• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Luxor like computer case...suggestions please

C

crazyman_130

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Messages
95
Ok so here i am, senior in high school next year with 6 hours of machine shop first semester, second semester i go out to a machine shop and start job training and really getting experience. This leaves me with 6 hours a day in the first semester tho to do whatever i want, the welding teacher and my machine shop teacher really wanna see me try something hard, and i suggested making a computer case out of alluminum, both of them like the idea, and ive already got a strip heater to bend plexi glass...So i started thinking about what i wanted to do...a hemishpere came across my mind, however this would be a very very hard task, so i started thinking more and more...and a pyramid design struck my mind, like the Luxor in vegas. I would create the frame out of steel probaly, or a thick alluminum, with the shell being alluminum as well, at the top i want to have it level off with another small pyramid with 5 or 6 ultra bright led's that match the paint scheme shooting out the top just like at the luxor. For paint i was thinking about using eathier a candy green with sparkles in it, along with green led's shooting out the top and bottom, or i could go with a luxor look alike with a shinny black sparkle finish, and ultra bright white leds shooting out the top and bottom. For hardware, i was thinking about using slim cd drives, made for cars and stuff and probaly a full size atx motherboard sitting on the floor of the pyramid, the back of the pyramid would level off near the bottom so that the i/o of the mother board could stick out nice and flush, and the pci cards and the graphics card could mount. fans would be on the bottom forcing air out the bottom, i would probaly position one right under the mother board and a couple near the edges of the mother board. Another spot for a fan could be right under the LED's at the top of the case making the airflow pattern in the top, and out the bottom. These are my ideas so far, please eathier add to them, make suggestions, or come up with a completely new cool idea.

Thanks in advanced for any help.

Sam
 
similar...that thing is to tall....the goal is to have the pyramid the same dimension all around...so 17x17x17
 
oh dear god... please seperate your thoughts into paragraphs.

but well for cd-rom drives, you can use laptop cd-rom drives. If space is limited, also try laptop hard drives.
 
whats wrong with the hemisphere design? sounds good and original to me, and a more proper use of 6 hours a day for a whole semeser
 
...and after making a perfect 17" hemisphere, he'll be among the most talented english wheel fabricators on the planet. ;)

 
well...the problem with a 17" hemisphere is i might not have the clearance on the lathe im using...then again i might...if i dont i might have to go with a micro atx board...ill give it some thought...another cool idea would be to just screw the hemishpere and go with a full sphere.

Sorry about the huge paragraph in my original post...i was in a hurry
 
I saw something like that but it was acrlyic cooled good they had a nice light at the top.
 
UPDATE
ok, after doing some sketches i have decided that this computer will most likely be water cooled with all the components in the case. I have also decided that the computer case will be no larger then 20x20x20". I will find out the smallest size i can do once i get on to auto cad later this week.

I really dont wanna recess the cd drives, i want them to be flush with the case, does anyone know if cd drives can operate safely at angles? if not does anyone have any suggestions?

The back panel will be recessed in, above the i/o panel will be the power supply, this is the reason for going water cooling as there wont be enough space for a heat sink. There also will only be an x16 slot, next to the graphic card over the pci slots will be the radiator. Any suggestions or comments on these choices?

thanks for any help guys
 
You could always make a wedge shaped stealth bezel for the cd-rom. Basically, recess the drive as much as you need to for it not to stick out, then fill that hole back in with a false front for the cd-rom.

 
well thats what i thought about...but the cd door has to be spring loaded...and i have no clue how to do that
 
crazyman_130 said:
...snip... I really dont wanna recess the cd drives, i want them to be flush with the case, does anyone know if cd drives can operate safely at angles? if not does anyone have any suggestions? ...re-snip...
Click to expand...

Of course they do... look at the PSP... it's designed to run the CD at a 90° angle, that's what those silly tabs inside the tray of the CD-ROM is for, so that you can insert the CD in a drive mounted on an angle. After you close the tray of a CD drive the CD is pressed against a spindle mounted in the top of the drive. It's not going anywhere but around.

As for how to make a spring loaded CD-Rom door (if you're not going to just stealth it and glue a bezel to the front of the CD tray), go buy a Lian-Li bezel and rip it apart and mod that. Get them here: FrozenCPU.
 
ive never seen something stealthed...ive heard the term, but if you would link me to a few pics and give me a quick summary of what it is.

by the way...thanks for the help and suggestions
 
does anyone know where i can buy sheets of 8th inch alluminum and 16th inch alluminum about 2 feet wide and 5 feet long?or even if i have to buy a larger section then that. The places i have found so far look like you have to buy 10-20 sheets at a time...while i could do this, i dont really want to...end up with 600 pounds of alluminum...its only 300 bucks tho pretty cheap to be honest
 
ryuji said:
who says you wont find a use for that aluminum later on ;)
Click to expand...

thats my exact thought, cause once i make this one ill probaly be addicted to it. Maybe i can do a bad a$$ cube like GT69 on bit-tech lol
 
ok well heres a basic drawing done in paint...my ideas on paper are alot better planned out and have more detail...but this will give you guys a basic idea on how i might be leaning with this so you can better help or give suggestions.

55m6fd
 
ok...with the rivets idea....its eathier gonna be like that or im gonna go for a completely smooth surface, if i do this i will spot weld the pieces together, sand it, and then put bondo on and sand again, completely smooth. My teacher wanted me to go with the rivits...he thought it might look cool...so thats where that idea came from.

Another person just brought to my attention about stealthing the power button...so those are on the chopping block now. I found a gadget at xoxide that uses electrical pulses in your hands and detects them...if picked up by the gadget it turns the computer on...so i guess if i touched the front of the case with this thing inside....it would turn the computer on...a very cool idea indeed. The second idea that this guy had about the power situation was to have the top pyramid, where all the lights are at...suppresable so that you could push down on it acting like a button. This was also a very good idea, a little harder to achieve though.
 
crazyman_130 said:
well...the problem with a 17" hemisphere is i might not have the clearance on the lathe im using...
Click to expand...
:eek: that scares me... turning through 2200 square inches (at least) of aluminum... talk about a shitty 6 months. if you finished in that time. that is when you build your own english wheel and use that instead :p and EDIT: where are you going to find a 17"x17"x8.5" block of aluminum anyway? you could cast your own... EDIT2: sites an article i saw in a Servo magazine where a high school cast an old diesel block into a robot chassis using a microwave

i think the pyramid is a better plan ;)
EDIT3:
crazyman_130 said:
so i guess if i touched the front of the case with this thing inside....it would turn the computer on...a very cool idea indeed. The second idea that this guy had about the power situation was to have the top pyramid, where all the lights are at...suppressible so that you could push down on it acting like a button.
Click to expand...
the way these work is they detect a change in capacitance. you need a pad of metal, i don’t know if it is sensitive enough to use the whole case as the sensor pad. and besides, the whole thing would have to be isolated from ground (dangerous to do). check out
qprox for where the Xoxide product came from... especially this. they are very handy, but it does have limits. the bit-tech electronics forums have a great deal of info on these sensors
 
theshadow27 said:
:eek: that scares me... turning through 2200 square inches (at least) of aluminum... talk about a shitty 6 months. if you finished in that time. that is when you build your own english wheel and use that instead :p and EDIT: where are you going to find a 17"x17"x8.5" block of aluminum anyway? you could cast your own... EDIT2: sites an article i saw in a Servo magazine where a high school cast an old diesel block into a robot chassis using a microwave

i think the pyramid is a better plan ;)
EDIT3:

the way these work is they detect a change in capacitance. you need a pad of metal, i don’t know if it is sensitive enough to use the whole case as the sensor pad. and besides, the whole thing would have to be isolated from ground (dangerous to do). check out
qprox for where the Xoxide product came from... especially this. they are very handy, but it does have limits. the bit-tech electronics forums have a great deal of info on these sensors
Click to expand...


lol if i did the hemishpere i would take it in to a factory and use a really really aggressive cut, like half an inch or the most possible...ive thought about castings....but the size of the laddle to hold the molten alluminum has to be huge...i would have to get a fork lift just to tip the laddle over in to the mold...very dangerous in a residential area lol.

im thinking that sensor will be fine, if at worst i might just have to touch a certain area on the case. and the case wont have any metal parts touching the ground anyways, im gonna put rubber feet on my case. Why cant it touch the ground tho? that i didnt understand.
 
I think the thing from Xoxide works like the touch sensitive lamps that were all the rage in the early 80's. My mom still has a few of them around the house. Some of them were huge table lamps so, with some work, you might be able to get the whole thing to be a sort of biometic switch.
 
Hrm.. until I read this I was considering doing a pyramidal mod. Was going to have it be more like the Mason’s pyramid tho. ( I have this thing about iconography of less than mainstream things. Specially when you consider that my first/next mod is going to be Demon Sacrifice. ) In any case, one thing I thought was cool, was to make the top revolve. I know it’s not like the casino, but have it spin with HDD activity or something.

Another thing that I was thinking about would be to have the sides textured to appear like stones, and have the power button stealthed, in that you had to push one particular stone to get it to start. ( Something about Chinese Puzzle boxes intrigue too. ) Just some ideas that I thought I would share to see if any appealed.

One thing to watch out for. The water is gonna be kinda heavy. I had 10 inches of clearance, and 7 inches of water, then a 1 inch eye on top. That water was like 5lb’s or something like that. I had the actual number at home. So you are gonna want to make sure that the res is well supported, depending of course on how much water you are gonna use.

Can’t wait to see more work on your mod. Mostly I can’t wait to see how you fit everything in there, because of the slant of the sides your board can’t be right up against the edge of the pyramid, ( about 3-4 inches back I think), so hopefully you are better able to arrange things than I was. ;)
 
personally i prefer normal shape computer cases, theyre alot more functional, but on the other hand they arent as eye catching
 
SpazzeBlue said:
Hrm.. until I read this I was considering doing a pyramidal mod. Was going to have it be more like the Mason’s pyramid tho. ( I have this thing about iconography of less than mainstream things. Specially when you consider that my first/next mod is going to be Demon Sacrifice. ) In any case, one thing I thought was cool, was to make the top revolve. I know it’s not like the casino, but have it spin with HDD activity or something.

Another thing that I was thinking about would be to have the sides textured to appear like stones, and have the power button stealthed, in that you had to push one particular stone to get it to start. ( Something about Chinese Puzzle boxes intrigue too. ) Just some ideas that I thought I would share to see if any appealed.

One thing to watch out for. The water is gonna be kinda heavy. I had 10 inches of clearance, and 7 inches of water, then a 1 inch eye on top. That water was like 5lb’s or something like that. I had the actual number at home. So you are gonna want to make sure that the res is well supported, depending of course on how much water you are gonna use.

Can’t wait to see more work on your mod. Mostly I can’t wait to see how you fit everything in there, because of the slant of the sides your board can’t be right up against the edge of the pyramid, ( about 3-4 inches back I think), so hopefully you are better able to arrange things than I was. ;)
Click to expand...


Nice ideas. I understand what your saying about the slant and the motherboard not being real close...but the only add on card im using is gonna be a video card...nothing else. The video card sits in far enough that it wont matter at all... The building will start in august, possibly sooner, but thats the slated start date as of right now...i will have to buy all the parts, get renderings made, plans drawn up in auto cad, and then i will have to get parts drawn up for the water block, and the reservoir...both of which will be custom.

This is for my senior project, so consequently (and not really that bad since im using the schools nice machines) i will have to start in august. However it will take me awhile to get all the parts and think about and rethink about my design and everything. I might also try and use some of my dads software at work to test out the case and see if it will be strong enough to hold all that water like you mentioned...never really thought about it, and its a good idea, I didnt plan on having an actually frame, just the "skin" (sheet metal on the outside)...just like an exoskeleton. This will keep weight down, and will also be less work.

Theres some big suprises that i have to get worked out and find a way to do...im not telling you guys everything i have planned, i want it to be a secret, a [H] secret at that. Its something that hasnt been done at all, and im gonna get it accomplished. So i really have a lot of planning left to fill up the summer months with.

Color...Ive got a couple ideas...i want this sucker to catch the eyes, but i also want it a solid color so that the LED's can match it. My ideas currently are; 1.) a shinny black with sparkles in it, 2.) a candy green with sparkles in it, or 3.) the brushed alluminum or chrome. ATI red wouldnt be to shabby eathier, maybe they could use it or i could sponsor them or something. Anyone got any better ideas?

A name? I have no clue what i wanna call it...its not a luxor, cause it probaly wont be a look alike...but i dont know what i wanna call it...maybe you guys would have a better clue once i render something for you?

The purpose for this thread was to tell you guys my ideas and intentions for the coming months...once started i will start a work log in the appropriate forum and you can cheer on hopefully a bad ass case.

Sam
 
crazyman_130 said:
im thinking that sensor will be fine, if at worst i might just have to touch a certain area on the case. and the case wont have any metal parts touching the ground anyways, im gonna put rubber feet on my case. Why cant it touch the ground tho? that i didnt understand.
Click to expand...

electrical ground, and assuming that you have any metal componets bolted to the case with metal screws, there is no way to avoid it. the PSU connects all of the black wires with the middle lead of the wall plug and its metal case internaly. that is what i ment by isolated, you would have to use nylon screws and washers on CD, floppy and hard drives, as well as the PSU and motherboard. so it doesnt make sense to isolate the case... and it is safer if you use metal screws.

the xoxide kit DOES need to be isolated... it has its own little sensor pad with a rubber base. the lamps use a much cruder AC based system that looks for a change in frequency response of the whole enclosure, and will only work off 120vAC
 
theshadow27 said:
that is what i ment by isolated, you would have to use nylon screws and washers on CD, floppy and hard drives, as well as the PSU and motherboard. so it doesnt make sense to isolate the case... and it is safer if you use metal screws.
Click to expand...

ok...so not only the case, but everything inside the case that is electrical has to be isolated to? So assuming i have my case up on ruber feet, and the psu, water pump, fans, motherboard, cd rom, and the hard drive isolated with rubber washers and nylon screws then ill be fine ....or wrong?
 
crazyman_130 said:
ok...so not only the case, but everything inside the case that is electrical has to be isolated to? So assuming i have my case up on ruber feet, and the psu, water pump, fans, motherboard, cd rom, and the hard drive isolated with rubber washers and nylon screws then ill be fine ....or wrong?
Click to expand...

well, you could isolate everything if you REALLY wanted the whole case as a touch switch... my point is that it would be a royal pain in the a** and not worth it. if you use regular hardware (metal screws, no washers) and don’t worry about the feet, ect, then you could find another way to do the touch switch.

for example, if you have an acrylic window, you can mount the sensor pads in that and that will work fine. another option would be to mill out a square inch or so 1/32 deep, glue in a piece of cellophane, and then glue foil on top of the cellophane, with a wire running from the back of the foil to the ic/module through a hole. if you filled in the cracks with bondo (and you were painting anyway) you wouldn’t be able to see it.
 
I would seriously rethink using the case as a big power switch, you dont want someone accidently brushing up against the case causing it to shut off.
 
Rakinos said:
I would seriously rethink using the case as a big power switch, you dont want someone accidently brushing up against the case causing it to shut off.
Click to expand...

oh....THANK YOU ...thats a very good point
 
Course.. to turn it off you have ot hold onto it for 8 seconds or whatever. Now if you made the whole case the reset button..... ;)
 
alright...renderings are scheduled to start tommorow...i might even do a small rendered video for anyone that wants to message me and have it sent to them...I think im gonna try and learn cad today to start drawings on it also...so my ideas are finally gonna start getting pressed out soon
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top