[SOLVED] Alternative to wood for casing?

[WaterlooPitt]

Hi everyone,

I want to build me a small entertainment centre. I don't want to use a prebuilt system or a metal case. I just want to keep it as small as possible. However, I don't have the tools or the space to work with wood so I can't go for that option, unfortunately.

Would anyone here know an alternative to a traditional case and to wood? Something that can be easily worked with, in the house.

Many thanks.

 

[AJNameS]

I don't know what exactly is your idea, but when I do temporary or constant insulations for components in my machine, I use pieces of plastic, styrofoam, stone and ceramics. Plastic or plastic-like material is maybe your simple choice, thin layers are relatively easy to cut and assemble, with/without using strong glue.
Styrofoam can get on your nerves as despite being easy, cutting may result as also some litle ball-like pieces, thus requiring a vacuum cleaner afterwards and mb defects with surface till u make a proper cut.
Fiber, being a more expensive brother of styrofoam is another that comes to my mind, byt it and the styrof. 'd probably have negative affect on the temperatures if this is for assembling a whole case. I mean fiber and styrofoam are soft and easy to cut/manipulate, but what'd be the result of it all, I don't know.
If temperatures inside this non-metal case ever go very hot (90-130 or more degrees) or your PSU is low-quality, I don't wanna think about what could happen with any of the soft materials.
Stone & ceramics require proper edge for cutting, very difficult, despite not much important about temperatures, but if u don't wanna deal with wood, you don't wanna deal with these either, I think.
S.o. else may have a better idea. If you search in the net, you may find plastic case.

Actually glass/fibroglass maybe. You can go ask the local PC shops and shops for constructive materials around and tell them what you search about and they may help.

 

[USAFRet]

"a small entertainment centre "

How big is "small" ?
What will be in this?

 

[WaterlooPitt]

"a small entertainment centre "

How big is "small" ?
What will be in this?

A 17cm by 17cm mini-ITX motherboard, an Intel Pentium or Celeron CPU, 8gb of SO-DIMM RAM, a small SSD and the power supply. Nothing too powerful. Just enough to run Netflix and such.

 

[USAFRet]

A 17cm by 17cm mini-ITX motherboard, an Intel Pentium or Celeron CPU, 8gb of SO-DIMM RAM, a small SSD and the power supply. Nothing too powerful. Just enough to run Netflix and such.

OK, so a small PC.

Wood, plastic, metal are about the only 'materials'.

Other options:
Repurpose an old stereo component (I'm in the design mode of this concept)
A small case with VESA spaced screw holes, and mount it on the back of a monitor
Build it inside a desk drawer

 

[RickDan9]

I don't know what exactly is your idea, but when I do temporary or constant insulations for components in my machine, I use pieces of plastic, styrofoam, stone and ceramics. Plastic or plastic-like material is maybe your simple choice, thin layers are relatively easy to cut and assemble, with/without using strong glue.
Styrofoam can get on your nerves as despite being easy, cutting may result as also some litle ball-like pieces, thus requiring a vacuum cleaner afterwards and mb defects with surface till u make a proper cut.
Fiber, being a more expensive brother of styrofoam is another that comes to my mind, byt it and the styrof. 'd probably have negative affect on the temperatures if this is for assembling a whole case. I mean fiber and styrofoam are soft and easy to cut/manipulate, but what'd be the result of it all, I don't know.
If temperatures inside this non-metal case ever go very hot (90-130 or more degrees) or your PSU is low-quality, I don't wanna think about what could happen with any of the soft materials.
Stone & ceramics require proper edge for cutting, very difficult, despite not much important about temperatures, but if u don't wanna deal with woodymanreviews, you don't wanna deal with these either, I think.
S.o. else may have a better idea. If you search in the net, you may find plastic case.

Actually glass/fibroglass maybe. You can go ask the local PC shops and shops for constructive materials around and tell them what you search about and they may help.

great advice! I had a similar query & your response really helped me out. Thanks