case building help

[Sean161990]

im wanting to build a mid-tower, i was wondering what dimensions i should use to go about this, if anyone has any ideas, they would be much appreciated. im also thinking about also putting an acrylic top and side on it, is this a good idea, bad idea, please give me some opinions

 

[kuyaglen]

Sounds like this is gonna be your first case from scratch...so I suggest go with something
simple (tried and true) like a normal mid tower. There are plenty of pics of all acrylic cases,
examine how their parts go together and dont overwhelm yourself...if it takes a few years from
start to finish so be it.

 

[velusip]

if it takes a few years from start to finish so be it.

Haha, no way!

It depends on the materials you plan to use and how you plan to mount mounts to the case; Via an internal frame or the via rivets in the walls of the case itself. I found that first concentrating on building the mounts for the internals helps a lot. Once all your mounts are built and the devices fit on them conveniently, you can start building a frame or simple case to house these.

Random tips off the top of my head:
- Consider grounding.
- Build for internal aerodynamics.
- Lightweight is good!
- Small is good too.
- Quiet! Suspension of moving parts (elastic or foam bedding for HDDs, PSUs, case fans) and foam or carpet for the inside walls of the case.

 

[tweakmod]

I built an complete acrylic case from scratch and it took a year (counting the couple month delays in between working on it). I used a laser cutter to cut all the parts...something I recommend if you can. Depending on what tools you have available, cutting all the pieces to perfect right angles is a hard job, especially if you are using .25" thick acrylic and not anything thinner.

To get the dimensions, I just found some cases that I liked on line and wrote down their dimensions.

For the design, I used AutoCAD so that way I could use the laser. That was the easiest part of the whole ordeal.

You should buy special acrylic glue, I got mine from an acrylics warehouse. The glue takes 24 hours to be completely dry so it can take a week or two to glue all the parts. I glued one part at a time so that way I wouldn't bump one piece off. After a few sections I would go back and re-glue all the joints.

It is quite the experience that takes lots of planning and patience. Have fun!

 

[Sean161990]

for the connecting of pieces i was gonna use some aluminum angle to make corners, i think im only gonna put acrylic on the left side and the top, maybe the bottom too, the front, back and right side will be aluminum or steel, whichever i can get does this sound like a good or bad idea?

 

[lmk29o]

Im in the process of building a plexiglass case right now, maybe i will post pictures as soon as i can figure out my new camera phone . Anyway, this is quite an undertaking, and even though it sounds like a good idea, trust me(as i didn't the people who told me this) that it is a better idea to buy a plexiglass case. It will most likely look better, come faster, and be cheaper than yours. That being said, its a really cool project idea.

Im using Acrilic Screw Cubes to hold my case together. I have been told that this is a better option than glue, and though i haven't used glue i believe it because it allows for more freedom in size differances and bad cutting. Some things to remember:

-there are 8 corners not 4(i made this mistake), so if you buy cubes you will need two sets(i would purchase screws independantly though, they are pricy at Frozen cpu)
-Think about how your pieces will be placed, are the right and left walls going to be set on top of the bottom? If so plan this for the thickness of the plexiglass.
-I recomend trying to find store bought pieces that are the size of your walls. Its really tricky to cut exact, and it shows when you try to make a cube out of them(i had to mix and match to find which would work for what, but its not pretty)
-keep the protective plastic on as long as possible
-Like said above, this is no small project, mines probably going to take a year too (month so far)
-dremmeling, i haven't done it yet, but its going to be tricky
-for internals, i was planning on using two strips of plexi that would run all the way up the case to hold CD drives, and hdds(with 5 1/4 bay adaptors). Note: not sure how this is going to work haven't gotten there yet.


Enjoy your project, remember its not an ecomonomic option, so think of it as a project instead of a case

Good luck, tell me how it comes out, or if you have ideas, im looking for some myself.