The Use Of Mirrors

[Chingas]

Settle down everyone, i know it's not knew, i've just never seen it before. I am in the process of building my next PC. I splurged a bit and got myself the lian-li vp-2100B. If you are familiar, you know i got some serious room inside that case, which got me started on a mod from years and years ago, an idea that fell thru in so many ways. But now is different.I want to incorporate mirrors into my case, and no not for checking for cheez-it remains between my teeth but for a lighting scheme not seen before. But i need your help, as always...here we go...

Does anyone have experiece with mirrors, glass, cutting mirrors, affixing them to aluminum/plastic/etc. And good idea's for angle brackets or moving/oscillating holders for small pieces of mirror?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. And i thank you all in advance.


---Chingas---

[DaveW]

I think it should be possible to cut glass with a dremel cutting bit-how this works in mirrors, i don't know. A tile cutter might work.

You sure you want to risk 7 years bad karma? ;)

-Dave

[gaz_the_chav]

Yeh a diamond tile cutter has worked many times in the past for me with not breaks. Never used a dremel so I don't know about that.

As for the angle brackets (I am not sure if this would be ok) but... how about using a metal arm instead so you move the mirror after it has been fixed in place. One end of the arm could be connected to the case using either a bracket or rivets and the other end connected to the mirror could use strong glue (for example the stuff used to holdrear-view mirrors in cars up.) It's just a thought. Hope it helps

-gaz

[xdxforever]

I would use a normal glass cutter, you know one of those tiny rolling blades that you score it with, (using a strait edge to guide) and then you tap the part of the mirror you are removing with the metal ball part until it pops apart.

[Airbozo]

I would use a normal glass cutter, you know one of those tiny rolling blades that you score it with, (using a strait edge to guide) and then you tap the part of the mirror you are removing with the metal ball part until it pops apart.

I agree with this.

I have cut many many ceramic tiles and lots of glass and mirrors. Stay away from the dremel, it will not give a very good cut(rough edges) and will throw glass shards everywhere! The tile cutter is a good concept, but will not give a good clean score into the glass(again, rough edges) which could cause it to crack or break wrong. The best thing about the tile cutter is the raised ridge that allows you to snap the tile cleanly. you can get the same effect with the edge of a table.

If any of the edges will be left undressed, use a diamond file to take away the sharpness.

As to something to move it, rc servos work well.

[d_stilgar]

In my sig you will see a glass mario that I made in school. We made all the cuts with a glass cutter. I drew on the glass with paintmarker, then followed those lines with a glass cutter. After that you use the round ball on the back of the glass cutter and tap the opposite side of the glass along your score. If the edge isn't perfect you can carefully sand away the very small imperfections, but make sure to keep water running over glass to resist heating and cooling the glass quickly, which could result in cracks.

[d_stilgar]

For complex cuts, like the moustache, I used a diamond edge belt cutter. Once again I had water running over the glass the entire time.

[tybrenis]

For mirrors, you can purchase acrylic mirrors. I believe they have them at home depot.

They can be bent, formed, easily cut, glued, tapped, etc. All the benefits of acrylic with the capabilities and benefits of a mirror.

I am not trying to change your direction, it just sounds like the other guys have this thread covered. I'm just throwing this up in the air in case you wanted to look into it.

[Chingas]

Appreciate all the help everyone. I bought a glass cutter at the ol de-pot. I'll give it a go on some spare material. Gaz- thanks for the arm idea, it's a good one i just may end up using. And tybrenis, thank you for the alt. method, it may prove useful if the original cutting dosn't work out. Thanks again.