Coffee table made from old computer parts

This coffee table made from old computer parts is both pretty and geeky.

It's mainly made up of boards/drives from old Intergraph 6000 series machines built in the late 80s early 90s. They had nice big boards. It was a good way to keep around my first real computer after I could no longer find parts to keep it working, an Intergraph 6880 with Edge II graphics. I learned computer modeling, rendering and animation on it and think of it as a mentor. There are also old 2800 baud modem parts and other random parts collected over the years.
No real pattern other than just getting it all to fit together like a puzzle. The LED lights along the perimeter worked out better that I had hoped. I have it wired so it automatically goes on when it gets dark.

The News is Broken [via Make]

I'm a contributing editor here at Boing Boing. I also have a blog (TokyoMango), a book (Urawaza), and I freelance for Wired, Make, the NY Times Magazine, PRI's Studio360, etc. I'm @tokyomango on Twitter.

MORE: Gadgets

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Art

Kind of nice looking with the lights and all- Like some kind of futuristic industrial cityscape.

I really like it!
GuyInMilwaukee

Hot damn! I just hit the geek triple crown. Featured on Make, Gizmodo and BoingBoing all in one day. I’ll dream geeky dreams tonight.
- wrybread
  
  Congrats, I’m thoroughly jealous of both that accomplishment, and of that table. Sweet bejeebus, nice nice nice job. I refuse to promise that I won’t steal this idea sometime in the future. And the LEDs are a super nice touch, as is them turning on when its dark.
  
  Did you use tri-color LEDs? Would be super cool to be able to change the colors. I just put these things in my RV and couldn’t recommend them any higher:
  
  http://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=486
  
  Used this controller, which has an RF remote:
  
  http://cgi.ebay.com/Wireless-RGB-LED-Light-Controller-RF-Remote-12V-Dimmer-/320564066517?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aa31b78d5
  
  Would be extra super bad-ass to use an Arduino-based controller so it could react to sound, temperature, proximity, or whatever…
- dculberson
  
  Congrats! I saw it and knew I had seen it before – you had posted about it in the comments here a few months back. I’m glad to see it finally get more coverages.
  
  @Lobster: Absolutely not! The black walnut wood is the best part, and the fact that it was milled on site from a tree he cut down makes it even better. Plastic would look c-h-e-a-p.
  - GuyInMilwaukee
    
    Thanks… I actually submitted to MakeZine and BoingBoing right after I completed it but had no bites. It wasn’t until I commented on another piece of circuit-board furniture with a link at MakeZine did it get picked up. The best part is reading about people wanting to start their own DIY project for the first time based on this. That made me smile.
defunctdoormat

I imaged something different when I read “Coffee Table made from old computer parts’. I thought the table would be made of computer parts! This looks like a coffee table with parts inside of it. Still neat and all, but not what I pictured.

When I leave out my computer parts on the coffee table, I just get told to get rid of them. I’m kinda jealous, that’s all…
Anonymous

Its steampunk from the future.
Anonymous

very cool. like a silicon aquarium
Mark Crummett

I want one that actually still works as a computer. Gives new meaning to “desktop computer.”
Anonymous

very interestingï¼
InsertFingerHere

That is goddamn art … Want. Bad.

Wonder how you could power it without a cord though.

This looks more like a display case of tech.
InsertFingerHere

Actually, looks more like the crypt Han Solo’s carbonite slab would be kept in.
Nadreck

Looks like a 2001 monolith with the maintenance hatches open. Either that or a cyborg-vampire’s coffin.
styrofoam

2400 baud modem.
28800 baud modem.

Says the guy that’s got a shrinkwrapped 3c509B on his desk.

Although I wish I had it lying on my computer-themed coffee table. Gorgeous.
Lobster

I think I’d like it better with plastic instead of wood, or at least black wood.
Anonymous

Looks like a toxic waste dump to me, though I would gladly have it in my living room.
jamiethehutt

Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated – but right after we finish having our coffee…
Anonymous

That is so cool. I would purchase something like this indeed!