Hi everyone, I just wanted to show off my prototype aluminium case that I've made for my secondary PC. There will be a markII of this case coming soon that will be a little larger so as to fit a full size mATX board and a 240mm radiator which will be for my main build. I made it mainly out of aluminium angle using hand tools aside from a battery drill. This is one of the sides, I just cut out a 90* triangle from the angle and bent them in a vice. The work area. Two sides done! And suddenly a finished case! (Didn't take enough pictures got too carried away working on it! ) Yes I know it's not got a shell and the 120mm fan is just standing there at the moment but it will be blessed with a thin veneered wood shell and will act as a server once I get back to uni. Any feedback you have would be great! The next one should be a vast improvement now that I've had a trial run plus I've recently got a rotary tool so that should make drilling some of the more awkward rivet holes far easier.
No need for a next one. That's a perfectly good frame. You can get some more practice in putting a "skin" on this, and dressing it up/cat-proofing it.
There's a few rough edges and the main reason for building another one is te be able to fit full size PCI cards and larger mATX motherboards so I can use it for my gaming PC. This one will be my home server case I'll add pictures once it's all covered up too. Thanks for the compliments guys!
Ah, but there is no such thing as a larger mATX board ATX (and mATX) is a standard. So each and every mATX is 24*24 cm (forgot the exact number). What kind of wood are you going to slap on that frame? and will it be totaly covered? or leave the alu slightly exposed?
This mATX board is about 20 x 24 seems some of the lower end AMD ones tend to be that way to cut costs a bit. Planning on covering it completely with a plywood shell with an oak veneer it will follow the curve of the alu at the front. Not sure i'll get round to doing it before I get back to uni now though so it might stay naked for a while yet.
I think the maximum size for a mATX board is 24cm x 24 cm, any bigger and it would be considered a small ATX board. Please correct me if I'm wrong