I had one back in the day, and still have the screw extractor and the anti-static wrist strap. I decided to make the actual case cracker today, so here's a recap of that adventure.
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Anyone remember the Mac Cracker?
- Thread starter Lockjaw8Y9
- Start date
Pony 3201 Spring Clamp. https://amzn.to/4wNYUdE
Pull off the rubber tips. Put the lips in a vise to squish them straight. Voilà! Mini Mac Cracker.
Pull off the rubber tips. Put the lips in a vise to squish them straight. Voilà! Mini Mac Cracker.
It's good to see that thing again! When I helped close down the Apple Dealer I worked for until about 2012, the case opener is one of the things I wish I'd grabbed, especially now that I have something like two dozen Mac Classic-style machines in my collection which I'd've never dreamed of being a thing at the time. I can finesse the cases open with a large flat screwdriver and some careful urging to not leave behind pry marks, but perhaps one of David's suggested 3201 clips is in my near future. At least I got one of the long Torx drivers!
Hum, you don't need to do this. If you put a compact face down on a bed, remove the screws, and then sort of "snatch" at the sides with flat palms, the pressure pulse inside from your hands comming together combined with the resistance to acceleration of the main mass of the computer means the case releases with no chance of marks.
You only need to lift it an inch or two.
It sounds worse than it is? But basically it doesn't put any metal against the plastic.
If I didn't want to do that, you could always use a plastic spudger.
That’s what I had and have now lost.
But… welding!
That’s the deluxe version, that is!
Yeah, I've done that a few times, but some of the machines I get have been sitting in a barn/garage for 20 years untouched and they do not come apart. Sometimes they need some prying, and I'm not talking twisting the screwdriver against the crack in the case. Just simple easing apart the stuck plastic. Anyway: 3201 on order, arrival by Monday.
We actually tried these at the time but found the rounded corners often helped the thing walk out of that groove leaving marks.
Also, we were dealing with "virgin" assemblies then and a lot of the force required has to deal with how often the thing has been apart before.
The cases with the arc-metal shielding were the hardest to deal with, the coballoy ones (as most were) a bit easier.
Spreading out the force was key, hence the 150mm width of the OG ones. We often used a pair of them, one on each side which worked super well.
When at Radius we were voiding Apple's warranty by even opening them up so no marks or damage was key. The Full Page Display used the security hardware opening for the FPD connector and dealing with that install/removal was a nightmare.
I have an extra OG cracker here I would trade for a case of decent IPA if anyone in the North SF Bay Area is interested...
And even more than that. The OG one is made from a piece of piano hinge and if you look closely they have stamped numbers on them -the 2 sides are a matched pair. The raw hinge (it came in 2 meter lengths) had to be disassembled to machine that thin step, then the handle was welded on, then zinc plated and reassembled.
Yeah, I've noticed this. Mine have generally been in the family for decades and all of them had been opened before I owned them.
I have some lovely 99.9% stuff here, but suspect I'm too far away
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Had a quick look out of curiosity (again, too much sea between us) at what I have in, but I generally prefer amber or dark beers so I mostly have TEA.
@Huguenot that is AWESOME and they worked well! Thanks
Still have two of them here and one of the thin"cracker edge" is a little wavey from the handles being held together for decades.
Never thought about using two of them on those tough to open cases. Hmm
I remember some techs just pressing on the ports when yanking on the case. It worked but not so good on the ports. SMH
Either of those would do as well if you were closer, it's all west coast style out here but I'm a fan of the traditional stuff as well.
That's really nice, respect to whoever made it. Suspect she made it or it was made for her.
Nice looking tool indeed, bit of a blacksmith look to it as well. Thanks for posting the pics.
Funny; I've always used the karate chop method, and never had it not work:
- Place the Mac face down
- Unscrew the Torx screws (back in the day, I used a jeweller's flat head screwdriver that perfectly fit across the Torx star, wedged into a socket on a long-necked socket set)
- with the top of the Mac facing you, karate chop both sides of the case at the same time with the outside blades of your hands, just below the top edge of the bezel
- lift off the back of the case
