Flexible Motherboard...

[alexanderH]

Ok so I've been thinking about this Idea for a long time now. and for the most part it looks plausable.
What I mean by flexible is not a motherboard that you can bend in half, but rather a motherboard which has no solid board holding all the parts together.

If you think about it, all it is is a lot of circuits.

And then hearing about Buddhists art pc mod he's thinking about doing I was wondering if anyone had some insight as to whether it is really plausable to take a motherboard, desolder all its components, connect them with whatever length of wire you desire, and mount all the different parts of the mobo where ever you choose?

I was thinking about building an HTPC down the road, and I thought it'd be really cool to have one that was basically as big as the psu + hard drive + dvd drive. leave some space for fan/are flow and stick the various mobo bits and pieces there.

Furthermore it would make for quite the cable management system, you could move your ide plug right next to your ide drives, or better yet, build in an ide cable and mount it right next to the ide's and then plug em in. While I'm sure this could not be done without a large amount of time, I would be interested in trying if it seems plausable to anyone else.

So please let me know what y'all think.

P.S I think the best way to do it, if possible would be to buy two duplicate mobos, use one as a reference and dissassemble, and connect the new one.

[calumc]

I suppose it would be possible but have you ever seen the amount of connections that would have to be made? and just one wrong one or one short could fry everything

[dgrmkrp]

Well, it is possible and I have seen this done.. At a local hardware shop, there is a mobo on the wall, with 1 pci and agp slot being converted into.. strips. The soldering was done on the back of the mobo and there is a new slot where the wires converge :)

Also, if you would try to do the same with capacitors, SMDs or smaller stuff.. I wouldn't recommend that ;) It is time consuming, but if you pull it off, it looks great and you have a nice cable management problem to solve :)

[Spawn-Inc]

unless you get the blue prints to the mobo, it ain't gonna happen. there are several layers of hidden wiring that you would only see on the blue prints of it. i heard as mush as 6 layers i think.

[dgrmkrp]

I'm gonna repeat myself, but be more detailed. The idea is totally doable.

The connectors (ide, sata, pci, pci express, headers, back i/o.. even the cpu) are the only ones that 100% go through all layers. Nothing else is sure. :) So, if you would simply solder wires on the back of the mobo to each pin protruding on the back side, extend them to a new connector and match the pins then you will get a new connector, in parallel with the old one, on the mobo.

>>>WARNING! Only one connector should be populated.<<<

This way, you can show the mobo in its full nakedness. Only ram and cpu should stay put. The video speed/performance could suffer too, if the wires are too long. Chopping up a few big ide connectors, the ones with 80 wires, should give a lot of raw material. A steady hand a small soldering iron are also essential. If you keep things clean and tidy, you could have the flattest extreme rig in the world ;)

[alexanderH]

Well thats what would be so awesome about being able to do this. While I won't even be able to attempt this for probably another year or so, it is something that I want to get in depth info about and try my damndest to work.
I understand it would be a pain in the ass to do, but starting with the small stuff to see how each part at a length would affect performance would be damn cool too.

I think it'd be awesome to have a HTPC that is as thin as the cd drive. You can thin out a PSU, so that isn't even a problem anymore.

I think it would be awesome to make a FLAT pc, or like Buddhist had the idea for, a PC you can hang on the wall that looks like a piece of art.

[Spawn-Inc]

if you have a old pc, or find a junk one you can get working again, then try what dgrmkrp said and only desolder and resolder the pci slots. but do you want everything to be flexible or just flatten out the video cards and pci cards? they do have 90 degree adapters for that.

as for getting the blueprints, not relaly sure. i think you would have to contact the original maker of the board (E.G. nvidia for the EVGA/XFX 680i SLI). i think it would also effect the performance since its different length, and type of cable.

[Kill_Switch]

Ok so I've been thinking about this Idea for a long time now. and for the most part it looks plausable.
What I mean by flexible is not a motherboard that you can bend in half, but rather a motherboard which has no solid board holding all the parts together.

If you think about it, all it is is a lot of circuits.

And then hearing about Buddhists art pc mod he's thinking about doing I was wondering if anyone had some insight as to whether it is really plausable to take a motherboard, desolder all its components, connect them with whatever length of wire you desire, and mount all the different parts of the mobo where ever you choose?

I was thinking about building an HTPC down the road, and I thought it'd be really cool to have one that was basically as big as the psu + hard drive + dvd drive. leave some space for fan/are flow and stick the various mobo bits and pieces there.

Furthermore it would make for quite the cable management system, you could move your ide plug right next to your ide drives, or better yet, build in an ide cable and mount it right next to the ide's and then plug em in. While I'm sure this could not be done without a large amount of time, I would be interested in trying if it seems plausable to anyone else.

So please let me know what y'all think.

P.S I think the best way to do it, if possible would be to buy two duplicate mobos, use one as a reference and dissassemble, and connect the new one.

Hi, little background of myself. I'm an avionics technician for the cdn forces and thus work with all sorts of boards.

The only application I know of anythink flexiable is the "ribbon" cables that go from board to board. They are made of Mylar (sp?), and are transparent and very flexable and contain flexable runs. I recently repaired a "board" for a Night Vision Goggle set.

However this stuff is very expensive.

If you are going to attempt this with wire, its best to buy insulated wire and save yourself some time, but my concern is the heat plates on the motherboards designed to draw the heat from the components, which will be lost if its all wire.

What first came to my mind was the use of some sort of coated cardboard, which won't draw any heat in. And use some 26-30 gauge wire to connect the components.

Or even cutting the motherboard into sections and reconecting the runs with insulated wire to keep it from shorting out.

[NightrainSrt4]

Unless you have some serious skill and tools...this idea really isn't going to happen in my opinion. As in, the average modder couldn't do it and have it work, without going through like a thousand machines for practice...not very cost efficient if you ask me. If you were going to try it, as said before go with something old that you know works that you can get some practice on.


Another thing is that some of those runs are designed to be the EXACT length as one another. I suppose you could keep them in proportion and extend them, but they all still would have to be EXACTLY the same length as one another. I just think this would be too complicated for most modders.

Then again, I am one to talk with my little mini hacksaw as my main cutting tool! lmao

[chaksq]

I want to try this (at least relocating slots, connectors, sockets, etc. that go through the motherboard). I'll find an old P1 motherboard to try it with.

[alexanderH]

Hi, little background of myself. I'm an avionics technician for the cdn forces and thus work with all sorts of boards.

The only application I know of anythink flexiable is the "ribbon" cables that go from board to board. They are made of Mylar (sp?), and are transparent and very flexable and contain flexable runs. I recently repaired a "board" for a Night Vision Goggle set.

However this stuff is very expensive.

If you are going to attempt this with wire, its best to buy insulated wire and save yourself some time, but my concern is the heat plates on the motherboards designed to draw the heat from the components, which will be lost if its all wire.

What first came to my mind was the use of some sort of coated cardboard, which won't draw any heat in. And use some 26-30 gauge wire to connect the components.

Or even cutting the motherboard into sections and reconecting the runs with insulated wire to keep it from shorting out.

The ribbon cables would be a nightmare for me at this point. I was thinking of doing exactly as you say, insulated wire. And yes, the parts that build heat will be isolated on boards still, but that fact of the matter is I don't want the whole huge mobo. I don't mind having a mobo peice big enough for the cpu to dissipate it's heat for example. I want to be able to stick all the cool operating parts off in the nooks and crannies where i can save space. while I am sure this is going to take a LOT of time, I appreciate the knowledge and ideas you have shared. Your idea's of cardboard might actually work very well and I will def, take that into consideration.

+rep to all of you for the constructive and helpful ideas!

[Kill_Switch]

Sounds good.


When you do decide to take on this mammoth of a project, take good care in soldering. I don't know how good you are, but for repairing boards I have to use a microscope. Gets fustrating. But a very easy and simple process. Apply soldering paste across the runs (IC for example) and apply even heat till the solder melts and the flux does its job.

Never the less Good Luck.