materials for your case

[sandybunnychibi]

ok me and a friend are getting into modding our towers and such.
we had some questions on what type of things can be used as a cover...
one of the things we wanted to do is round like a ball basicly.

so if we used pvc pipes or something like that ot build a circle frame...can we take something (like one of those yoga balls or similar) and slide it over the frame as the cover/walls.. we would have our air vents, and are thinking of using something to adhear the ball skin more secure to the pipes. but i was afraid even with our fans woul the ball skin get to hot? i truely dont think it will but he does.

so what do you guys say or recommend??? and if so do you think of something simialr to it that might work?
thanks

[Luke122]

Welcome to TBCS!

There have been a few ball shaped mods in the past, but I'm pretty sure they used plastic/acrylic spheres, with an internal frame just to mount the components. Using a soft material for an outer "skin" could be a great idea, or a terrible one.. it's hard to say.

If you are able to build a suitable frame to hold the skin's shape (the yoga ball will get warm, and possibly softer... and maybe sag) and still have good airflow throughout, then I dont see a reason why it wouldnt work!

I'm sure others here will agree, "GO FOR IT!"


:D

[Mark_Hardware]

If you want to do something soft shelled, you could possibly have a positive air pressure support. They did it with a stadium....
Here, check this out,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air-supported_structure

[sandybunnychibi]

awesome both of you. yeah i planned to let it stretch and have the skeleton forming the whole thing and supprorting it. was worried ti would.. melt lol. ill give it a whirl soon and let everyone know how it works

[artoodeeto]

My 2 cents:
Maybe it's just the star wars nut in me, but you oughta make the outside look like the Death Star. On second thought...don't. I wanna do a Death Star mod someday LOL.
Seriously though, I would't worry too much about the soft shell deforming or melting due to heat. Usually, unless you have the thing seriously overclocked, if you have a halfway decent CPU heatsink, you can quite safely touch the heatsink while it's running and it's not too hot (at least mine doesn't get that hot, and I have a quad core). True the air inside the case can get pretty warm, but it's still a computer, not an oven :)
the positive air pressure idea is a good one, but the skeleton will need to support the weight of the skin for a couple reasons: you don't necessarily want the skin to deflate when the machine's off (or maybe you do...), and to keep the skin inflated with just air, you'll have to have fans capable of pumping in more than 14lbs/sq. inch. I don't think standard case fans are capable of that, unless you have a LOT.