ok I am making a nice case and planing on having either some weldable steel or aluminum... for the hardware which would be better to use? I looked around but didn't see this question before sorry if it's been asked before
Welcome to the forums! Hmm wrong forum, mods should move it soon, Mod Guides is for people who write articles and stuff, you should get an answer soon.
Most cases are riveted not welded btw... You dont get many second chances with a welder... Personally Id rivet it because it just seems easier... Maybe youre more accurate with a welder than me
welcome to the forums hum... good question... Steel keep more heat in the case than alu... but is cheaper... depends of your budget.. I say if you got the cash, go for alu like people mentionned, you might want to rivet of bolt the case instead of weilding it... unless you got good skills at it
ya I pretty good at welding dont know why but I took auto body classes when I was in school :-/ but ya price doesn't really matter to me on maion reason I asked is cause the outer casing beyond the steel/alu is plastic which can have the potential to create a charge so I am planning on mybe some form of rubber as a buffer. thanks for moving the thread
welding aluminum sheeting that is that thin is a really bad idea: one mistake and its all ruined.... it's probably the hardest metal to weld
Outside of the welding issue, which doesn't really strike me as that big a deal...steel will require a finish/protective coating to keep rust at bay and aluminum would not. As much as possible I would recommend using removable fasteners of some sort as opposed to rivets...it sure makes subsequent service/modding simpler if you can just unscrew the panel. If your design features monocoque ( stressed skin) construction then rivets and adhesive will be necessary, but that's pretty sophisticated construction for a PC case....
Apart from fabrication differences, aluminum weighs about a third of steel's weight. And it's half as strong. So, for it's weight, it's actually stronger. Besides, computer cases don't normally stress their materials to much.
I myself would go with Aluminum and rivet together anything that doesn't need to come apart for regular servicing/modding. For anything such as the top, doors and front panel use thumb screws or clips to hold these items together. One other thing you might want to note is that depending how thick the aluminum you get is, it can be fragile meaning that when cutting it you stand I higher possibilty of ripping the metal than you would with steel, but that is a small thing to worry about when aluminum is much more workable than steel and is a 3rd lighter at that, and in my oppinion looks a hell of a lot better than steel and to top it all off it is better at heat dispersal which means your fans won't have to work their asses off to keep your case nice and cool.
Agreed, theres trade offs between the two, as aluminium is noticably more expensive and not as strong, but i think you can do much more with alu, because its so easy to cut, bend and work with in general. Go for aluminium and rivets, therefore you can take them out and change them depending on your design. ...
