Old abandoned cable boxes. These type of things turn up all the time. I also see satellite receivers from dish and direct TV pop up at garage sales and thrift stores.



Sometimes there are torq bit security screws to reduce then likely hood of someone tampering with them. If the head is exposed a good pair of pliers is the easiest to loosen one. If you can't do that the drilling is the next step. If possible drill on too the center pin at an angle until the hole is started. Once started you can straighten the bit up and drill down the pin till it looks like the picture.



The pin that once lived in the center of this screw is no more and now can be used as a normal torx bit type screw. If there are any you bugger up badly discard those so you don't accidentally put them back in your project box and have more problems in the future trying to open your box back up.


In this case a lenses pops off the front case.





This is something found in many cases. Everything from VCR , Xbox , PlayStation , cable boxes etc. It is a RF shield that's grounded to the chassis. This must be removed to use any kind of wireless connection. Bluetooth , WiFi or and others.











Once you have removed your screws discard any you have damaged or where difficult to remove.





The back plates of residential electronics are usually twice as thick as the rest of the frame and shielding. More than likely the holes for factory connections will not meet your specific needs. You are best off cutting this panel off and replacing it with a section of plastic or even wood. Either of those materials are easy to drill new switch holes in but they do not absorb the RF signals needed by EZB and other devices. In this picture I have not done this yet because I couldn't find my cutting bit/blade

OK so I will add commentary between pictures. The security screws can easily be drilled out by a small 1/8" bit at an angle. This should be done at a slower rpm and it takes about 30 seconds to remove each screw. The inside of most cases have emf and heat shielding. The Bluetooth or WiFi signal cannot penetrate a ferris metal case. Most PC cases are a variation of galvinized steel. These absorb magnetic and radio frequency waves. So removing most the case shielding is a must.

Believe it or not permanent marker ink is not only glossy but semitransparent. A quick line here and there makes the black IR semitranslucent plastic look like there never has been any kind of logo on it.









I may mark another coat over the first one . the flash shows the letters some but it looks great in person and realistic lighting.

Thank you Josh, another construction tutorial! You make it look easy and fast ......an inspiration for new and seasoned robot builder!

This certainly helps inspire people to dig through their basements! I bet most people have suitable items that have been pushed aside and forgotten. Good Job!

Thank you , that's really the goal here is to find new use for old equipment. Ugly project boxes form the same size can cost more than 50 dollars and they look horrible. So go forth and gut something once useful and make it new again :). These particular cases I was going to use one to miniaturize the salt water tank controller into a smaller footprint and have a external power supply. Well see