Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (
More info?)
Note: I've put up a couple more pictures, on Geocities
which has a better free bandwidth allotment:
http://www.geocities.com/mechdan/ijksff.html
"Kris Rawlison" <rawlic@hvc.rr.com> wrote in message news:<X%ddc.7080$mX.3248477@twister.nyc.rr.com>...
> "Isaac Kuo" <mechdan@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:acc26c07.0404080619.421f5261@posting.google.com...
> > The floor tiles I used were 12x12 self adhesive vinyl floor
> > tiles from Lowes Hardware--$1 each. I used one for each
> > side, for a total of $6 of materials. The rest of the case
> > was constructed of Fedex cardboard boxes, which I don't
> > count toward the raw material cost because Newegg has to
> > ship their stuff to me in SOMETHING.
> Have you ever considered mounting to plywood?
Yes, although that means making noise during construction.
Most of my construction has taken place early in the
morning while my wife was still sleeping. There's not
really a quiet way to cut plywood.
Still, my next computer case will be made out of wood rather
than cardboard for safety reasons. It'll be a fanless
passively cooled chimney tube structure. Normally, cardboard
is surprisingly difficult to ignite, but the extra airflow
of a vertical chimney tube structure combined with the much
higher temperatures due to 100% passive cooling make cardboard
too risky.
If you've ever played with putting a cardboard box onto a
fire, you know what I mean. Place it on the fire closed, or
lying sideways, and it'll just sort of char and slowly get
consumed by the overwhelming heat. Open the ends and place
it vertically, and it'll light up like a torch!
>Putting the tiles on top of
>say even 1/4" plywood would give you a lot more sturdieness and the ability
>(from what I can tell from the photos at least) make hardpoints for a
>removabl panel/case cover.
Yes, I could get superior results with wood.
>I was just looking at the DVD and I don't know if you have considered this
>or not, but on your next incarnation of the enclosure, you could with an
>extremely careful bit of measurement cut a port in the case for the drive
>tray, and simply stick the material from the port you cut onto the end of
>the tray. That way the drive could be forward facing and stay stealthed.
>Sort of like people attaching their case bay faceplates to their CD drives
>to stealth them.
Scratchbuilt case #1 has a frontal DVD drive, and I like the
two tone effect of not stealthing the drive (the tray front
is curved anyway, which would make stealthing a bit of a pain).
Here's a gallery of scratchbuilt #1:
http://www.geocities.com/mechdan/marble.html
The nice finish of the frontal DVD drive relies on the snug
fit of the faceplate--this means the drive has to enter/leave
the computer from the front. I found this to excessively
complicate working on the machine's internals.
With scratchbuilt #2, the entire hardware slides out rearward
from the case on its own tray--very convenient!
> > I eventually figured out the trick. Instead of trying to cut
> > the tile in short sections, the best way to do it was to spear
> > the tile so just the very tip of the knife penetrated. Spacing
> > these tiny tiny slits into a dotted line set up the relatively
> > brittle face of the tile to naturally split along the prepared
> > fault. Then, all it took was some pressure to pop the circular
> > hole out. This circular hole was again far too tight for the
> > duct to fit; I expanded the hole by carving strips out of the
> > hole's inner edge until the duct fit. It's a very snug fit,
> > so friction alone keeps it securely in place.
> Have you considered using a dremel?
Yes, but my unusual circumstances favored a quieter solution.
My Dremel is entirely incompatible with my wife sleeping. ^_^;
Seriously, though, it was a great experience building exercise
to build my first two cases out of cardboard, but it's time for
me to move on to superior materials. I've now got a feel for
design issues such as dealing with all those cords and laying
things out for convenient maintenance/modification. I think
wood will be the ideal medium for me to work with from here on.
Isaac Kuo
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