CNC Project Ideas: Reskin Something

It seems that you're a machinist and have the advantage of having CNC machines at your disposal, plus you're eager to undertake an impressive project, something your friends will admire. All you need now is a solid idea. Here's a suggestion:

• Take an existing product.
• Discard, some all, or none of it.
• Create a new skin for it that radically changes the product to something MUCH better.

That's a Reskinning Project.  There'll all over the web if you look carefully.  Here's some ideas to get you fired up to Reskin something:

PC and HiFi Case Mods

Reskinning PC's and HiFi's has been going on a long time and there are some very cool results out there.  Heck, I've even fooled around with it myself.  I remember my Dad reskinned his monaural HiFi system by mounting it in an antique Victrola cabinet.

Check out these reskinning projects:

Minimalist PC design, straightforward to do via CNC.  See how it was made without CNC...

Art Deco style PC case...

Retro Philco TV PC is amazing, and ambitious.  So far it's just a 3D rendering...

Woo Audio headphone amp combines clean design with retro tubes.  Must be nice to see those tubes light up the room at night.  I'm imagining a reskinned guitar amp project could be very cool!

Reskin your keyboard with engraved stick-on wooden keys...

Fancy Cases and Stands for Mobile Gadgets

Reskinning an iPhone would be ambitious, but creating a cool case or stand for one is much less ambitious.  Their slender designs even facilitate doing so without the end result being too bulky.  Try these for ideas:

Minimalist PC with built-in iPhone charging doc.  I always wanted a dock right on my PC...

iPad wooden case and stand: perfect for the CNC Router crowd...

Titanium and Wood iPhone Case...

More Reskinning

Almost anything can be given a new look by reskinning:

Custom knife scales are a great way to start in CNC Knifemaking.  That's how John Grimsmo started...

How about a customized grill to drop into your BBQ that says something like this one's "#1DAD" message?

Carefully remove the guts from your plastic mouse and install them in a much cooler CNC'd enclosure...

You can even reskin the house key-easy with a CNC mill to cut a new outline for the handle...

By now, hopefully you've gotten some ideas percolating for a CNC Reskinning project of your own.  Be sure to send us some pictures if you pull it off!