Project: Copper Works

[Atherton213]

ok... well im about to start a project from the ground up... buidling my own case... i currently work at a sign shop designing and building signs... so ive got access to a lot of tools and connections to get some acrylic... (sorry cant hook anyone else up... ive only been working here 2 weeks.. dont want to over step my "boundry")

here is a sketch-up model i did... im new with it so sorry in advance for poor model...

i have drawings as well and ill take pictures and post them later....

now to explain....

please tell me if this is bad idea... or will damage my parts in anyway....

what im going to do is build most of the case from black and either tinted clear... to give the illusion of black when computer is off or a smoke acrylic... bottom will probly be a sheet of aluminum or wood (something sturdy)... top and back will be solid black most likley... and sides will be mostly black with windows either in smoke or tinted... im going to have windows on both sides so here is my idea.... instead of a motherboard tray... i was thinking get cooper tubes and use those as the tray... haveing a tube where the screws for the motherboard go... putting the standoffs in those and doing it that way...

the hard drive will be mounted to the bottom of the case somewhere... and the drives instead of a drive cage like most cases.. again ill use copper tubes... going to use all different sizes and widths of tubes... another thing to do with the tubes i was going to sleve my powersupply in them.. buidling tunnels to the correct spots... or near to the correct spots... you can kinda tell in my picture... i was even thinking of going from the bottom of the case all the way up and out the top and use them as handles too.... but im not sure on that part.... right now im trying to find a place to copper plate me some allen head screws... (we all love them )... this week or next ill be most likley going and pricing out some stuff... tubes and corner peices and such... also going to updating my system too...

a64 3500+
1gb pc3200 corsair value
9800 pro (almost dead)
200gb hd
dvd drive + dvd burner

im thinking about going to 2gb of ram and getting x800pro which will all games i play

full upgrade isnt till xmas time where ill go PCI-E but for now im getting all i can out of agp without wasting my money by getting a 7800gs or whatever...

 

[Unknown-One]

The only problem with hard pipe is that you'll need to use elbows, and anything much more than 45 degrees will seriously begin to bring down your flow rate. There is flexable copper pipe...not sure if you can get it with a big enough diameter for this aplication though.

Just something to think about.

 

[ajampaniki]

The only problem with hard pipe is that you'll need to use elbows, and anything much more than 45 degrees will seriously begin to bring down your flow rate. There is flexable copper pipe...not sure if you can get it with a big enough diameter for this aplication though.

Just something to think about.

Could make it something like the coper oillines they use on oldschool bikes. Look really nice.

 

[Atherton213]

The only problem with hard pipe is that you'll need to use elbows, and anything much more than 45 degrees will seriously begin to bring down your flow rate. There is flexable copper pipe...not sure if you can get it with a big enough diameter for this aplication though.

Just something to think about.

its not gonna be water cooled... the pipes are gonna have the wires and such in them...

 

[Arcygenical]

Yeah, that's what I read. No WC no problems. If you did WC, it would look really cool too. You could always sleeve the WC tubing.

Ok things to be conerned of... Oxidization, Oxidization and Weight.


I'd clean up each copper piece really nice and clearcoat it to prevent them from going green any time soon.

You know how much a plexi and copper case is gonna weigh right? Don't expect to lug this around to any lan parties or a Friend's house.

Other than that, This is an awesome idea. As long as you can route the cables through (which might be tough around bends and T lines) this will be really cool.

Oh, I'd also be considering mounting the HD's below your 2 optical drives. That way you can fit 3 drives in, just incase you EVER need more storage. Trust me, I fabbed a case awhile back and it was pretty nice, but it had such limited expansion possibilities... You could buy a removable mobo tray from mountainmods.com to use it as your IO panel at the back too.

 

[Atherton213]

im gonna pick up one of those molex remover tools to help me sleeve the wires... and i planned on cleaning and clearcoating the copper... dont want the statue of liberty in my case.. although it could look cool.... but yeah its not going anywhere... and im thinking about throwing some wheels like the lian-li ones... reason im not gonna get a mobo tray is that i think it would be cool to have a window on both sides... be able to see the in through both sides of the case and not just have a big tray there... thinking about going with some white cc lights as well think it would look cool shining off all the stuff... well gotta head to lowes and homedepot this week to start pricing stuff out... build will probly start in the next few weeks... will have regular updates and mostlikley lots of pictures

good idea with the HD too... im still working that part out... i might end up with it under the drives like you said... think it wwould be easiest that way

 

[Hinokagutsuchi]

You know what might look cool? If you only clear coated part of the tubing so that there would be certain spots of patina(tarnishing). It'd give it an industrial sort of feel to the case.

 

[Atherton213]

hmmm just kinda splatter a clear on it.... have it look like a basement of some old building or something... ill keep that in mind