Concrete & Steel

[dooglo]

Well, failure.

I'll post pics later. I guess it's all my fault. I should've known better with the mix design and re-enforcement. But, on the bright side of things, it's a lesson learned once again and I have another idea on how I'm going to get-r-done.

D.

[dooglo]

This is it.

This is it after.

So, I'm upset. but like I said, lesson learned. Oh well.

Give me a couple of days and I'll have something else for ya. Better.


Laterz.

[AmEv]

Yes, do put some rebar in if possible.

[d_stilgar]

I assume you know what you are doing . . . so I don't want you to take any of my suggestions as being critical, but I was thinking . . .

You should consider adding some fiberglass fiber. There's a plaster of paris called Tufcal that uses fiberglass as tensile reinforcement instead of steel. I've used it in the past and it's been really good. Perhaps you could do the same thing. You could also try steel, but I know that it can be more of a hassle to reinforce that way and for a computer case I think something like fiberglass for tensile reinforcement could work really well.

I would try using less water. I'm sure you know this, but the more water you add to concrete the weaker it will be. Hydration will occur with even a very little amount of water, so I would add as little as possible and still have it workable.

Finally, it's exciting and you want to see the final result, but concrete will reach about 75% of its final strength in about 7 days. I would try to wait at least that long before pulling it out of the mold.

Good luck! We've all had our failures and it's the persistence that makes great mods.

[Wordbiker]

Very cool experiment.

To throw out a suggestion: You could embed some steel plate components into the 'crete to give yourself tappable mounting points for fans, etc. as well as some reinforcement. With the coloring it could be rusted up and would go very nicely.

[Neodymium]

Keep trying, mate...maybe next time use either fiberglass as suggested or you can use thin steel mesh as reinforcement. Good luck.

[dooglo]

Sorry for not keep you all informed on this. Since it's winter I typically do not get any work, but I just finished a re & re of a stairwell so now I can get back to this. I'll post some updates soon.

D.

[Neodymium]

Good luck!

[dooglo]

Well, here's an update for you all. Been a while I know.

Yesterday I poured the new concrete case. This time I did each panel separately. I actually did only four sides out of the six because I wanted to lessen the weight of this beast a little and get some steel into it as well. So, I now have right and left panels as well as top and bottom. Two panels out of four have windows in them, the other two do not. But all four have some mounting holes so that this creation may be bolted together. The back side of the windowed panels have a recessed ring around the window so that the plexi will fit flush to the inside. All four panels also have wire mesh re-enforcement running through them. Currently, the concrete is curing in my garage under a concrete blanket with a small heater running to take the chill off. This go around I am not going to strip the panels out of the mold for at least one week if not more. I learned my lesson last time. I should have known better too. Oh well. So, without further ado, here are the pics I took.

Enjoy.

Pictures here show the concrete just poured and floated off.

Pictures here show concrete all finished and edged with an 1/8" radius edger.

The concrete mix that I used was a 80# bag of Sakrete found here. I used the entire bag.

Each panel is 1" thick. The right and left panels are 20" by 20" and the other two panels are 10" by 20". The top and bottom panels will fit inside of the larger panels and sit on another recessed area on the top and bottom.

Thanks for looking and the interest you all have in this en devour.

D.

[d_stilgar]

Those are looking really good. Keep it up! Can't wait to see more.