Transform a dead Time Capsule into a handsome gift box

John Brownlee ()

Screen shot 2009-12-09 at 9.29.54 AM

With Time Capsules epidemically failing after an average of 18 months and 22 days, it might be time to start thinking about an alternative use for your pristinely albino, Apple-branded router once its body squirts out its last breath of 802.11-n ectoplasm.

Why not turn it into a lovely gift box? Over at Instructables, there’s a handy little tutorial on how to convert a Time Capsule into an ornamental box worthy of display, simply by prying it open, gutting it, then adding hinges and a silk cushion.

Not the most revolutionary use for an old Time Capsule’s casing, certainly, but this would be great presentation for, say, an iPod Touch gifted to a loved one later this month, and it can even be reused as a jewelry box or even a humidor (for cigars or the disembodied fingers of people who owed you money, you decide).

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About the author

John BrownleeJohn Brownlee is news editor here at Cult of Mac, and has also written about a lot of things for a lot of different places, including Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, AMC, Geek and the Consumerist. He lives in Cambridge with his charming inamorata and a tiny budgerigar punningly christened after Nabokov's most famous pervert. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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  • Charli

    “epidemically failing”?

    so you have some numbers to back that up. What percent have failed and what does it take to be an epidemic.

    And real numbers not some Nielsen-esque best guess. Real sales counts, real failure counts, real failure timelines.

  • Josh

    Nielsen ratings are based on statistically sound methodologies. The fact that Time Capsules have a lower-than-expected lifespan is pretty well demonstrated. Google and a minute or two will get you things like this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/nov/04/apple-time-capsule-failures-early.

  • eLi

    Dude I love Mac and everything apple. But the Tolime Capsule was and epic fail, I purchased one and within nine months it gave out calle apple said to take it to the apple store, so fine I said you know what I’ll just buy another one it’s an apple product so I did and a couple a months no Internet again I don’t know why but the Airport Extreme has always worked fine it’s the time capsule that gave me all this problems.

  • Robert

    Hi, just for the record, you can repair your broken time capsule if you want to. Do not make a gift box of it, that is a waste of time. The best solution is to remove the internal power supply from the time Capsule, and hook it up to an external power supply.

    Do you want to know how? and do it yourself?

    Read: Ray Haverfield, step by step tutorial

    http://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modems/apple-time-capsule-repair

    It is not that hard, I am no wizz kid or techno man, and it just worked fine for me, my time capsule is working again and not just for another 18 month but for years to come .

    Best regards
    Robert

  • John

    I wish this could be done with the range of airport express units that all has just died after round about 18 months after purchase in my home.

    I am on my fourth one now, and so far it’s been alive for 2 years now (it’s the N version, maybe thats why..)

    Most expensive wireless network I’d ever had, my old INTEL wireless gateway that I bought 2001, is still up and running and working just fine, after 8-9 years 24/7 service…

  • UncleFoobar

    Noise noise NOISE NOISE NOISE.

    Kids: get your facts straight:

    - failed power supplies
    - NO FAILURE of HDDs (this matters)
    - during Bad Caps era

    Only an idiot would not just fix
    the power supply / get repaired.

    Foob Has Spoken

  • http://tomorriscat.ecrater.com/ ceebee

    Well at least it’s being reused instead of sitting at a landfill, taking up space.

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