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I'm looking at building pretty much a square case however I'm not sure yet what to make it out of. In particular the frame.
I believe there are 90degree bars that I could use to build a basic frame and then use aluminium or acrylic sheets for the walls.
However I don't have any welding tools so I'm not sure how easy this will be to do. Will pot rivets do the job?
How are you going to cut the material? or are you gonna build it around pre-cut acrylic sheets?
I will probably purchase a jigsaw to cut the acrylic/plastic to size and bend and shape as needed.
To make the frame I was thinking of using the item on the right to build the frame and attaching the sides of the case to that.
I'm not sure how/what other modders have used. I believe I should be able to pick up these 90 degree bars at a hardware store.
alumnium angle (90 degree stuff as you refer to it) would be good for the frame. But it also depends what you should use for panel of what your actually going to do.
Well the case is not going to be see through.
I have not checked out prices yet for aluminium or acylic sheets but I've also noticed you can get PVC sheets.
My only real requirements for the panels is that it needs to be reasonably strong, light and easy to work with (eg bend or cut).
I'm at work at the moment (I will try to put up a design when I get home)
Here is a back/Left view of my initial design:
To make it as upgradable and practical as possilbe I've decided to use a miniATX board design in this unit however with the current dimensions the frame will make it a little bit difficult to put the board in.
My other trouble at the moment is that I would have really liked to put a CD Rom at the front however there isn't enough room and it would block the fan (I do not want any fans on the side, top or front - However I could put an exhaust fan on the bottom of the case).
How much smaller is a laptop DVD rom?
Here is my initially planned frame view (front right view):
The green bars are 20mm wide aluminium bars.
The grey bars are 12mm 90 degree angle bars
The yellow is a flat aluminium panel bent to shape.
Here is the frame view with the side pannels on:
I will try to make a cardboard model (to scale) in the next couple of days to test how much space I actually have and the practicallity of it all before spending all the cash
I would probly go with aluminuim sheet unless you going to put lights in it then i would put some arylic in to some wear as a window.
I don't know what to suggest to you but I think this will be a pretty cool mod, and pretty hard since you are starting from scratch. But, no windows or anything?
Reported
The angle aluminum can be a great option for making your frame, but I highly advise you to investigate other projects that have used it (and many have). The thing about the aluminum is that you really cannot weld it unless you are an extremely talented welder with the proper aluminum welding equipment. Those angle pieces are very soft in comparison to steel and most welds will just burn them away. So when it comes to fastening them you should look to different techniques. The rivets can work and I have seen some used pretty successfully, but if not done right they can also leave your frame weak and easily bent out of shape. The best way in my opinion is using some type of screws or bolts that allow you to tighten, loosen, readjust, and so on. Take a look at Crimsonsky's Test Rig that he made using the same material. He used an anchor piece for the corners which allowed him to screw the angle frames to securely. I would also check out Project Nighthawk as it has a custom frame built with the same material. I have actually used those angles myself and found that using small pieces of plexi scrap great for making connections by applying epoxy to the plastic and gluing the pieces together. In the picture below, the angles are held together by a clear piece of plexi glued underneath and it was strong as can be, but not adjustable. So I think you have chosen a good material for your mod, just be sure to research and get a little extra to experiment with.
I was looking at putting it together temporarily with screws until it was 100% finished then riveting the frame. I'm not sure what scews crimsonsky used as they look quite tidy.
The clear piece of scrap plexi might do the trick for the sides. I was going to have the left hand side, front and right hand side as one piece and bend it, but that pretty much eliminates me from being able to anodize it as it would be too big. However if I keep them seperate being able to eventually anodize them would be more of a posibility.
