HI I'm planning on building my own computer case. I just need to know what materials i will be needing. If anyone can help me through my journey of case building would be great.
Case building isn't common in comparison to PC building, and you may avoid hassle if you stick to standards compliant ATX cases from Lian Li for very good ones.
I would buy a cheap case and rip out the motherboard mount and hard drive/optical bay mounts. Wood, plastic, metal, materials are up to you really but you should get a Dremel or similar rotary tool...they're so badass and can do anything
What you use depends on what tools you'll use. For small intracate cuts, the Dremel is good. However, if you know someone who can laser cut metal for you on the cheap (or free), go that route. Look at the [H]ard|Forums and Overclockers Australia's PC database for some ideas. Some people take the motherboard tray out of a case and put it in a wood housing they made. Others take some aluminum, cut it out themselves with a laser or other cutting tool and weld it together. It depends on what you can do or have available as an option through someone else. You'll also want to check out FormFactors.org as you will want the dimensions of ATX or whatever type case you're going to design.
It would help if I got a list of all the materials needed coz i have no idea on what to buy or do. BTW, i really want to do this even though it is not as popular as pc building. thanx
The materials you use is up to you, you can use aluminium, some plastics (shouldn't melt near CPU etc) and even Lego. Aluminium may be the strongest for its weight and cost.
I have three questions that i cannot answer. 1. how do u install a power and reset switch? 2. can i use plexiglass for a side window panel? 3. how do u paint aluminium black? I hav the plans (design, dimensions, material) all ready, but not the materials. i will post the design as soon as i have the time to draw it. all i know, is that this will be a BIG case. btw, u guys have been a big help
Answers: 1.)I don't know the technical lingo, but the power and reset switches need to be ones that don't stay set. After a few seconds of being pressed down, which effectively completes the power-on circuit, it will activate a shut down. I've seen some case mods where people have a big, red "nuclear option" style button here. You want something that will temporarily complete a circuit for both. Make sure to pay attention to the polarity when rigging it up so that you can get it connected to the motherboard, you don't get frustrated with not having the wires connected. 2.)Yes. Acrylic is the more specific stuff you want and should be pretty easy to find at any major hardware/home improvement store around, like Lowe's or Home Depot. 3.)You'll want to use a primer first. Spray a thin coat, and sand with fine (100 grit or lower) sandpaper. Repeat until you've covered the surface completely. Follow through doing the same thing with the black coat. You may also want to add a polyurathane clear coat to keep it in, but make sure you've done a good paint job first, and don't expect it to be done in a weekend. If you're painting plastic, you'll want to look at a dye-type paint, like the Krylon Fusion-line. Oh, and measure twice, cut once.
Just a thought - regarding the aluminium colouring. A really nice touch would be if you could anodize it. If you know of an elctroplating shop which does anodizing you can give them the case (skeleton of it) and they can anodize it for you. Very quickly and breifly - anodizing is a surface treatment to seal the outer layer of the Ali so it can withstand the elements. Very much like electroplating chrome and nickle etc. The process can include a dying stage before the concluding seal. The efect can be amazing if it is done by a professional with a nice colour scheme, metalic looking. For refernce you can look at fancy break handles on bikes or some aluminium bodied torches etc. This will also make sure that the colour and condition of the material lasts for a very long time.
That's true. I recall running across some articles on anodizing your case yourself, but that might be something that, if you choose to do, you may want to have someone do it for you.
The switch you'll need is a PTM (Push to Make) Switch - that means that pressing the switch completes the circuit, the opposite is a PTB (Push to Break) Switch - when you press that one it breaks the circuit. I'm not sure what the name is but it'll need to be spring loaded to make sure the switch doesn't stay closed after you press it. Do you mean the polarity of a normal switch? That shouldn't matter as it's just connecting the circuit, but if it's a switch with say an LED in it then yes the power for the LED will have to be connected the right way but that's a different matter.
Good point, although some motherboards I've run into in the past have had problems, but yes, it's more common as an LED issue. If you look around, you may be able to find some LED's that are bi-directional.
I'm sure they do exist although I've never personally come across them, LED's can be a pain though, too much voltage and BANG! too little and sometimes they just decide not too work...but if you know what you're doing then it's not a problem. Switches are easy though - US I would look at RadioShack and in the UK check out Maplin. http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...8&kwCatId=2032058&kw=switch&parentPage=search Something like that is what you need SPST (Single Pole Single Throw, a 'standard' switch) - momentary connection meaning the connection is only there for as long as you hold the switch down for.
Yeah I don't see any reason why that should be a problem. Would probably be easier than rigging your own one up to the jumpers needed.
I'm beginning to think that this project would be too frustrating and time consuming (too much work). Maybe I should just mod a case instead. Does anyone think i should do that or stick with my original plans??
Going straight into building your own case is something that to me seems quite daunting. I'd rather mod a case first to get a feel for what the materials are like and what their limits are before trying to construct my own case from scratch. I agree with that, it'd be a lot easier to have the holes are already in the right place and are the correct size, if you get it stlightly wrong you'd have to start again as try to get a screw to go in a hole that's not lined up could cause the metal to bend or put too much strain on the motherboard and that could lead to *crack!* If you want to construct the outer casing of the case do what ninja fetus suggested, that'll be easier than starting sompletely from scratch. If you don't feel confident enough to build the main 'showoff' part of the case then simply mod a simple case, even the worst beige cases can be modded to something that will be up there with the best of them.
Building your case can be done, but there's no one formula for doing so. There are certain dimensions you need to adhere to, but outside of that, the possibilities are limitless. It's really fun just to mod a case, and you've got the basic design there for housing. You can take a cheap case, punch your holes for fans and windows paint it, etc. Again, you can pick up a lot of modding supplies for cheap. The only expensive thing would be the dremel, which runs around $40-60 US, depending on which one you get. Sandpaper, paint, even the acrylic plexiglass are all pretty cheap. The biggest investment with modding or building is time, most of it waiting for the paint to dry or removing sharp edges.
I wanted to build a computer case mainly so that it would support liquid cooling. because of the 120mm fans. is it possible to install a liquid cooling system in a case with 80mm? The case i have right now is a mid-tower case and if anyone knows of an aluminium case (shiny black) that supports water cooling and 120mm case fans, please tell me. I'm willing to cut the side panel if there's no window, paint the inside black etc.
Some are more accomodating than others. If you want a huge case, the cube one by Yeong Yang is an idea, but something that's geared toward servers should suffice. Again, look around, as different people use different watercooling setups and that might help you track down a case that'll work best for you.
