I've been working on a design for a briefcase mod. I travel every week for work, and I'd like to use the down time in the evenings in my hotel room to play computer games. I've got a design that fits an mATX motherboard, RAM, Athlon 64 plus heatsink/fan, HDD, and TFX PSU into the briefcase, along with a 17" Samsung 172X LCD monitor, mouse, and keyboard into the case. A caution about my little Sketchup diagram: I did it *only* to ensure that everything I wanted to cram into the briefcase would actually fit. It was *not* done as a design template for the appearance of the case. Note that the rough dimensions of the LCD monitor were done as a simple wireframe. The TFX PSU is the tan colored box between the mobo and the HDD. The case I plan to use. This is not the most flattering picture of it, actually. It's pretty well-made. Especially since this case will be going through airport security twice a week, I think that it is mandatory to have a very well designed layout and good cable management. No gobs of dangly wires and connectors. That would needlessly alarm the TSA folks. What I'm shooting for is an appearance that this was crafted with loving care: even manufactured. Anything that would suggest 'bunch of odd electronics thrown together in a briefcase" is out. Now that I've assured myself that I can cram all this stuff into the case, I'm a bit stumped as to how to actually mount all this stuff so that it is secure. I've considered taking and old motherboard tray out of one of my surplus cases, but a) they're steel, so not easy to work with and b) I don't think they've got the right holes in 'em to mount the motherboard anyway. I'm looking for ideas for how to mount the parts so that they can be replaced in the future, but also be nice and secure in transit. Some sort of 'false floor' would also help with keeping the cables looking nice and orderly, since I could then tuck the extra in behind the false floor. Maybe start with some aluminum sheet metal and work it into a form that will do what I need? I'd appreciate any ideas you might have on this one.
you could use bent acryllic(plexi, lexan its all the same to me), and bent it using heat, that would be one option, you could also use some kind of metal, or even wood.
if you use a false floor, you can use different lengths of standoffs to stack the components up inside. www.mcmaster.com has a great selection in the fasterners area... not sure about UK suppliers. There have been a lot of great mods posted here, so look around a bit for "birefcase" or "ammo can" mods.
What about a cd drive? Do you plan on cutting out pieces of the case to allow access to your ports etc.. As for mounting things like the motherboard it would probably be easier to use a sheet of aluminum and uses bolts or standoffs to hold it up.
I decided not to build in a CD/DVD drive right now. There is just enough space for one in that empty looking-corner of the case. Initially I was planning on just connecting one to the motherboard, briefly, to install the OS and any other software from my CDs, and then disconnecting it. Since it'll be used mostly for running Half-Life 2 when it's released, I can get that over the Internet, so I won't need a CD for that. I may cram a slimline drive in there at some point, but I wanted to simplify it as much as possible initially. The CD was easy to put aside until 'phase 2'. I've actually made a few changes since I posted the .jpg above: I've decided that, for the first pass at this, I'm going to rotate the mobo/AGP card/etc 180 degrees, so that the connectors/ports/etc all face the center of the case. In this way, the case won't cause undue alarm for folks who see it sitting next to me in an airport, since it will just look like a briefcase. I can keep the case lid open during operation, which will ventillate the contents. I may, down the road, reposition the motherboard and connectors to permit me to operate the PC with the briefcase closed up, but right now I just want to get it up and running. The most direct route to that is to refrain from modding the case exterior. Consider that 'phase 3'. I'll have to read up elsewhere in the forums on what is needed to work with aluminum sheeting. That's the direction I'm leaning right now. Thanks for the advice.
Why not try a top load slim cd. And about placing all your connecters in the center of the case make sure to leave your self enough room to access and to be able to plug them in… There are lots of good examples of these type of computers on this forum. Have fun!
