what do you need to match your "juno hamburger cell phone"? a french fry ipod of course.

i converted a french fry telephone into a carrying case for my video ipod. i had no good reason to, the idea just popped into my head when i was walking about with my ridiculously inconvenient hamburger phone. why not carry an oversized plastic french fry replica to match the equally absurd plastic hamburger. the build out was the same as the hamburger: gut the phone, cut some openings, fit the gadget, and then screw it back together. it actually works great (the case shields the sun, it has it's own usb cable ready to go), it just doesn't fit in my pocket anymore.

Step 1: Get a French Fry Phone

i bought mine through ebay. couple bucks here, couple days shipping there, and then you are back in the 80's.

Step 2: Gut It

four screws opened the phone. four more released the guts from the inside. and with a little prying i had a front, back, and the guts of a phone that i'll keep for another project.

Step 3: Cut Me Lou.

this is the hardest part of the project: how much to cut. cut too much and you destroy the look of the phone, don't cut enough and it's impossible to work the ipod. i used a rubber ipod case as a model for the fitting. i actually used the screen that came with the case because it fit perfectly on the rectangular "ear piece" of the phone. using a dremel i cut out the window, shaved off the plastic from the back of the keypad, cut out half of the keys (i wanted to use the keys), smoothed out the inside, and cut out the top of the phone.

Step 4: Cinderella Fitting

the ipod fits. the top was the most important part. it's snug, won't wiggle, and is viewable through the "ear piece screen". i'm using a photo adapter as a leveler, the white thinggy attached to the bottom of the ipod. now i need to make a foam cradle for the ipod to sit in.

Step 5: Power Connection

i was going to seal my ipod in a plastic coffin, so i needed to add a usb cable to hook it up to my computer for charging and the occasional update. i had plenty of room for the cable because i cut my foam "seat" in half, but i had to get creative with the deploying of the plug. i settled on housing it in the flip part of the phone. i could have run it out of the phone jack off to the side, but the recoil on the cable was a bit of a bitch.

Step 6: Final Fitting

everything is aligned: buttons over the click wheel, viewer over the screen, the release button on the side is free to move, the cable is in place, and the ipod actually works. ready for the final touches and the face plate for the usb plug.