MAKE YOUR OWN DISK BOXES
By Scope
Ever noticed the cost of a disk box?
I mean the ones costing 10 pounds
plus, with a brownish see-through lid
which shatters if dropped on anything
harder than a carpeted floor, which
has a lock that can be turned with
your fingernail and which comes in a
beautifully printed cardboard box
which probably cost more to make and
is more useful than the product
itself.
Yes? - Then what you need is a loaf
tin! The standard kitchen bread
making tin is the answer to all your
disk housing problems.
Equipment needed for the project:-
1 standard loaf tin
4 self adhesive rubber feet (black)
1 fifty cm length of mains cable
(black)
1 ten cm length of insulating tape
(black)
THE LOAF TIN - This can be acquired
from practically all kitchen shops, or
shops selling kitchen wares. At the
moment Woolworths is running a "street
value" promotion on loaf tins (Wow!
What else?) and these are available
for the bargain price of only 99p.
The loaf tin`s base measures about
19x9cm, but loaf tins do not tend to
vary much.
SELF ADHESIVE RUBBER FEET - These can
be found all over the place. Tandy
offer the sale of 12 rubber feet
(black) for 99p, so this will suffice
for 3 disk boxes. These feet are made
by 3M, and as far as I can tell, they
are identical to those used by
Commodore on the underside of the
Amiga.
50CM LENGTH OF BLACK 240V MAINS CABLE
- This is available from all hardware
stores. I recommend 3-core cable, as
this is round (this helps, but wait
for that later). You may have some
old cable knocking around, or you can
cut out a length from an appliance.
(Make sure you turn off at the mains
first!).
INSULATING TAPE - Any tape will do,
but this works best. Black insulating
tape is available at the
aforementioned retail outlets.
M E T H O D
Now that you have all the necessary
requisites, you are ready to start
making your budget diskbox. At this
point I would like to say "Here`s one
I prepared earlier", but as ASCII
won`t permit this, I`ll show you how:-
1) Grasp loaf tin and stick a self
adhesive foot on each corner of the
base.
2) Take the length of 3-core cable and
create a ring. Place the ring
inside the tin, and ensure that it
lines the base. You will probably
have a little cable left over. Cut
off excess cable (you may need
adult supervision for this part!)
and remove the cable from the tin.
3) Create a ring with the cable again,
and join the ends with the black
insulating tape. Put the ring back
inside the loaf tin.
4) Place the loaf tin (now quality DIY
diskbox) on desk, and fill with up
to fifty 3.5 inch disks!
You may ask "Why the ring of cable?".
In my experience, the inside base of
the tin is just slightly too narrow,
and this causes the disks to fit in
awkwardly, twisting about. The wire
raises the bottom of the tin slightly,
and this allows the disks to fit in
freely. 3-core cable is round and
this fits in neatly. Also, the loaf
tin will have a non-stick coating of
some kind, and this will cause the
disks to go everywhere. The wire has
a slightly rubbery texture, and this
will grip the disks sufficiently.
I now have 11 such disk boxes, and I
find them very handy. Originally, I
bought 3 tins from boots at 2 pounds
fifty each. But when I noticed the
Woolworth`s promotion, I bought a
further 8 at 99p each. With the 99p
tins, I reckon that a 50 capacity disk
box of this quality, and future
sentimental value will cost you about
one pound fifty tops. And who knows?
One day you may see fit to use the
tins for their intended purpose!
End.
