I’m a bit of a do-it-yourself kinda guy. My dad taught me that, mostly with the woodworking that he does, and then later, with the custom car work I do today with steel and fabrication. I like giving myself little projects to do here and there, from the impossible to the fun weekender deal. The other day, I took apart my broken Time Capsule and removed the hard drive, for example. That’s why when I see cool projects like this one, I get a bit excited.
This all stems from the Dodo Case, which is a cool little iPad holder that looks like a Moleskine notebook, but is made with bamboo and traditional book making materials. The problem is that it’s $50, and it takes a few weeks to be built and shipped. So this guy decided to build his own based on the Dodo Case design, with a little bit of engineering and some book making skills. It all can be found on The Modern Day Pirates, with a neato step-by-step writeup.
The end result is a case that looks similar to the Dodo Case minus the routed-out bamboo, and only cost $20 in materials. It looks pretty cool too, although I would’ve stayed away from the Apple sticker because of the stealth nature of the device.
So I started thinking about my own design. What about doing the same thing but integrating in a slot for a keyboard with a door? Or hollowing out a book and installing the iPad in there, making it totally stealth? For me, that’s really the point of doing this yourself, because everyone has a case that looks like an iPad case, why not make it even more secretive and therefore theft resistant?
Either way, this is a cool trick, and I may still try it out myself. If you’re handy with the tools and have some time, this might be a good way to go.
