My first post on here I've been reading stuff on bit-tech for months now, it's inspired me to actually do some modding myself. Anyway, onto the log, please be nice Background: Basically I wanted a durable, unique and small computer for going to lan parties, as well as having a cool computer that could act as an HTPC as well as a gaming box. I saw a picture on some belgian site, no idea which sorry, of what looked like a large beer keg with a computer inside. It got me thinking. A few hours searching on a New Zealand auction site and I found this: NZ$30 later and I had this keg sitting on my doorstep. Aluminium all the way . The thing is, I had no idea about the thickness of it... turns out its about 6mm thick aluminium. So there goes the durable bit, achieved and overkilled in one go Many hours of dremeling, jigsawwing and filing I ended up with 2 halves of a keg and the ends cut out. Oh, and a dead jigsaw Anyway, this aluminium realllllly is thick, heres a pic of my finger in comparison Now that I had it in 2 pieces I started on windows for the ends. It's 3mm perspex, its clear but from an angle it has a bluish-green tint to it. Heres 1 piece installed, with protective stuff still on it The holes where the tap used to go remain because at the front it's going to house a thick acrylic block that will act as a power button and at the back it's where i'm going to plug the power cord in. I know the finish is a bit horrid, It's been sitting in someones garage for months, and when I have the time i'm going to sand it and polish it for hours until I get a nice brushed effect. If anyones interested, the dimensions of the keg... Approximately: End diameter 26cm Window diameter 24cm Length 40cm I'll get better measurements sometime soon. Feedback please! I'm only 16, so I reckon it's not too poor an effort Thanks for reading -r0z|3o0n
welcome to the threads, and good luck with your mod! i havnt seen a keg computer in a while, i'll be interested to see where this goes. sorry to hear about all your tools though! i guess thats the price of modding
That look sweet. Gotta be careful of rolling it though Nightmare: *running down a steep hill after the keg as it bumps and smashes all components*
Yeah I have a sort of plan for a stand, based around 2 blocks of acrylic with a curve cut in them for it to sit on. They'll be joined by 2 perspex rods about 1.5cm thick, and have a blue cathode underneath, connected to the power by a headphone jack plug (Inspiration from g-gnome, god Orac3 is amazing) I'll get onto it in the next while. As for bumping and smashing the components, with the thickness of aluminium involved, i'm not sure it would I dropped one half and it chipped the concrete floor in the garage :S
That aluminium is a lot stronger than computer componentry. It looks like a great project. One to keep an eye on. There aren't many other cases whose theme would suit "water" cooling - tinted amber of course
I originally planned to watercool it but I have 3 constraints preventing me from it: 1. Room in the case. Theres hardly enough room to get the components in, I suppose I could get a custom reservoir made up for it but I would end up with a pretty low performance WC setup, which is also partly the fault of my second constraint. 2. Budget. Unfortunately I don't have the seemingly ample amounts of money that people like g-gnome and modsquad have at their disposal. 3. My parents are helping out with the small budget that I do have available to me, and are stuck with some kind of Electronics + Water = Dead issue. I was checking out some blue-tinted tubing and when my dad asked me what I wanted it for he was somewhat confused by my response. It's a rather annoying - I don't have any money because i'm about to go to europe for an exchange, but if I was in europe with money i'd be sure to pick up some of that glorious german watercooling gear. It's somewhat depressing
And I thought the 2mm side panels on the Lian Li v-series were thick... holy crap! Really interesting start, I can't wait to see more. About how heavy is that? Even as aluminum... with it that thick it can't be that light.
I think with componentry it will weigh about the same as a normal mid tower case Oh well it's the price you pay for durability.
Look To be a Great mod. As long as the hardware is securly mounted it shouldn't break when it rolls away.
Awesome idea, wish I would have thought of it. I would suggest to get rid of some of that weight, cut some really cool BIG windows in the sides and put in some cathodes. I'm keeping an eye on this mod for sure.
I don't know about abroad, but Heineken released it's "Beertender" beer tap in Holland recently. I want to get one of those and put a gaming PC in. Now that would be the ultimate LANparty pc... Beer and PC all in one! But then you'd drink too many beers and suck at the LANparty... Oh well everyone will be standing around your comp/tap so who cares Cool mod, I'll be watching this!
