Starting from scratch: static troubles?

I'm completely new to the case modding community, and have never modded a case before. The most I have done is taken my computer apart, spread the pieces out on the floor and hooked them back up. Behold, the Caseless Computer!
But seriously, I am about to start building a new computer, and I want to put it in a case that screams, "I am not from Dell!" I am thinking about starting from the ground up and constructing my own case from scratch. Has anyone here ever done this? What I am really concerned about is static electricity. One of my ideas was to mount all of my components inside a plastic storage container, but then I realized the container might produce enough static electricity to damage my components. Does anyone here know anything about plastic cases, and if they are acceptable? I would appreciate any information I could get about this.

how about building a small metal frame to put inside the plastic thimg.

i too was plannin g to build a case from scratch but im a little low on funds.
i was planning to get some angled alumiun and build a frame from that. it would be lightweight and easy to build. i was then gonna put black or morror plex, but now im not so sure. feel free to use those ideas if you want, as now i think im gong to do something different.

good luck. post some pics when you start.

As long as you make sure there is a way for static to safely escape, you'll be fine. I'd suggest using thin wire (speaker wire is fine, it's cheap and not going to have to hold much current) with ring terminals on the ends. Then you can simply attach each of the drives by putting the ring terminal against one of the screwholes before you screw it in, and connect all the grounding wires up - then you just have to connect a similar wire to one of the mounting screws on the Power supply. This way you aren't messing at all with any of the active power connections (although you COULD connect it all to a black ground wire coming out of the PSU) and you can be reasonably sure than any excess electricity will be sent off safely down the power cables.

Those both sound like good ideas. I probably will put my computer in a stripped-down case, and put the case inside the container. Then though I'll have to worry about mounting the optical drives coming out the front. . . I'll to get some pictures up when I start.

I debated with myself long and hard about whether or not I should share this idea, but I finally decided that I should be generous and share this potentially awesome idea with the rest of this great commmunity of case-modders: I read in Popular Science a method for applying a permanent, unremovable coloring to iron by electroplating it with Titanium. I am going to try to find the article on the web and post a link to it.

Sounds interesting.

Don't be afraid to share ideas here, friend. We're all in this together, and some of the best ideas come from other collaborating their findings and ideas and seeing what comes out of the community we have here.

That's what I decided, which is why I went ahead and posted the information. I started a new thread called, "Big potential for case decorating" to talk about the process. In that thread I posted a link to the article.

This is what my computer may look like when I'm finished:

Do you think it is a good idea? Oops, I just noticed there's no reset button on the concept image. Oh well.

Here's what my computer case looks like right now.

It's pretty boring, isn' it? That just means it has extra potential!

You know what that reminds me of?

The old cocktail-style arcade cabinets.

Those things were cool.

where are you going to put that floppy? How about put it vertical, coming out the top of the case?

Actually, my floppy drive doesn't work anymore, and I was planning on scrapping it. Floppy drives are really obsolete these days, especially now that I have this It makes file transfers as easy as. . . I can't think of a good comparison, but it makes them easy. I did think about mounting perhaps a CD-ROM drive vertically coming out the top, but I want to be able to remove the lid to access the inside of my computer, and a drive right there might get in the way. Then again, it would be pretty cool to take the lid off and have the drive just sticking out of the case. I'll make a concept image of it to see what it might look like.
Why does it remind you of old game cabinets?