Student Designs Cardboard PC Casing

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Or even reuse it. But alot of people apparently just throw whole computers away. I bet there are plenty of P4~ish level of computers just sitting places that would still run perfectly fine. Which brings me to: You still have the problem of motherboards and whatnot just sitting in landfills.
 
[citation][nom]False_Dmitry_II[/nom]Or even reuse it. But alot of people apparently just throw whole computers away. I bet there are plenty of P4~ish level of computers just sitting places that would still run perfectly fine. Which brings me to: You still have the problem of motherboards and whatnot just sitting in landfills.[/citation]

nto strue , about the mother boards and card compents , thera re many palces tehse days that have special recyliing centers , thatr strip and sperate all these compnents for recyling
 
Special recycling centers, sure. It's called China, where the metals get stripped out of the PCB by kids. Fun cancer factory, yay!
 
[citation][nom]rooket[/nom]... or one could just throw their empty steel computer case in the steel recycling bin like any normal person would.[/citation]
"normal" people in Houston don't recycle
 
acrylic cases spring up intersting conversations, cardbord cases just make you look like an idiot for buying one.
 
The computer case accounts for 10% of the embodied energy of a computer, at the absolute most. It's also the most reusable part.
 
Have any of you guys seen movie called 'Manufacturing Landscapes'? I recommend you take a look, it tels few interesting facts about 'recycling'.
 
I've seen the "cardboard PC case" a dozen times in the last 5 years. The problem is nobody wants a freaking cardboard case.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/05/recompute-a-closer-look-at-the-sustainable-cardboard-pc/
 
How could this be a thesis? Seriously, this project deserve a D at best...

My final project for my bachelor degree was way more impressive and it was far from a thesis.

I was using a DSP for Analog/Digital/Analog conversion for my guitar signal. In the digital area, I was applying echoes, equalizing filters and distortion...

 
Cardboard cases may not be in our immediate future but some of the concepts could be further evolved into something more useful. What about flame retardant corrugated acrylic and plastic similar to what the US Post Office makes all those sorting bins out of? What about modular cases that can be reconfigured for whole new builds; a rack server one day, a mini-tower the next?

All the manufacturers are looking for ways to build their hardware for less and still take advantage of pro-environment incentives offered by the government while looking sexy and cutting-edge to consumers. Something unique, practical, and innovative may eventually come out of this. (But I'm not sure if a cardboard computer box passes for a post-grad thesis.)
 
twantko: You are so right, the CBC did an excellent piece about that, including video of poor Chinese people doing the dirty work...
 
Interesting idea but some serious issues:

1) As already mentioned, fire risk.
2) Durability. If it doesn't catch fire then the constant heat will cause the cardboard to degrade faster.
3) Strength. I want to protect my electrical components from physical harm. Young children or pets could annihilate this.
 
So this is what passes for a graduate thesis these days? A computer case made out of cardboard?

As many of you have already said, the durability and safety of such a case is dubious at best. Not to mention the fact that, the case is probably the least environmentally troublesome part of the computer. Since I started building my own computers back in the mid 90s, I've only ever used ATX mid-tower cases. The computers have been rebuild many times over, but I continue to reuse the same cases. The nice thing about steel is that it's easy enough to use a dremel to machine a hole for a side-mounted fan or front-mounted USB connectors.

Steel is a piece of cake to recycle, whether your throw it in a bin to be reused or it ends up in the landfill. When steel oxides, it turns to rust, which turns to dust and returns to the Earth whence it came.

Now PCBs... that's another matter. Old motherboards (and video cards, soundcards, modems, etc.), once they've given up the ghost, or outlived their usefulness, are basically inert. The plastic, which would normally photo-decay over a course of hundreds of years, could remain in tact for millennia given that the thin layer of gold is almost completely non-reactive and will never decay or degrade. Fortunately, these days, motherboards contain main of the modules which used to be disparate components (such as sound and ethernet).

Bottom line: cardboard box as a "case mod" project... kinda cool. As a graduate thesis... not so much.
 
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