Static Electricity + Acrylic.

[tong]

Ok I'm making somethign out of acrylic and am worried about static electricity frying everything in there. Is there any way (non ugly) that i can insulate against this occurance? One of my coworkers suggested painting it (primer + paint) which makes sense, however i don't think it will completely eliminate it.

Anyone got some other ideas?

ps: its a hdd cage, i have it already made so the dimmentions are a little tight, paint would be cool but anythign realy thicker then 2 seets of paper on each side is pushing it.

 

[OkumaCaptain]

theres no need for any insulation or ESD protection. Especially if the acrylic enclosure is inside of a metal case.

 

[SarverSystems]

As long as the hard drives are grounded properly, through the black wires, you should be fine.

Remember, there are cases made entirely out of acrylic, myself owning 3 of them.

 

[Arcygenical]

Honestly, you'll be fine. If you're really worried...

Attach all the motherboard standoffs together, and attach these to any other metal part of your case (CDrom, PSU, HD cages (with metal screws) etc.).

 

[tong]

so don't even bother painting it? Cool. ok so now decision time, 10 hdd's all top to bottom in an acrylic case (sides bottom and back, back has 4 80mm fans to move air) do i sandblast the plexi and make it look frosted? or do i not?

 

[SarverSystems]

If you sandblast it, wherever 2 peices are glued together, it will become clear again. So any 90° angles will have clear eadges.

 

[BillthePlayerPawn]

Ok I'm making somethign out of acrylic and am worried about static electricity frying everything in there. Is there any way (non ugly) that i can insulate against this occurance?

insulation is the problem, it's the reason static electricity builds up on acrylic but not metal.
if you're really worried, run a copper wire from casing on the hard drive to the casing on the power supply.

realistically, any grounded metal within an inch or two will draw most of any electrostatic energy built up on the acrylic.

under the worst circumstances you'd be no worse of than if you were running it off a non-grounded outlet.

 

[penguin]

Of course, the hard drive has two ground wires going to the power supply, so the whole thing is grounded anyway (unless the manufacturer decided not to ground the hard drive chassis, which would be incredibly retarded)

 

[Arcygenical]

I suggest you sandblast everything but a logo... Cut it out of vinyl and put it on, then blow over it.

An awesome way to get a perminant applique... and with the right lighting, it can be really pretty.

 

[tong]

Thanks for the help peoples. Got everythign cut up and drilled out about to go glue it. That's a lot of good advice from all of you.

I suggest you sandblast everything but a logo... Cut it out of vinyl and put it on, then blow over it.

An awesome way to get a perminant applique... and with the right lighting, it can be really pretty.

Thought about that, but if anyone sees the case i'm making it means a drive's dead or sometign's wrong with the pc. I'll post pics up as soon as i am done.

 

[tong]

ok here's the picture of it. Two flaws, the backplate that holds the fans is a little tall (i can sand that down) and after having the sides and the bottom glued together with the front i realized i had forgotten to drill the fan holes.... now i got to let it cure b4 i can put fan holes in it... Dang it.

 

[penguin]

dang man, thats purdy

 

[Arcygenical]

What'd you cut the plexi with?

 

[tong]

Plexi was cut on a table saw, but i'm a machinst so that wasn't good enough. I took it to work, mounted it on a bridgeport and, using an end mill, edged the whole thing square, peices by peices. Made the mounting holes that way too, just can't beleive i forgot to make the fan holes.

 

[penguin]

...but i'm a machinst so that wasn't good enough. I took it to work, mounted it on a bridgeport and, using an end mill, edged the whole thing square, peices by peices...

I'm jealous