. No magic required to do it right and more subtle.
But hey, it's your Mac, your skills and if you're proud of this "fix", there's nothing more to say. Pictures "before" and "after" are enough. At least you've brought back portability to it :p
 
666sheep said:
No offense. No magic required to do it right and more subtle.
But hey, it's your Mac, your skills and if you're proud of this "fix", there's nothing more to say. Pictures "before" and "after" are enough. At least you've brought back portability to it :p
Click to expand...

I don't know if the G5s really had any portability to begin with. Those handles hurt, and it was around 40lbs. ;)
 
666sheep said:
No offense. No magic required to do it right and more subtle.
But hey, it's your Mac, your skills and if you're proud of this "fix", there's nothing more to say. Pictures "before" and "after" are enough. At least you've brought back portability to it :p
Click to expand...

I wanted to do it as best as possible but I just just couldn't find a mention of anyone on the whole Internet of anyone that manged to make it look pretty again.

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MisterKeeks said:
I don't know if the G5s really had any portability to begin with. Those handles hurt, and it was around 40lbs. ;)
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Yeah the sheer weight of it surprised me quite a bit.

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AlbertEinstein said:
You guys can say whatever you want, but i think it's clever.:apple:
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Cheers bro :D
 
I dont understand some of the hate on this forum. You did a good job, it was broken, and now it's fixed. Although, I would paint the bolt on the end to at least match the case!
 
MisterKeeks said:
I don't know if the G5s really had any portability to begin with. Those handles hurt, and it was around 40lbs. ;)
Click to expand...

I know, I know. Few years ago, when I was servicing PowerPCs, I often had to carry G5s.

adcx64 said:
I dont understand some of the hate on this forum. You did a good job, it was broken, and now it's fixed. Although, I would paint the bolt on the end to at least match the case!
Click to expand...

If you mean my 1st comment, you seem to read more than I wrote ;)

OP brought this to the public forum (to get some opinions I presume). I don't like final effect, other posters do like. OP didn't feel offended, I think.
It's a matter of taste. Technically it could be made much better, especially handle, which didn't look like arc on "before" pic. That's all.

Feel free to report my post if you see hate there.
 
Over on insanelymac and tonymacx86 there's a load'a threads where people have fixed these "properly" by tearing down the case completely, bending the metal back into shape and re-drilling the little hex screw stand offs.

If you don't mind the aesthetics then you've done a nice and easy job!
 
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