Right, I'm thinking of doing a scratch build with plastic (as metal doesn't seem to like me very much, and I don't have tools for woodwork) I'm thinking either Acrylic or Lexan, and within my budget I can either get 12mm acrylic or 3mm lexan, which would be stronger? (or maybe there's another plastic I've forgotten about) Also, I need to be able to dremel through whichever, so it can't be unbreakable, but as long as I kick it and it won't put a hole in it, and it can support my current rig, and preferably a WC setup (1x 360 rad, a pump and the copper blocks on the mobo) I'll post plans tomorrow morning
If you choose acrylic simply because you think it'll be easier to work with, think again I've noticed that aluminum does what it's told much better than acrylic, which is easily cracked, a bit fiddly (since you need the right amount of heat) to bend etc. As for looks, that's a whole other matter
I assume the whole case will be made of acrylic? If so, 12mm is quite a bit of overkill, not to mention it would end up weighing a ton. Now, if you are talking about just one piece being that thick, presumably the piece supporting the mobo, with all it's accessories, then perhaps I could see the need. In my non-professional opinion, pieces that will have no supporting needs could be 1/8" (3.175mm) and parts that will hold anything bigger than a fan could be .25" (6.35mm) Why does it need to withstand kicking? Is it sitting on the floor under a desk?
Well it'll be on the floor, but mainly because my dog has epileptic fits, I don't want it going thud and destroying the innards of my PC And I'm putting a cushion on the floor in front of it (same as now) so that if he does fit he doesn't hurt himself. It will get seen because I'll be taking it to LAN parties (I'm incorprating acrylic handles in the design) so it's not wasted awesomeness I've worked with acrylic before, and it's easier to cut, sand and shape than steel... that plus I can't cut metal... Pyrophobia sucks
what! Real men use there teeth to cut steel! we also have 5 drill sizes depending on what finger you stab into the steel! ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Not sure if your aware of them, but threaded inserts are wonderful for these builds, allowing good jointing and fixture of components. I have yet to see anyone use them for the motherboard tray, as usually they glue stand off's into the plastic.
Well I'm actually thinking of using hot glue for the entire thing, on the inside or using a hairdryer to melt it together (like a heat gun, but I don't have a heat gun, I have a hairdryer), The only thing I cant *quite* suss is how to open it, because I don't want any form of metal anywhere that it's not needed (eg motherboard, graphics, heatsink for the moment, hard drives, innards of the PSU and fan screws). The other idea I've had is a black and semi-opaque (UV?) green/red theme, building a black case and using semi-opaque/tinted acrylic for the fan grills/windows/highlights and 4 or 5 cathodes for lighting, but that concept's not very developed tbh. it does look like an easier option though
I would suggest using cubes with threaded inserts. Like these.http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=314&products_id=4246 However, these can get a bit pricey. If you can find a acrylic dealer that sells square rod, then you can just cut them to size and add the threaded inserts. I really think that you will be happier in the end if you go the threaded route.
I think I may go for the black case idea, it's easier to get black bolts than clear ones. I may use some aluminium in the corners to hold it together... Thanks for the idea with the acrylic Interloper, that's what triggered it. I can drill alu so that's not a problem. I can also get some cheap A3ish sized green tint plexi from college, so that should be easy to sort Now I just need a theme and I'm away
Oh man, you're worried about 12mm acrylic not being strong enough, but then you'd hold it together with hot-glue!? A solvent glue (such as IPS Weld-On 16) would be best, followed by epoxy resin. That's is fou're going for screwless. Tapping the plastic would be best.
when my dad worked at BA (british aerospace) in R&D in the 80's they had a little fun with creating perfect joints in transparent materials. the trick was to create perfect flat edges and then bond with some very special glue which is still classifed. anyway once curied the part would look like one piece with near perfect transmission of light. When i mean near perfect i mean the refractive index had hardly changed, the joint was invisible to the human eye. So if i was to do a cube build i would want invisble joints.
Well unfortunately I have no friends or family that work for BA I'm going down the black and green route anyway, then I can actually hold it together without risk of it falling apart @ Pedro: I've only ever cut a window out of acrylic before, it was easirer to do than with metal I figured hot glue would hold it together with ease, especially as acrylic tends to bond when heated (I know there's a 90% chance that's wrong as well, I asked a college resistent materials tutor)
-6, actually. We are men, after all! You had better be trolling about the hot glue bonding plexi together!!!! I had a plexi cover hot glued onto my aquarium to keep a freshwater crab from escaping. He got out anyway. That little 1" crab could break the bond hot glue makes on a smooth surface.
What do you mean with perfect flat edges? Perfect to the human eye or perfect to +-0.01mm? Not to foget the perpendicularity of the edges. Did they mill the edges to specific tolerances?
