Questions about welding, materials, structural integrity, etc

[Xtrykr]

Hi folks. I am trying to get my case project underway, which will be built from ground up. I would like to get a frame welded, but do not know exactly what kind of materials, thickness, etc that I need to make a sturdy case frame. The dimensions of my case is roughly 18"x14"x20" (yeah, its going to be a big box), so was wondering what sort of materials I need to make a skeleton frame for it. Do I need to use 1" angles? I noticed in my Thermaltake Armor, which has roughly the same dimensions just narrower uses no more than 1/2" flat bars ricketed to various pieces of metal for the frame. Will I be able to use 1/2" angles?

Also, is there a place where I can get cheap angles? I have a friend that can do the welding work for me, its just that I don't want to bust my wallet making this frame. My budget for the frame is about $75-100. Thanks everyone!

[Khuz360]

Im not an engineer so dont qoute me on anything but i give this advice based on how I would do things.

For the skeleton the material I would personally use is steel because im pretty sure its stronger than aluminum and therefore can carry more weight and will be more structurally sound albeit it will be a much heavier case but you gotta ask yourself how much are you going to move it around. As for the joints I would personally use 1" joints just to increase structural integrity and steel can also be welded without much hassle.

For the panels however I would use aluminum because its light and will decrease the weight of the case lets face it no wants a case thats too heavy

I hope what Iv said is useful in someway look forward to seeing the build and best of look

[Xtrykr]

Im not an engineer so dont qoute me on anything but i give this advice based on how I would do things.

For the skeleton the material I would personally use is steel because im pretty sure its stronger than aluminum and therefore can carry more weight and will be more structurally sound albeit it will be a much heavier case but you gotta ask yourself how much are you going to move it around. As for the joints I would personally use 1" joints just to increase structural integrity and steel can also be welded without much hassle.

For the panels however I would use aluminum because its light and will decrease the weight of the case lets face it no wants a case thats too heavy

I hope what Iv said is useful in someway look forward to seeing the build and best of look

Thanks man, was leaning toward the steel for the structure also. Just a question, is there a need for me to use stainless? or can I use mild steel? Reason being is the stainless is so expensive! I will be using water cooling for the PC, but was told if I paint over the mild steel it will rarely corrode.

P.S. Just found out that most PC cases are made from SECC type steel. Does anyone know where i can buy this stuff?

[Spawn-Inc]

Thanks man, was leaning toward the steel for the structure also. Just a question, is there a need for me to use stainless? or can I use mild steel? Reason being is the stainless is so expensive! I will be using water cooling for the PC, but was told if I paint over the mild steel it will rarely corrode.

P.S. Just found out that most PC cases are made from SECC type steel. Does anyone know where i can buy this stuff?

ya i would just use plain old steel and give a nice paint job.

what plans do you have for water cooling? (parts, what are you gonna cool?)

[Xtrykr]

i have no idea what im going to put into the pc itself yet, im just focusing on the case hehe.

[jdbnsn]

I have welded steel, stainless steel, and aluminum. It can be tricky. Reg steel is a cinch, I wouldn't worry too much about the strength of the joints, you are making a computer case not an elevator. The strength of the welds will be much more than you will need to worry about in terms of stress. You can use aluminum which of course has a pretty polar distribution of advantages and disadvantages. It is fairly pricey, very difficult to weld and requires special rods/wire and gases. It is weaker, but this is also a plus because when you get down to the detail work of grinding and sanding the edges and joint smooth, aluminum is like sanding wood, stainless is like sanding diamond. I welded angles on a table for the coroner's office and shaping those joints took lots of grinding and matching the brushed pattern of stainless was near impossible. Keep thin in mind because the pattern will show through the paint. Personally, I think the steel is going to be too heavy, it is cheap and easy to weld, but if you already have someone who can weld for you, I'd spend the extra coin and get the aluminum because it will save you alot of elbow grease and will be nice and lightweight. If you can find a junkyard that hasn't already been cherry-picked you can sometimes find discarded metals from old tables and equipment. For stainless, look for medical or and scientific facilities that are renovating. You can sometimes find whole 40 foot long lab tables being ripped out, and the people that run the place don't care what happend to it because it's gov money, not a business. At the place I worked on the table, the just sawed it up and paid a kid $50 to haul it away in his pickup. I'll post a pic of the work I did so you can see how lousy stainless can look if you are not a pro. These were taken before I did the touch up sanding but I think you can see from these how grainy and difficult they are to clean up. This was my first attempt at welding though, so grant me a little lenience because all I had to learn from was a 30 how-to video on welding and it didn't say much about stainless.

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/jdbnsn/coroner/DSC05239.jpg
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/jdbnsn/coroner/DSC05243.jpg
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/jdbnsn/coroner/DSC05244.jpg
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/jdbnsn/coroner/DSC05246.jpg

[Cannibal23]

another good place to get stainless from is renovating commercial kitchens. nearly every surface in alot of kitchens are made of stainless