3 Simple Ways to
Share What You Make

With Instructables you can share what you make with the world — and tap into an ever-growing community of creative experts.

PhotosPhotos

Share one or more photos of a project, recipe, or whatever you've made, quickly and easily.

Step by StepStep-By-Step

Share your step-by-step photos with text instructions of what you made so others can do it too!

VideoVideo

Share your how-to video. You'll need your embed code from a video site such as YouTube.

CD sleeve from outdated electronics

CD sleeve from outdated electronics
Using a old computer keyboard you can make a thin sleeve to protect your CD or DVD from damage. Inside computer keyboards is a thin, flexible, and sturdy membrane with printed circuits on it. Older keyboards tend to have prettier colors and designs in my experience. If you have upgraded to a USB keyboard or one with a bunch of fancy function keys and can not find a taker for your old keyboard, grab a small screwdriver and see what's inside.

Making a few sleeves like this could be combined to make a retro CD wallet. Adding a "jacket" made from an old 5 1/4 inch floppy diskette gives the newer disc even more protection and also makes your CD protection quite similar to the old familiar albums.

Use of this project should attribute credit to Ryan "Zieak" McFarland and direct a link to zieak.com in addition to this Instructable.
 
Remove these adsRemove these ads by Signing Up
 

Step 1Gather materials

Gather materials
You will need just a few items to make at least one of the sleeves. Depending on the keyboard you may have enough circuit sheets for up to three compact discs.

  • Keyboard
  • Screwdriver
  • Utility knife or hobby knife
  • Cutting board
  • A square
  • Clear packing tape
  • 5 1/4" floppy disk (optional)
« Previous StepDownload PDFView All StepsNext Step »
12 comments
Apr 19, 2010. 2:54 PMTSC says:
I made one of  these before I saw This!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dec 15, 2008. 2:00 AMrimar2000 says:
Or "how protect outdated stuff with other outdated stuff" ;-) Good work.
Jul 4, 2009. 8:02 AMReCreate says:
DVDs? They aren't outdated...
Jul 4, 2009. 8:03 AMReCreate says:
Ill tell ya whats outdated,Those 5 1/2Inch floppies are outdated!
Oct 19, 2009. 10:27 AMH3xx says:
But they make some bitchin' Frisbies!! :D
Oct 19, 2009. 10:50 AMReCreate says:
:D yeah
Oct 22, 2009. 7:29 PMH3xx says:
a good project (probably impossible though) would be to take a 5.25 floppy drive and get it to read bluray discs. this way you can make your own bluray umds. I would love this, because umds have the best of both worlds when it comes to cartridges and disks. they hold large amounts of data, and can be tossed around without fear of being scratched. and using cheap plastic would make them cheaper than flash drives, so you could give em' away like burnt cds.
Oct 22, 2009. 8:54 PMReCreate says:
It would be very near impossible...(unless you are a manufacturer...)
Aug 23, 2009. 2:59 PMdiydept says:
Modernizely ,well done 5*
Jan 14, 2009. 7:48 AMrosquillo says:
What a wonderful retro look! Thanks for the idea!
Jan 6, 2009. 10:47 AMcueballmccue says:
I like it. Cool idea, and what a great use for those old floppys.

Pro

Get More Out of Instructables

Already have an Account?

close

All Steps Viewing
View all steps of an Instructable on the same page when you're a Pro Member.

Upgrade to Pro today!
264
Followers
43
Author:zieak(Zieak's site)
I like making things out of items that would have otherwise been discarded. Check out my other projects! Now a PE teacher in Mongolia! I don't have much time or even the resources to make much any m...
more »