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Fully Sphereical case design

joeframbach said:
how about a globe ?
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that is an interesting idea, but not without flaws. none of those are big enough. i nead at least 17" in diametere. also, most of these are either made of cardboard or thin tin or something. i'm not sure it'd be sturdy enough. but that's good thinking.
 
joeframbach said:
i saw a metal 21" globe in there. maybe the bidding ended already when i saw it.
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yeah, i saw what you're talkign about: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7335619486

the only problem is, the whle thing is 21" high. The globe itself is only 16". and if you look at hte pictures the guy provides and the description, it's actually made of think cardboard.

ugh..so close and yet so far away >.<
 
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Anyone remember the "beer ball"? Portable, economical plastic beer kegs? Don't know where you'd find one.
 
upriverpaddler said:
Anyone remember the "beer ball"? Portable, economical plastic beer kegs? Don't know where you'd find one.
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i need this to be metal though, keep in mind this is for structure as well as ornimental. i need to contruct an aluminum frame inside to hold the parts, and it'll be very hard to try bonding metal to hard plastic w/o bolts sticking out the outside. so far the globe idea is the the most cost effective, if i can find a metal one that's big enough.

EDIT: found this, but i donno what the globe itself is made of. i called them. waiting for an answer.

http://www.accentfurnishings.com/pofugadimegl.html
 
What about this globe?

It's huge. =)
 
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Bepunk said:
What about this globe?

It's huge. =)
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1) too big
2) made of wood and paper

:/

it sucks, because i actually found a 17" globe, but it was made of plastic... fuck... so far it looks like i'll either need to find someone with an english wheel around here, or buy that 900 globe from NZ... this project is gonna be expensive no matter what i do >.<
 
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I would call someone before you buy that thing. "Metal Globe Stand" likely means a globe with a metal stand. The globe itself is likely made of cardboard, like most globes I have ever seen. Don't discount plastic. Pound for pound a plastic globe will be durable enuff for your needs.
 
upriverpaddler said:
I would call someone before you buy that thing. "Metal Globe Stand" likely means a globe with a metal stand. The globe itself is likely made of cardboard, like most globes I have ever seen. Don't discount plastic. Pound for pound a plastic globe will be durable enuff for your needs.
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i already did call someone. they were busy. waiting for a call back.

and the problem with plastic is, it'll be just that much harder to mod. Remember i gotta attach a metal frame to this, so it'd be much easier to weld it on, than bolt it and have it look messy. plus the fact, i'm gonnabe altering the curface of the globe. With metal i can add on pieces and such. with plastic, i cut, i can't fix, and i can't add anything to it. So i NEED metal.
 
i find it unbelievable that you can't find a >17" metal globe on ebay. i mean, c'mon... people sell their souls on ebay.
 
look yourself. largest i could find is 16". i even went through 10 pages on google looking for both 17" and 18" metal globes... got nothing...
 
I think sphere is sort of a bad idea unless you can come up with a design that takes advantage of the fact it's spherical. If the spherical design is functional as well as looking cool, that'd be genius.. otherwise I think a spherical case would just be a pain.
 
I think your design is fine. I've been searching for something appropriate for you, but no luck yet. You're right, ebay is a no go.
 
aL Mac said:
I think sphere is sort of a bad idea unless you can come up with a design that takes advantage of the fact it's spherical. If the spherical design is functional as well as looking cool, that'd be genius.. otherwise I think a spherical case would just be a pain.
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Only function i can really see at the moment is the airflow. i made it so that air would be sucked in from the bottom, and spread over all the parts while going up using natrual convection, then sucking away the heat at the very top. normal cases blow in from the front, where convection moves the air upwards past the HD's and over the mobo and cpu, then out the back. unfortunatly, i've found this leaves the whole top space around the optical drive ports voulnerable to dead air, where heat just collects. This layout solves this by putting the main exhaust at the very top and jetting it backward. i'm also thinking of placing the watercooling radiators inside the exhaust shaft, so as the air is rushed out of the case, it blows through the radiators, using the air flow as efficiently as i can.

but mostly this is design. i imagine a near seemless sphere, with the only disruptions being the power button, DVD drive slot, the handles on the side for hardware access, the vent shaft outlet on top, and the back hatch for the wires. other than that, it'll be pained black with a mirror like finish, with red highlights and red internal lighting through some small strips of windows. Think of those sentinel robots in the matrix rolled up into a ball...kinda...you'd get the idea of the omobnous feel i wanna give to this case..once finished. i also kinda wanna have the lights slowly pulsate from low to high brightness... see, if i was able to figure out these damn CAD programs i'd draw some outer shell designs... bleh..
 
Ever hear of a bucky ball? It's the geometric design that dome homes are built on. It's also the geometric pattern of a standard 32 panel soccer ball. It's just hexagons and pentagons. You can use thick aluminum just cut out the pieces and bond them together somehow. Or use wood. Use 1/2 inch pine and then when the pieces are complete you can sand away the points to make your sphere. I was thinking of making an imac clone this way. Wood is easy to work with and is a better material for you since you haven't yourself worked with metal. Even if you had to buy some tools it would cost less than 100 bucks. You would need to set up a jig to ensure even hexagons and pentagons but once that is set up make double or triple what you need so you end up with a few to play with or sell. Find a retiree who's into woodworking and let them take a shot at it. Hell, I might try it. Imagine it in acrylic with an couple LED fans.
 
I'm really sorry your thread has been so disrupted. I think you have a great idea and shood pursue it. But start a new thread when you get your plan together. I remember someone starting a sphere PC either here or on bit-tech. He started with plywood circles interlocked so they were like cross sections of the sphere, but I never tracked it to find how he skinned it. I ran a search on both forums but its not coming up quick. But I did find this....


http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/akiba/hotline/20021221/ballpc.html
 
Gibroni said:
Ever hear of a bucky ball? It's the geometric design that dome homes are built on. It's also the geometric pattern of a standard 32 panel soccer ball. It's just hexagons and pentagons. You can use thick aluminum just cut out the pieces and bond them together somehow. Or use wood. Use 1/2 inch pine and then when the pieces are complete you can sand away the points to make your sphere. I was thinking of making an imac clone this way. Wood is easy to work with and is a better material for you since you haven't yourself worked with metal. Even if you had to buy some tools it would cost less than 100 bucks. You would need to set up a jig to ensure even hexagons and pentagons but once that is set up make double or triple what you need so you end up with a few to play with or sell. Find a retiree who's into woodworking and let them take a shot at it. Hell, I might try it. Imagine it in acrylic with an couple LED fans.
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interesting idea, but doesn't fit the look i want. plus it's actually easier working with a near perfect sphere than it would be a bucky ball (yes i've heard of it, 3rd form of carbon)
 
upriverpaddler said:
I'm really sorry your thread has been so disrupted. I think you have a great idea and shood pursue it. But start a new thread when you get your plan together. I remember someone starting a sphere PC either here or on bit-tech. He started with plywood circles interlocked so they were like cross sections of the sphere, but I never tracked it to find how he skinned it. I ran a search on both forums but its not coming up quick. But I did find this....


http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/akiba/hotline/20021221/ballpc.html
Click to expand...

oh sweet. that's hella cool. yeah, that's more or less what you'de get using a mini atx. i' on the other hand, am using a full 12x9 inch mobo, so i have a bit more room to fit stuff in. that's got a lot of the elements of my design as well, like using the slot-loading dvd drive because of the small size. that does give me some ideas though. i'd still like to to be metal, but now that i've seen it mounted in plastic i think if worse comes to worse i'll change my plans.

naw, disruptions are fine, though i would like some input on my hardware arrangement. like, does anyone see where dead air would collect, are things too close to eachother as to cause an abnormal rise in heat... is the psu too heavy, even with those 3 HD's balancing it? stuff like that.
 
ok..i gots myself a problem... that site lists two sizesm 16" and 20". it's the case of the three little bears. 16" is to small, and doesn't allow for a plausable ventilation shaft. 20", on hte ohter hand, is too big, and though i'd like the room, is almost as big as those heavy duty server towers with hte bajillion hard drive bays. So i need a mid point. i gotta find a gazing ball of 17" - 18". that's the appropriate midpoint. i suppose if worse comes to worse i'll go with the 16" to save space, but if anyone could find a 17 or 18 inch steel gazing ball/globe my search would be over. thank you for helping me so far. I'm looking too, so if you can help, i'd appriciate it.
 
*sigh* someone finds what i need, it's too expensive. someone finds what i need again, it's affordable, but the wrong size... now i'm stuck... either get a cramped 16", or a jinormous 20"... only this could happen to me i swear >.<
 
yeah, seems like i'll have to huh? hmm... well that's settled then...gotta redesign this thing now though...
 
What's an 'English wheel'? We have this massive steel bending contraption in my garage. It consists of 3 large, solid steel rollers and a big crank. Is that an English wheel?
 
An English Wheel:

EnglishWheel01.jpg
 
it looks awesome.
i wonder, if you have a wireless keyboard and mouse, if it will work inside the ball.
 
it might, i dont see why it wouldn't. i forgot what's line in sight, IR or bluetooth... but the cable houseing in the back would be good for hiding the wireless stub or w/e.
 
IR is line of sight - infrared light is used in remote controls.

Bluetooth might be the best option.
 
A design concept for the outer shell. red markings are windows looking into the red lighting inside the case. the two long rectangles in the front are slot-load DVD drives, the rectangle below them is the power button, the square on top is this biometric fingerprint scanner i have, and the (+) on the side view is going to be the side panel handle.

case%20design%20outer%20shell.png


rough draft of what i could do. input is welcome.

EDIT: i put in a potential spot for a 5" TFT LCD monitor. donno how i'll hide it yet though.
 
you should just paint it half red, half white, with a button in the middle so when you press it, it opens and a cute furry animal pops out and starts killing things. :p

just another idea.
 
sounds really cool. Reminds me of the zeroids in Terrahawks from back when. (actually, thinking about it, the stands that the zeroids used in Terrahawks would be extremely easy to use for this project :D)
 
Zamboni said:
http://www.gardenitems.co.uk/stainless_spheres_one.php

The 450mm sphere is closer to 17".
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oooh awsome... thanks a bunch ^^..


BladeMrk said:
sounds really cool. Reminds me of the zeroids in Terrahawks from back when. (actually, thinking about it, the stands that the zeroids used in Terrahawks would be extremely easy to use for this project :D)
Click to expand...

weird..never seen that show...looks like an older version of thunderbirds. heh.
 
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