Hey, this is my first project log here.. so please tell me If I am doing something wrong. My friend "acquired" one of those signs the janitors use after mopping the floor, and somehow, it ended up in my room. It was lying around for a while till i figured out a ATX motherboard fit PERFECTLY in the base of it, and a PSU, CD drive and 2 HD's could be stacked on shelves above it. I dont have much spare cash for modding, so the computer that goes in it will mostly be spare parts that I have around. Gigabyte GA-7VAX AMD Athlon 2200+ 2x 128MB DDR 2100 ATI Radeon 9000 Mitsumi 52x34x52 (might be broke) Enermax 350 (might also be broke) I have some cooling supplies, and a TT silent boost coming in the mail, thanks to www.nexfan.com! My dad also dug out an old router+stand, which I am still getting used to but has already proven useful for edging some spare plexi I had. So I went and bought 2 sheets of thin plexi for the sides and trays, and one sheet of thick Optix for the motherboard and PSU trays. I also got a hinge. Its special because when closed it forms a tight 90 degree angle, but when open it throws the peice out about 1". Problem is the hinges are REALLY stiff, so I'm going to have to reinforce them with the thick plexi.. More to come
Got some more dremelling done, cut out the mobo tray... Note the gouge in the top left. Thats so that the PCI cards can sit inside the case a little ways. Then I cut out the I/O plate. Took me about 2 hours... Still needs some cleanup work. It fits! If you're wondering why I did the I/O plate seperate from the rest of the side of the case, theres 3 reasons: One is that, if i broke it, I'd only have to redo the I/O plate and not the whole side. The second is for airflow, I'm going to leave a crack between the two peices. and finally, the back will be hinged. I could hinge the I/O plate because the AGP/PCI cards have to attach to it, so just the upper portion will be. Here you can see the gouge i took out of the mobo tray for the cards. I hacked out the top peice, following the same curve. A little bit of plexi broke off about 2mm into the curve, so i had to sand it down, then curves dont line up perfectly anymore but its hardly noticible. You can also see how the crack for airflow is going to work.
Great idea, GlassX! It's nice to see someone do something that definitley hasn't been done before. Keep up the good work!
does anyone know how I can make a bracket thats 110 degrees? / / ------ / like that? I tried wood, plexiglass + heat gun and im busy filing down some sheet metal right now. Its gotta be pretty strong, 4x to hold up a PSU...
Buy something that's meant to hold shelves up against walls (you can find that at a hardware shop), and bend it in a vice (can be found in schools, dad's workshops etc ), that way you could get a wider angle out of them.
Trouble Glue doesnt stick to the plastic the sign is made out of.. (PP) Im trying silicon since that seems to stick to everything.. But I might have to change how the shelves mount. My idea is to somehow mount a peice of finished wood inside of the side of the sign, and then screw the 110degree brackets into the wood, which is attached to the side of the sign isntead of attaching the brackets directly to the side of the sign. Im testing Silicon right now.. will let everyone know how it turns out. Also, I painted the PSU yellow, and im going to do the fan grills red. I saw some really nice 92mm and 80mm fan grills, but they are so damn expensive If anyone has any Ideas on how to, err, spice up the PSU wiring, please share!
zip ties? about the glue not sticking. try sanding the spot first then use JBweld that stuff will freaking stick to anything however just glue probably will not be as durable as you might want. a combination of screws and glue would be best
I did a quick sketch of what I thought you were talking about in terms of 110 deg angle supports. After looking at it, I developed the idea that you might want to suspend the power supply, using both sides of the caution sign. The two black right angles could be extruded aluminum. I would cut into the plastic, route the right angled alum. through both sides such that maybe 1/4 of an inch sticks out on both sides, and I'd put a small bolt through this AND glue the area around the plastic. Hot glue or epoxy should work wonderfully. Hot glue makes the aluminum rods removable so this might be a better idea. You could either bolt the PSU to these rods, or use the four threaded holes that the PSU is usually attached to a case with. Without trying it myself I can only speculate, but I believe that adding brackets might stress the side of the plastic sign. Mounting the PSU in the fashion I mentioned might provide the most stability but at the same time it mars the finish of the sign. Whatever you do, make sure that you observe for any possible warpage and compensate with design changes or perhaps gluing some kind of bar-support along the inside vertical length of the sign.
Great idea for a mod I'm very impressed so far. I hope you keep the original colour of the yellow plastic.
Thank you very much for the suggestion I dont think that would work... because I dont want to ruin the side of the sign by putting bolts through it, and if I hung the PSU off the handle, it would swing wildly (I tried it with cardboard and rope, unless attached to the side somehow. My friend was over, and backed up my wood-reinforcement idea. He suggested I sand it down, smooth the edges, bondo and paint it yellow (or red, but I think yellow). Hot melt glue sorta stuck to the plastic, so I assume a whole stick of the stuff used over a surface area would hold well enough. Epoxy, silicon, crazy glue and some other stuff I cant remember the name off just lifted right off... As soon as i get my 6800 for my PC back from BFG, I'll sketch up a diagram. So, red insides, or yellow insides? Edit: Also, anyone know where I can get JB weld, IPS weld on or something like that?
