Framing material

[Chapel]

I was wonding what people used to frame extra parts in their cases. And what is the best/prefered material for parts enclosures. Plastic, light metal, wood??? Any help would be appricieated. Thanks!

[Chapel]

Bump! ;)

[Bum]

I'm going to assume by parts you mean things like HDDs, CD/DVD drives etc...

If that is the case, then I would say that easily worked metal like aluminum and thin steel are common and versatile and readily available.
Plastics ,including acrylic, also do well depending on application but are a little more challenging to work with.
There is also wood for those who have an affinity for it.
Probably a better deciding factor of what to use is what tools and skills do you have, or are willing to acquire, to work with the material.

[Chapel]

Lol i guess i should have explained myself. yes i mainly ment custom optical drive/ hard drive/ floppy drive enclosures. Also what i meant was how to build enclosures up off the case. Metal is an option, but that means welding or riviting or something hot and possibly painful ;). I think some sort of plastic would be best. Problem is that i know nothing about plastics, i dont know whats strong, whats good, what sucks, whats best? Really though, any advice woudl be well accepted. Thanks!

[ZeD]

Thin gauge aluminum works best. You do not need to use rivets or weld if you do not want to or do not have the experience. Screws and bolts are just as strong when it comes to a PC, afterall your not trying to reinforce this to absorb impacts. A bending brake would also be a wise investment if you wanted to make full custom enclosures, while not necessary it would be very helpful and they do not cost all that much. As for plastics the easiest way to make a custom plastic enclosure is to not. Seriously buy a cheap project box in the size that you are aiming for. It will cost about the same and you do not have to sit there putting it together. And if you screw up you can just buy another. Radioshack used to sell good sized project boxes but they no longer do. For the larger stuff I would look into a dedicated electronics hobby and kit shop. Try googling around for some. Digikey, hosfelt and a few others come to mind.

[Chapel]

Thanks man, do you know of any types of plastic that woudl work well, the plasic enlosures would be purly cosmetic, no weight that i can put on there.

[ZeD]

Those plastic enclosures are pretty strong and sturdy. You can try using styrene (sp?) which might work for you but thats cosmetic thats not really meant to hold weight. However I havent worked with it much so maybe they make stronger versions.