Mini Scratch Build

Tis the season. I just got back from break, and there are several updates.
1: my brother donated an old wireless card, which I will include
2: upgrade to an 80gb hard drive
3: upgrade to an optical scroll mouse, from a 10yr old ball mouse with no scroll
4: additional RAM ordered
5: the tape didn't stand the test of time. Some is peeling off, so you will see what I do next. Along with a new and improved power switch.
Don't you just love the Christmas spirit?

Pics after I do some work this weekend

Just a thought, not a criticism, but have you considered getting some files
or sandpaper and smoothing out the edges of the fan holes? I know I saw
at least one that looked gnarly. Those items should be pretty cheap, so it
might be a good idea to pick some up. They also make your mods look a lot
better.

I also agree with p0pe. You should (if you have the cash) probably get at least
one more fan mounted in the case to provide more airflow to the case. You dont
want your CPU overheating :p.

I think hinges would be the best way to go here. I don't see why bolting things on would be a problem; just use screws with the nuts and hold the nut in place with a pair of 99-cent pliers from Walgreens. Everything else is pretty awesome.

So, I know I said there would be updates, but them life happened. Several projects needed finishing, etc. I'm sure you know the drill. But the RAM I ordered came in, so now I have 256*3 MB.

However, here is a prelude to what I should have time for this weekend:

Its sold as a cover for electric wiring (5'). My plan is to cut it down the middle, giving me 10' of right angle edging. Cut to various sizes, and then cut 45 degree angles on the ends. This will become my frame, basically like a picture frame surrounding each side.
Melt some more holes, and bolt those pieces on, with the nuts and bolts that I just bought.

Hopefully this will accomplish several things:
Add support
Add durability, rather than tape
Cover up any edge mistakes, where parts don't line up
Be easily taken apart for fiddling.

@DZ469 Yes, when this is finished I hope to clean things up a bit. Right now I am more worried about getting it functional. But thanks for the tip

Anyone know how easy Nalgenes are to cut? I just got a free one. I already have more than enough Nalgenes, as I frequently go camping. I am thinking about cutting the top and bottom, giving me a nice cylinder. Then mount that on top of the cpu fan, connecting to a hole in the top, to increase fresh air to the cpu. Any thoughts or experience?

So, after quite a while, its finished.

As I mentioned, I used the electric cover as angle brackets, along with a bunch of bolts. It was quite an interesting problem. To use a nut/bolt you have to have access to both sides of the material. That doesn't work to well if you want to create an enclosure. So what I ended up doing was bolting the top, bottom, and back. The left side piece can be slid into place, and bolted in. The front piece, with the fan on it, can be slid in by spreading the top and bottom apart, and doesn't need any bolts. Then right side piece is the final piece to be placed. I sandwiched a loose nut between the front plexi and the hard drive, then slid the side plexi in place. Since the nut was sandwiched I could screw into it without needing to hold onto it.

I decided against the whole nalgene fan idea, mainly because the it is in a normal temp range, and I wanted to finish this project.

I did not include the wireless card that I mentioned because I am using Ubuntu, which doesn't play nice with wireless, and I only have room for one card.

All the pics:

Close up of the power switch (lower right, between the two bolts). Essentially, I ripped apart an old switch, took the actual switch part, and threaded the wires through a scrap of plexi. then I bolted that to the back of the box, and it works fine.

And for my next trick. (Hopefully)

Looks like you might have a similar idea as me. I've had a laptop torn for a month waiting for me to finish up a design. :smoker: