New project in the oven! Classic Mac as a modern game and media station (with the original CRT glass!)

I’ve bought those 2 Macintoshes from eBay, a Classic and a Plus. Both were sold as non-working. Testing them further, I realised the Plus was just in need of new caps. The Classic, well… this guy was busted. Bad CRT, both boards in really bad shape, non-working floppy and hard drive… a disaster. BUT – the case was in really good shape as it can be seen below (left, the Classic, right, the Plus).

So, I decided to go for a project of transforming the Classic into a modern game / media station. But I wanted to keep the Macintosh Classic visual intact, so I wanted to use the CRT lens and add a LCD to the back of it. Below, you can see the CRT lens separated from the tube (I’ve used an angle grinder to cut it). There was a LOT of sanding and polishing afterwards, as the inside of the CRT lens is VERY rough surface – not see-through. I will detail the process later on.

Below you can see the lens after the sanding / polishing job. Since the glass is very strong, it took me about 3 days to get to this stage. A lot of work!

And down here you can see the test with the 8″ LCD display below it. Interested in knowing more about this project: Stay tuned!!

3 thoughts on “New project in the oven! Classic Mac as a modern game and media station (with the original CRT glass!)

  1. Hi, I’m trying to do the exact same thing with a Macintosh plus I bought that only had the CRT in it, but wasn’t sure how to get it transparent. You mentioned sanding/polishing. What exactly did you use to sand and polish it if you don’t mind me asking?

  2. Hi, I am currently doing the exact same project. I started and cut my CRT before I found your blog. I also decided to sand and polish the inner glass and was wondering if you would share how you did yours as it is really good result.

  3. Would love to know the process of sanding the interior of the CRT. Would you help me with that please?

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