Greetings from Amsterdam fellow enthusiasts! It's 5:45am here and it's way to early for a debaucherous day of bars and brothels, so I'm taking some time to get some work done. I'm looking for a material to use as a dust filter, which will also work as a sort-of blackout. As some of you may know already, I'm in the process of building a case from Carbon Fiber called project: Helios. Here's a repost of the design, in an exploded view: ------ I'm looking to fill the gaps of all the air intake holes with a filter material of sorts, and I'm leaning 1 of 2 directions. 1) The first idea was to find a filter material similar that used in the front-air-intake on the old Lian-Li PC-60 cases. Something like the pic below. This idea would involve cutting a bunch of pieces to size and seating them in the cutouts, flush with the exterior of the case and held in-place from the back - which MAY look kinda cool I'll have to experiment and see. ------ 2) The second, and likely more viable, plan was to fabricate something similar to the system used in the Lian-Li TYR PC-X2000. Something like this: The idea here being to create 6 carriages on the insides of the chassis, which can be removed for cleaning. I've illustrated the idea below in the form of green rectangles, so you can get a better idea of positioning: HOWEVER both of the material examples shown above succeed only in dust collection - but I'm also looking for something to black-out the holes. ------ So my question to you is: Does anyone have a suggestion for materials that can be used to catch dust, but are also very hard to see through? I'm looking for 2 possible solutions, one to fit each of the design ideas listed above. The challenge I see here is finding a material that's opaque, but not overly obstructive as to stop air-flow. Thanks in advance gentlemen. *j
If you're willing to manufacture your own bespoke filters, the best light-blocking layout would be multiple layers of fabric with a small gap in-between each layer (1mm or under), preferably with the fabric weaves not aligned (this is not really vital). Light bounces between the layers and is absorbed, while air should be able to pass with little more resistance than a single fabric layer would produce. To ensure spacing, you would either need to tension each layer during construction, or add some sort of spacer (a thin plasticard 'X' would probably suffice) between the layers, or use a stiff enough fabric, e.g. black painted/anodised metal mesh. The actual material used for the inner layers can be almost anything as long as it is black or dark in colour, and has a relatively fine weave. The light absorption performance comes from the number of layers, not the thickness of each layer. A quick and dirty sketchup mockup:
I would suggest having different materials for the light blocking and the filtering properties. The filtering material would be similar to what you show in your first image, it would filter the air first, so it would be on the outside of the case inlet. To block the light I would suggest you set up overlapping baffles made from a matt black material, something like felt but rather than fitting from top to bottom of the channel/duct they would leave a gap alternatly at the top and at the bottom so as to let air flow (which can pass corners) through but block light (which can only go in straight lines). FWIW I have used that kind of foam as a filter in the front of my case, I used a 1/2" thick layer of large cell black foam followed by a 1/2" layer of small cell blue foam, you couldn't really see through it at all though I suspect that if you shone a light through it you would probably be able to see something. Moriquendi
I would create a baffle and use the large cell foam that lian li use. You don't want to compromise the flow of air, but in reducing the transmission of light you therefore create a paradox. one nice thing about designing a baffle is it can reduce fan noise. Its just how much loss of airflow can you accept?
run it in the clean room! lol maintenance is the only way to ensure a non funked up cavity. Don't care what you do. routine cleaning is a must.
Some great stuff here thanks a lot guys! @burnout - im willing to sacrifice as much airflow as is necessary to make it impossible to see into the chassis. As long as performance of the radiators can still keep the system operational, I'll be pleased. I must also note that at the very most I have 6mm of thickness to play with, but I'd prefer something more in the lines of 4mm. Money is not an issue either... I should have also stated that. This thing is going to be a very pricey beast, and I'm not going to cheap out in the final touches... If there's some crazy NASA grade **** that fits the bill, all the better. And aesthetics are the utmost priority.
Id you only have 6mm to play with and you're not too bothered about airflow you might try compressing 1/2in foam down to the thickness you want, it wont pass as much air but it should be much better at blocking light. Moriquendi
Thank you all very much for the suggestions - I've got a lot to digest and read-up on, you've all given me some great ideas on how to proceed here. It's going to take quite a bit of experimenting to get the desired look and performance, but I believe I have a winner: The great modder who goes by Mach has amazed me once again with some cool suggestions over on RRR... Ceramic Foam Filters! If I cant get that to work, I'm going to lean towards air filters (HEPA perhaps) wrapped in a loose knit speaker fabric. Again, gentlemen, I thank you for your help in this manner. I very much look forward to putting the suggestions to work in the near future when the build get underway!
The plan as it stands is to get some fine stainless steel mesh and mold it into the shape of the cutouts on the panels. This will stop most of the dust. Then I'm going to procure some very porous (90%) ceramic foam filters made the exact side and shape needed to be placed behind the SS mesh, to add a cool aesthetic and to block out the ability to see inside the case. Mesh will be from here: http://www.twpinc.com/twpinc/control/home Carriages will be made from this: http://www.arprodesign.com/touch.php Already in discussions with these guys about engineering a special ceramic filter for air rather than molten Aluminum: http://www.selee.com/Selee_Corporation_Ceramic_Foam_Filters.php
I'm really liking the options here, I think ceramics are the way to go. First off, the surface texture is smooth like glass, so it'll be easy to clean. Second they are manufactured with a porosity up to over 90%. Thirdly, I'm having my own foam engineered to spec and size for my application. Lastly, I only have about 4-6mm of thickness available to there wont be much room for it to restrict flow. Hopefully that clears up any doubts. =) Here's an example of a high porosity ceramic foam filter:
