This is a little far fetched, and may not be possible given available resources...but: I was thinking about a case made completely out of etched PCBoard. Get some unetched copper plated sheets big enough to build a case out of...set up a nifty futuristic circuit pattern, and include the occasional logo or pattern and etch it...drill the holes, and proceed to build a case out of it...could be seckseh! I ain't doin it...so feel free to steal my idea...
Oh man, that sounds great! You could do the metku style uv pen mod all over it too! Take it out clubbing...
I had an insane idea. Coat the entire computer in temperature sensitive paint. Realtime temp monitoring. It would look pretty sweet on a waterblock.
It's not on my site. It was done as part of a special project which I'm still working on. Everything will be revealed in the fullness of time
Dunno if this is what you saw, but I remember seeing the HDD-window-in-front-bezel thing over at www.cpufailure.com a while ago. That guy's done some cool work. http://www.cpufailure.com/new/hdd-daylight.jpg
i liked the 80s t shirts but i might do a pc that opens itself up in the near future cos im getting bored of trying to find a screwdriver on my desk
You'd probably have to test the paint for conductivity first, you wouldn't want to short out your board before the paint can change colors...
I know they make that stuff in sheets, but I think its more attuned to human body temps like around 80 90 degress past 100 and its just all black... anyways heres so more crazy idea Make a computer tree.. you would get 2 inch hollow steel pipes.. then you would make like a tree shape with pipes being the branches.. at end of each branch would be a differen't device.. Psu. or hard drive.. or cd rom.. All the cords would come through the hollow tubing... It you could make it look very clean
We were already taking about this stuff in this thread: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26509 You can buy it in different ranges of tempatures: But it's not cheap stuff. http://www.scientificsonline.com/ec/Products/Display.cfm?CategoryID=192573 (oh this is also good glow stuff: http://www.scientificsonline.com/ec/Products/Display.cfm?CategoryID=192448)
How about iris style openings for fans? Used on theatre lights i think, pull one to pieces and cut mini versions out of sheet aluminium?
WOW I wish I would have thought of that, sounds very cool. Hmm, someone search for a 80mm motorized iris...
I went looking for some of those irises, but I haven't had much luck. Has anyone else tried their hand at it?
you could make like a plexi structure and fill it with colored water and hook it to a motor to have it spin on the inside of ur case close to a window or front bayzel(sp)
Well, after some crazy search strings, I think I found some good stuff. This link for example. There are also iris diaphragm valves but they don't open in one plane. The remind me more of a valve in somthing living (could be good for a theme). The other problem I have run into is that many of the irises I find are over $100 US and may not close all the way. I may look into creating my own in light of this :/ I think I'll try a cardboard mock up this weekend.
Irises are very simple to build. It's just many thin wings all dependent upon eachother, each pivoting about a fixed point. I have several next to me. It would be nice to have some auxillary fans. When the temperature get's too high, the iris opens up and the fan starts going. Hehe.