The fabrication of a completely new case?

dak125dak125
edited April 2004 in Hardware
After casually looking around for cases that support several (more than 2) 120 mm fans I talked to a friend of mine that's big into PC's and welding. Just out of curiousity I wanted to know if it was feasible to fabricate a case out of nothing. I wanted an aluminum case that could support 6 120 mm fans. 2 in the front, 2 in the rear, 1 on the left panel, and 1 on the right panel. The one the right panel one was just a theory. I remember reading at one forum that cutting a hole in the motherboard tray right below where the CPU sits would result in pretty big temp drops. I figured having a 120 mm sucking that air out couldn't hurt. I was thinking aluminum for the brushed aluminum look and the fact that it's much lighter than steel. 2 problems arose. 1) Apparently it's incredibly hard to fabricate aluminum. This is what my friend told me, I'll talk to another buddy of mine when I get back to school. 2) Cost. I think the project would be very time consuming not to mention I don't know how to weld in the least. The design would also have to be different.

Any thoughts or suggestions on this? It's by no means happening anytime soon but it would be quite fun to try out. Anyone ever done something similar? Any suggestions or opinions would be great.

Comments

  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited April 2004
    If you just built a rectangular case and pulled the guts out of an old case for the drive bays it may not be too hard. If you had a way to roll the aluminun you could skip the welding and just use pop rivets or even some of those fancy nuts & bolts you find at most hardware stores these days.

    Do you have access to some industrial tools? In my engineer days I had to deal with a lot of contractors and could usually pay one on the side to do it cheap. When I was living in an old house I got some custom AC grates done for nothing (I did tip the guy). See if you have any sheetmetal shops around where you could get chummy with somebody; maybe give them a computer tuneup in return.
  • dak125dak125
    edited April 2004
    I have access to 0 types of tools (except my handy Craftsman set ;) ). I'm going to ask my buddy down the hall about this when I get back to school. His family owns a machine shop...who knows what they have in there. I really haven't done any type of case modding whatsoever. I might just go nuts with my current case. How do you go about adding fan "holes" to the side of the case?

    EDIT: Also what type of paint do you guys use for all these mods? It would be for both plastic and steel parts (for my current case that is). A nice smooth finish would be ideal.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited April 2004
    dak125 wrote:
    ...How do you go about adding fan "holes" to the side of the case?

    EDIT: Also what type of paint do you guys use for all these mods? It would be for both plastic and steel parts (for my current case that is). A nice smooth finish would be ideal.
    A hole saw in an electric drill works well. I trim the edge with some of that car door trim sold at most auto parts stores.

    As far as paint...??? :rolleyes2 Maybe someone else has some expert advice.
  • dak125dak125
    edited April 2004
    Thanks for the reply. I'll have to look into it. Sounds like an interesting summer project.
  • res0r9lmres0r9lm Florida
    edited April 2004
    if you plan on using aluminum you have a couple of option you could start by getting a nice brushed finsh then get the whole thing anidozed in any color you want. Nice side effect is it's now corrision proof.
    Next option is to power coat it. examle would be lawn chairs.
    last one would be to leave bare and just polish it. Finsh product would look like a chromed case.

    If you look at how cases are put together the majority of the case is pop rivited together with would be good because welding aluminum is expensive

    alternative material: steel is the most sensable. cheaper and stronger combine than with enamel or laquerer paint followed by a clear coat and the can't go wrong. I thought about a fiberglass case then I realized thats no good because case would be insulated and you want a case that can be grounded same thing goes for acrylic not to mention that it causes static.
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited April 2004
    I was watching something on TV once and they were welding and they said it was quite difficult to weld Aluminum. Pop rivets would be more practicle I would think.
  • res0r9lmres0r9lm Florida
    edited April 2004
    for the people that doing it for a living it's easy but not many people have the equipment of ability other wise. It's possible to solder aluminum also but I recomment heliarc or mig
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited April 2004
    But I dont think its as easy to do it well. You have to use lower temps I think. Maybe it was OCC I was watching, dont remember.
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited April 2004
    welding aluminum isnt too bad if you use low power and mig. tig is just harder than h*ll. you could always pop rivet a small frame the use fiberglass to add the unique design and smoothness tat would be hard to do in metal
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    I've thought of it ...I would do lots of bends and folding and rivets.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    profdlp wrote:
    A hole saw in an electric drill works well. I trim the edge with some of that car door trim sold at most auto parts stores.

    As far as paint...??? :rolleyes2 Maybe someone else has some expert advice.

    Baked on Auto Paint. See if you can find an auto painting place.

    Generally, spray paint absorbs heat, and metal cases are useful to CONDUCT heat into metal.

    BTW, when finishing holes, you can smooth edges with a dremel tool and a sanding or grinding tip if you do not want to put edging on hole. Especially for aluminum cases, this is better than edging unless you have some very tiny edging stuff.

    John D.
  • res0r9lmres0r9lm Florida
    edited April 2004
    There are already some cases that have 2 120mm fan upfront and another 2 in the rear and I don't think it would be hard to put one or two up top so if you are planning on building your own. What about using 172mm fans instead? I think most 172mm are around 200-250 cfm 45-55db. I think if you slowed them down alittle to where they were around 35-40db they'll out preform 2 compariable 120's. The quietier 120's are 69 cfm 30db fans vs one 172mm 40db should be atleast 175cfm.
  • res0r9lmres0r9lm Florida
    edited April 2004
    Ageek wrote:
    Baked on Auto Paint. See if you can find an auto painting place.

    Generally, spray paint absorbs heat, and metal cases are useful to CONDUCT heat into metal.

    BTW, when finishing holes, you can smooth edges with a dremel tool and a sanding or grinding tip if you do not want to put edging on hole. Especially for aluminum cases, this is better than edging unless you have some very tiny edging stuff.

    John D.
    some colors are better at absorbing heat, light colors reflect a lot of heat but then color and material shouldn't have any effect with a case with good airflow.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    What about getting something already modded like from coolcases.com???
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    I keep forgetting that not only do I have giant sheets of aluminum at my disposal, but also welders, a CNC punching machine, and a CNC bending machine. I think it's high time I get to making myself a custom aluminum case. :D
  • res0r9lmres0r9lm Florida
    edited April 2004
    those are called breaks instead of bending machines but I like your name better because it makes more sense :vimp:
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    Well, yes, but it's easier to explain to the layperson that it's a bending machine.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    Mr. Kwitko wrote:
    I keep forgetting that not only do I have giant sheets of aluminum at my disposal, but also welders, a CNC punching machine, and a CNC bending machine. I think it's high time I get to making myself a custom aluminum case. :D

    Try 1Mil to 1.5 Mil Aluminum for a case. Try clear lacquer coating, or a very thin clear acrylic coat. If you can very finely brush it, it will not show scratches much, and the coating will help with that also. Of course, you could gunmetal ANODYZE it, but that might be a bit much... :D Ever thought of custom making Aluminum cases??? And donating 5% of profits to Team 93??? :D;)

    John D.
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    How difficult/expensive is it to go from a CAD utility or solid modeler to CNC? All the engineering labs here have AutoCAD, Inventor, and SolidWorks, so I've been wondering for some time if it's worth the effort to roll my own case design and have someone CNC it for me.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • res0r9lmres0r9lm Florida
    edited April 2004
    Ageek wrote:
    Try 1Mil to 1.5 Mil Aluminum for a case. Try clear lacquer coating, or a very thin clear acrylic coat. If you can very finely brush it, it will not show scratches much, and the coating will help with that also. Of course, you could gunmetal ANODYZE it, but that might be a bit much... :D Ever thought of custom making Aluminum cases??? And donating 5% of profits to Team 93??? :D;)

    John D.
    which is better Inodized or parkerized?
  • dak125dak125
    edited April 2004
    mtgoat wrote:
    What about getting something already modded like from coolcases.com???

    Very interesting stuff. I'll have to take some time to try to decipher the site, but it looks promising. Thanks!
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