Building a CHEAP computer case?

TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
edited January 2005 in Hardware
I'm going to build another computer for folding only, and want to make it as cheap as possible. That means not blowing $30 on the computer case. Can I use a double thickness sheet of cardboard or some 1/4" plywood or something to mount all the parts on? It might not even have a top on it.

CHEAP is the word here. Looks are unimportant.

Comments

  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    Tim it's been done before I swear I've seen it. hmmm ...maybe MM or one of the others can dig up some icrontic ghetto archives but I don't remember if mortin ever got that thing to run or not.
  • mcwcmcwc Vancouver, BC Member
    edited January 2005
    You can use the antistatic bag and the piece of foam that comes with the mobo. Put the mobo on top of the antistatic bag with the piece of foam inside the bag.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    As far as I remember, antistatic bags are conductive on the outside...
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited January 2005
    primesuspect wrote:
    As far as I remember, antistatic bags are conductive on the outside...

    WRONGWRONGWRONGWRONG!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN SO PROVE YOU WRONG!

    For those who are lost, Brian and I had a little argument about this. Unfortunetly at the time I didn't have my VOM with me.

    Friday, though.....
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited January 2005
    Do it like the guys who run a massive home Folding farm. They would (rightly) rather spend money on more processing power than on a pile of fancy cases.

    Build a scaled-down version of this:
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    one day imma gonna build me something like that for team 93
  • mcwcmcwc Vancouver, BC Member
    edited January 2005
    primesuspect wrote:
    As far as I remember, antistatic bags are conductive on the outside...

    I remember seeing a picture here or somewhere else of someone running a mobo on top of an antistatic bag placed over a mobo box.
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    Since we're not sure about anti static bags being conductive, maybe I should put the pink foam on the cardboard, then the MB on the foam? Or maybe put the anti static bag under the cardboard or between the foam and cardboard?

    Does the MB need to be grounded to the power supply? I ask that because in a normal case they both bolt to the metal case assembly.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited January 2005
    I just checked two different kinds of antistatic bags- the silver kind and the clear kind with a black plaid/crosshatch pattern. Neither one is conductive.

    //EDIT
    just a sec, wanna double check.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited January 2005
    Get a cheap piece of plywood slightly larger than the MB. In the (lousy) picture I attached the board is brown. The MB is green. The grey parts are machine bolts run through the wood from the underside. The other grey parts (marked with red dots) are nuts threaded over the bolts. Run a nut partway down each of the bolts, lay the MB on top with the bolts coming through the mounting holes on the MB, then tighten another nut down from the top to keep it secure.

    Loop a bare wire around each of the bolts, then terminate it by looping it around a chassis bolt on the power supply. The MB will be grounded just as if it were mounted in a metal case.

    If you spend more than $2 on this you are wasting money. :D
  • mcwcmcwc Vancouver, BC Member
    edited January 2005
    I really doubt the mobo needs grounding.

    When my old PSU decided to quit last Friday, I removed my mobo from my old case with a "removable mobo tray", and plugged in another PSU placed on an old stereo shelf. The PSU is not even touching the metal mobo tray and booted up just fine.

    If don't want to go the antistatic bag route, then use a piece of scrap plywood, some screws and mobo stands from a previous build or some bolts, nuts and spacers from hardware store.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited January 2005
    My mistake. I made a dumbass mistake there. I set my DMM for the lowest resistance setting instead of the highest. They are indeed conductive. HOW conductive depends on how close the probes are to each other on the bag. The resistance is generally >1Mohm tho... personally, I wouldn't risk it.
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited January 2005
    Geeky1 wrote:
    My mistake. I made a dumbass mistake there. I set my DMM for the lowest resistance setting instead of the highest. They are indeed conductive. HOW conductive depends on how close the probes are to each other on the bag. The resistance is generally >1Mohm tho... personally, I wouldn't risk it.


    Seriously? I'll have to check again later.

    By the way, the mobo does indeed need to be grounded to the power supply.

    EDIT: I've checked a couple of different bags (one from Western Digital, and another which had a mobo in it) and no matter how close I could get the probes without touching each other, I couldn't get ANY current flow between the two.

    This leads me to believe that the voltage that motherboards run at is FAR too low for the bag to conduct the current. Rather it would prolly need the voltage somewhere in the hundreds (at least) to create any current flow.

    I'll see how much resistance I get with 120V and post back.

    Edit again: 120V AC yealded no current flow whatsoever for me accross either bag.
  • mcwcmcwc Vancouver, BC Member
    edited January 2005
    TheSmJ wrote:
    By the way, the mobo does indeed need to be grounded to the power supply.
    Really? Does the grounding happen through the metal mobo tray touching the PSU or through the ATX plug?
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited January 2005
    smidge, considering that the bags are designed to stop static discharge from damaging stuff, and esd discharge can get up into the thousands of volts before you feel it... you're probably right. it's still not a risk I'd take tho, at least not without trying it out on some worthless POS like one of my P4s first ;)
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited January 2005
    mcwc wrote:
    Really? Does the grounding happen through the metal mobo tray touching the PSU or through the ATX plug?

    The tray.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited January 2005
    The ATX connector has a bunch of grounding pins for a reason....
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited January 2005
    The connector doesn't have a TRUE ground (such as the ground the third pin of a wallplug is).
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited January 2005
    :bs: yeah it does. It does indeed. Go get your multimeter and a spare ps. set it to measure resistance. stick a multimeter into a ground plug for like a drive connector (since they're conveniently the same diameter as most dmm probe pins) and touch the other end to the power supply's case and to the ground pin on the AC connector. Guess what? the resistance between those two points will be 0 ohms or damn close to it.
  • mcwcmcwc Vancouver, BC Member
    edited January 2005
    Hmm....I think I'll go with Geeky on this one. I just tested what Geeky tried and it's <1ohm.

    I don't see that the tray is the true GND if there are people who can run systems in plexi cases, a piece of wood or a cardboard box.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited January 2005
    MCWC: yeah. Anyone that doesn't believe me can open up an ATX PS. The AC ground wire will be attached to a post inside the case, and the dc ground will be attached to the case somehow, likely through one of those metal-ringed standoff screw holes that's connected to ground on the DC side.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    This case: thin particle board (or something similar) for the planer surfaces, and foam insulations for rigidity. And the looks are, well...are...use your own adjectives. Here's the article.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited January 2005
    Just needs to be colored brown and have some tendrils of steam coming off it... ;D

    Although it would then be more appropriate to house a P4 or Via C3 in it... :D
  • mcwcmcwc Vancouver, BC Member
    edited January 2005
    Geeky1 wrote:
    MCWC: yeah. Anyone that doesn't believe me can open up an ATX PS. The AC ground wire will be attached to a post inside the case, and the dc ground will be attached to the case somehow, likely through one of those metal-ringed standoff screw holes that's connected to ground on the DC side.
    Yeah, I've opened up a ATX PSU before and have seen the GND wire from the plug socket going to the case.
Sign In or Register to comment.