Mac Lack Ikea Hack

The Mac Lack Hack is made from the access panel of a 2006 Quad Core G5 and a Black Brown Ikea Lack Side table.

I’m always on the lookout for creative ways to repurpose old Mac gear.

When our old quad core G5 workhorse breathed it’s last breath I decided to craft a project that combined two of my favorite things: Apple and IKEA.

Since in middle school I’ve drooled over the IKEA catalog and dogeared countless pages of their offerings of modern style for the every day consumer.

Their popular Lack furniture lineup is the epitome of minimalism- in aesthetics, function and (of course) cost. I chose to start with the Lack Side table because it would frame the G5 inlay nicely…plus at $9.99 it was a low risk option if met with a runaway Rotozip.

Below are details and notes about the Mac Lack Hack:

1. To prep the G5 piece I took off the side access panel, unscrewed the part attached to the back and had a friend with the right tools to cut off the bottom lip to match the other edges.
2. Then I used a grinder to take off the leftover screw holes.
3. I centered the access panel on the top of the Lack table and marked the lines.
4. Then I cut the marked panel out of the Lack table. Note: I used a Rotozip with the depth adjusted as little as possible for a shallow cut. I knew what was inside the table thanks to WIRED and National Geographic but was not expecting the sides to be solid particle board. Because the G5 is rectangular, the sides extended into the reinforced areas of the table.
5. The Rotozip couldn’t handle cutting the side so we switched to a Router with a straight bit set at a shallow depth. The nice thing about that was it left two ledges for gluing the G5 panel onto. The G5 panel is the same thickness as the Lack’s veneer so the honeycomb still worked well for supporting the inlay.