Have you seen this Aerogel?

[TheGreatSatan]

I would love to get hold of some to make into a super-duper light weight case!

http://www.aerogel.org/

http://owenrichardson.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/aerogel_zl_2.jpeg

[d_stilgar]

There are a couple companies that make an aerogel insulation for homes, etc. in the form of a roll out blanket. I got quite a bit of it in sample sizes two years ago for a school project.

Getting it in the form you have pictured is extremely expensive. It would be over $10,000 to get something big enough to be a case. You might be able to talk to some guy at a place that makes it or find some distributors and get it for less, but I'm sure it will be at least $2500 for a piece large enough to maybe carve out for a mini-itx case.

Still, awesome stuff.

[TheGreatSatan]

Yep, it's pricey

http://www.buyaerogel.com/

[AmEv]

Might be able to get away with a RPi/pITX case...

[Airbozo]

Come on TGS, they have recipes, make your own case components...

:whistler:

[crenn]

I don't think you'd want to use it as a case.... from what I've seen, you'd have to have an external structure to be the case, then you could use some Aerogel as the panels, but you'd have to make sure you'd have enough airflow in the case. It's a very good insulator but that's about it.

You seen the video of a sheet of aerogel over a bunsen burner and putting their hand on the opposite side?

[Airbozo]

...I am going the opposite direction. We are finally getting our counter tops installed and I am trying to find a way to turn the scrap granite into a computer case. It will require some solid wheels if you want to move it.

[AmEv]

^HEH. That reminded me of the concrete computer.


Speaking of which, did it ever get finished?

[TLHarrell]

I don't think I saw the concrete computer finished, but I've seen a prototype formwork for casting parts of a CNC machine from concrete and it looks like they've got it well sorted out. I'm considering it for a build sometime in the future.

[Airbozo]

I had my neighbor make some panels out of clay to use as case parts, but we could not control the shrinkage very well and nothing ever fit right. I gave up after several tries. Concrete may be better because it doesn't shrink as much.

[TLHarrell]

Concrete is much more easily controlled. You can place brass inserts into it before casting, screwing them through the formwork and having extremely precise mounting points.

Aerogel is still a pipe dream at this time. It's far too expensive to produce in any reasonable quantity to do anything. Might as well cast your case parts out of platinum.

[mDust]

I'm too lazy to look it up, but aerogel is something like 95% air. I don't think it would support itself very well and would be damaged very easily. Figure in it's excellent insulation properties, and you're building an oven or a wind-tunnel...depending on airflow. You'd really just want something that looked like it. Perhaps .5" blue-gray frosted acrylic (http://www.plexiglas.com/chip_gallery.html)?

[Twigsoffury]

not to mention you can crush aerogel between your fingers with ease.

[d_stilgar]

not to mention you can crush aerogel between your fingers with ease.

Aerogel is actually really strong in compression, but not so great in tension, so any re-entrant corners are going to be an issue.

And . . . really strong in compression is in relation to its weight. I'm pretty sure, however, that it isn't that hard to crush with just your fingers. Anyone played with the stuff first hand?

I know the blanket aerogel I used was not compressible. It was even one of its advertised features. The stuff I was using was 96% air. The normal stuff is like 99%+ air.