Icrontic's EPIC Duct Tape Case

CB Droege 8 May, 2008 at 1:00am ET Article published in Tech

Mounting the optical drive

Next, we installed a shelf for the optical drive. The shelf was made by binding numerous smaller pieces (which we call simply ‘tape squares’) to each other to form a ‘board’, which is stronger than the panels, but much heavier per square inch. This was lashed to a horizontal pole across from the motherboard, and held up by two smaller poles, which were embedded into the underside.

Finally, we had to measure and cut the openings in the rear panel for the power supply and the motherboard’s I/O ports. Rather than cutting the standard-sized rectangle and using a backplane panel for the motherboard, we decided to custom-cut the back panel for our motherboard’s ports to allow as small an opening in the panel as possible. After cutting away the tape for this hole, we wrapped more small strips around the unfinished edges.

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Comments

1. 
   29 May 2008 ~ 2:59pm primesuspect That is some serious craftsmanship right there. Kudos to you both.
2. 
   29 May 2008 ~ 3:23pm Kwitko That case is saweeeet!! Excellent work guys! You're both definitely
3. 
   29 May 2008 ~ 3:32pm Winfrey The case looks really good. Excellent write-up, I'm sure you guys enjoyed building at least as much as I enjoyed reading about it.
4. 
   29 May 2008 ~ 3:37pm Zanthian Great Job Guys... Nice to finally read the article.
   One Typo on the last page... "Me Fortress 2."
5. 
   29 May 2008 ~ 3:40pm GHoosdum

   Zanthian wrote:

   Great Job Guys... Nice to finally read the article.
   One Typo on the last page... "Me Fortress 2."

   
   It's not a typo, actually... CB called it that because I was playing by myself.
   
   Thanks for the kind words, folks!
6. 
   29 May 2008 ~ 3:42pm Winfrey

   Zanthian wrote:

   Great Job Guys... Nice to finally read the article.
   One Typo on the last page... "Me Fortress 2."

   
   I saw that too, but I think it was on purpose. He wasn't playing with anyone thus there couldn't be any "team" just himself or "me".
   
   Also I wasn't sure how to visualize a duct tape "dart"? is it just a pointed tightly rolled piece of duct tape?
7. 
   29 May 2008 ~ 3:42pm Zanthian Oh that makes sense now.
   
   Added to reddit btw http://reddit.com/info/6lamx/comments/
8. 
   29 May 2008 ~ 3:54pm mas0n This is awesome in so many ways. Good job guys!
9. 
   29 May 2008 ~ 4:43pm CB

   FreeC8675 wrote:

   I saw that too, but I think it was on purpose. He wasn't playing with anyone thus there couldn't be any "team" just himself or "me".
   
   Also I wasn't sure how to visualize a duct tape "dart"? is it just a pointed tightly rolled piece of duct tape?

   
   So many people have thought the Me Fortress 2 was a typo, that maybe we should change it... :/
   
   The duct tape 'darts' are just thin strips used as fasteners. The problem was that the word that means what we needed was 'tape'. but we didn't want to say that we were making strips of duct tape 'tape'. 'fasteners would have been equally ridiculous, and we had already used up the word 'strips' elsewhere.
   
   Trust me. I fretted over using 'darts', knowing that that usage is a bit obscure, but in the end it sounded best...
10. 
    29 May 2008 ~ 4:46pm Winfrey

    CB wrote:

    Trust me. I fretted over using 'darts', knowing that that usage is a bit obscure, but in the end it sounded best...

    
    I can only imagine
    
    "darts" makes sense to me now thanks.
11. 
    29 May 2008 ~ 6:19pm lemonlime Fantastic work, guys
    
    I really enjoyed the write-up! Who do we talk to if we'd like to get one in for testing in the IC labs?
12. 
    29 May 2008 ~ 6:51pm Harudath Fricking awesome :wow: Nice
13. 
    30 May 2008 ~ 8:50am Zanthian Dude you guys got onto Gizmodo! Congrats.
    http://gizmodo.com/394121/if-you-build-a-pc-case-out-of-duct-tape-geeks-will-come
14. 
    30 May 2008 ~ 9:09am TBonZ Sweetness!
15. 
    30 May 2008 ~ 9:09am Snarkasm Digg alone has three different links to stories. Congrats all around!
16. 
    30 May 2008 ~ 9:21am Cyclonite Congrats, guys!
17. 
    30 May 2008 ~ 2:49pm MAGIC Think you will have a problem with heat form the pc softening the glue and the tape losing its composure? Thats why we lost the duct tape challenge last year, except it was the sun not a pc melting our tape. nice work though.
18. 
    30 May 2008 ~ 2:54pm BuddyJ Your Duct Tape Challenge entry didn't have sweet cooling fans and a stylish air vent, did it? :bigggrin:
19. 
    30 May 2008 ~ 3:27pm Sledgehammer70 sweet//// awesome to finally see it complete good work guys
20. 
    30 May 2008 ~ 3:37pm UPSWeezer That's flippin sweet.
21. 
    31 May 2008 ~ 12:56am GHoosdum Thanks for the comments, folks!
    
    Yes, ][][[v[[]]]agic, we were concerned about the heat. If we were going to be housing a PC in the case longer term, we had planned to cut a 120MM exhaust fan hole and possibly include a front intake fan behind the vent.
22. 
    31 May 2008 ~ 2:43am bothered Duct tape, is there nothing it can't do?
23. 
    31 May 2008 ~ 12:44pm GnomeQueen So what's the next big project?
24. 
    31 May 2008 ~ 5:04pm UPSWeezer I say... build a working duck-tape rockband drum set. And then give it to me:D
25. 
    31 May 2008 ~ 8:10pm UPSLynx Wow, well done guys. That's an impressive feat.
    
    Also, I didn't think ME FORTRESS 2 was a typo - I believe we've called it that in-game before.
26. 
    3 Jun 2008 ~ 8:02am Jokke Excellent!
27. 
    3 Jun 2008 ~ 5:16pm sharkydart hehe nice.
28. 
    26 Sep 2008 ~ 4:51am primesuspect Bwahahahah total win!
    
    We made Gizmodo's Top 10 Ultimate Ghetto Gadgets list!
    
    Congrats (again!) CB and Rob!
29. 
    26 Sep 2008 ~ 8:14am GHoosdum That's awesome!
30. 
    26 Sep 2008 ~ 8:33am Kwitko Congrats guys!
31. 
    26 Sep 2008 ~ 10:38am lemonlime Awesome!!
32. 
    12 Nov 2010 ~ 9:30am CB Just found this: http://www.raroycurioso.com/2008/09/gabinete-de-computadora-hecho-con-duck.html
33. 
    12 Nov 2010 ~ 9:37pm GHoosdum We're in syndication now!