Well, after many years of reading the forums on Bit-Tech it is finally time for my own work log. Instead of doing the sensible thing and start with putting a window into a case or something small, I jump right in the deep end with a brick tied around my ankle. **Background of project, skip to pictures if you bore easily. I don't have a place of my own in my house anymore. I am going to eventually renovate the basement and have a huge computer/gaming room, but that is still at least two years off. So I need a mobile computer. I have an IBM r40 laptop that is great, but it just isn't a gaming platform. I considered a true gaming laptop, but you end up paying a fortune and then a year down the road you are lagging behind again. So what I really need is to have a computer that I can drag out every night, and pack up again when I am done at the end of the night. I toyed with a number of layouts, but none of them of them really had a good self contained mobile container. There were cables hang or other problems, so then I hit on this idea. Dual 19" monitors and all full size components. So that was what I starting with in my head. Since the plans have undergone a fair number of changes, but that does give you a good idea of what I started working towards. I had a buddy who owns a steel shop in Southern Ontario make me up a basic box out of 1/8" aluminum. Overkill I know, but I have kinda lost my feeble grip on reality, so I may as well go all the way. That is what the box looks like now that I have it back from Big Jay. (Thanks buddy, sorry we drank all the money I gave you to pay for the case that same night at the bar...hehe) It is 42" wide, 19" deep and 7" high hence the Chunk name. Now the motherboard I went with is the Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi Edition. Hey, if the case if overkill, why not go all the way. I have it sitting on what is going to be the basic motherboard tray a chunk of carbon kevlar with epoxy resin. (I work in a place that manufactures canoes and kayaks so we test new layups on a regular basis. This is one of those tests) There is a better picture of just the carbon Kevlar.
I did some thinking and came up with a fairly simple bolt/nut/washer combo to get my motherboard attached to my kevlar sheet. The motherboard will be at the far left of that bolt, 5 washers underneath for spacers then two nuts to clamp it on the tray. Here is a better picture of one on the motherboard to give you an idea of what I am talking about. Here is the tray market for drilling. And here is the motherboard mounted on the tray and just set in the case. I still have to figure out exactly where it is going to sit for sure, but that will come. It gives you a good idea of how big this silly thing is. I hope you guys enjoy this Project. I am going to do my best to keep the updates coming on a regular basis. (I am hoping the guilt of not posting will help keep me motivated.) I am ordering the rest of the parts I will need on Monday. The monitor (one of the two to begin with) is here, but you guys will have to wait to see exactly how bad I have lost it with the monitor. Chewy27
nice man are you going to use the vesa mounts on the monitors then, to flip them into the case ? also some sort of sprung thing so they can flip up / down ? interesting project gonna be a interesting one
Thanks guys. yahooadam - that was originally the plan, but I think I have another way to go about it. The plan is to jam two 21" LCDs into that thing. I am fairly sure it is going to fit, but we will have to see as we go along.
Wow Get some Friction hinges for the mointors or some of the wall mount swith that articulation. Also give it handles or wheel cuz its gonna wieght a ton and a half.
that is a very nice idea for a ... 'portable' computer (can't call it a laptop...) I really hope this'll work, good luck on your first mod, you're doing well so-far (you're full of ideas, and that's all you need for modding )
i dont know if you've thought of this or not, but if u mounted the monitors on the top of the case, and put a keyboard and mouse in next to the mobo, it'd be kinda all in one ^-^ but in any case keep up the good work, ur off to a good start
sweet idea. beware of that carbon/kevlar. carbon conducts electricity so beware of EMI. i work with composite materials so i know what im talking about. other than that gl, it will be interesting to see how this will turn out
You must have bigger muscles than Arnold Schwarzenegger to even "move" that case . Definitely gonna follow this log, GL&HF
maybe, for portability, putting some wheels on one end of the case might be a good idea? Just like those big travel-cases, just like this: pair of wheels on the left, pair of feet (and a handle) on the other side
Oh wait, WAIT, DON'T The vibration of dragging a thing like that will KILL the computer components inside... DON'T give it any wheels, just carry it like a real man would do
haha yes transportation is gonna be a problem, unless you can like side it out from under your bed and slide it back in when your done xD
Well considering he's building the entire thing from scratch, I don't think some form of vibration damping it's beyond him. Very nice work by the way
Well, thanks a lot for all the positive responses guys. First as for wheels, not going to happen. I am far from a skinny guy, so I don't have a big problem lifting a 100lbs case on a regular basis. It won't have to go far on a regular basis, just packed up and set away until the next evening. I don't picture myself having to walk a couple km carrying the beast, then I might have a problem... The computer specs haven't been nailed down for sure yet, but here are the basics. Asus P5B Deluxe Wi-Fi Edition Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Zalman CNPS9500 CPU Cooler Western Digital Raptor 74GB SATA 10000RPM 8MB Some kind of GeForce ~7300 2 gigs of DDR2 Ram Logitech G5 Mouse Logitch G15 Keyboard External DVD burner I can hear the screams of pain already about the video card. Here is the plan, I want to spend about $100 and just get a card to hold me over until Vista hits and the DX10 cards come up. Then I drop the $400-500 and see what that gets me. See, I am not completly mental. The RAM I am still very torn about what to get. I could go with some basic RAM and spend $150, or I spend $350 and get the crazy high end RAM. I just don't think that the extra $200 is going to give me enough of a performance difference to make it worth the cash. Convince me if you think otherwise. I love Zalman CPU coolers, I have had very good luck with them. The only problem I have with this cooler is that it is pretty high. I would really prefer a much lower profile cooler so if anyone has any solid suggestions let me know. (Air to start, but I am fairly confident that this system will be water cooled after I get it up and running and assembled) So I picked up some new hinges today, so hopefully I can get them bent to the shape I want and get the lid attached tomorrow. I will post pictures when I have them. Thanks again for all the positive responses guys.
yeah suspend the hard drive with some bungee cords in a frame. basically weave the bungee cords in the frame and slide the drive between them
