Average Case Metal Thickness?

Reldar · 27 Sep 2010 at 12:05

Ok this may sound odd but what tends to be the thickness of the metal on standard cases?

I ask this because I would like to build my own case from scratch but have no idea which thickness of metal sheet to order.
I have a Fractal Design Define R2, if anyone can give an knowledge on it's panels thickness I would be grateful. So I can get an idea of what I'm dealing with.

It's quite hard to tell when dealing with a few millimetres lol :confused:

Thanks in advance.

piggin · 27 Sep 2010 at 16:31

Depending on what material you are going to use.
If its steal - 1 mm , if its aluminum 1.5 - 2 mm

Gundog48 · 27 Sep 2010 at 17:02

I would disagree TBH. Good quality steel is around 0.8mm and aluminium is 1-1.5mm. I have seen 2mm and even 3mm aluminium but they really promote it as a main selling point.

Sounds like nothing but really is plenty.

Tealc · 27 Sep 2010 at 17:52

1mm sounds about right. I wonder how much this stuff costs.

piggin · 27 Sep 2010 at 20:07

I asked this question a short time ago to a man who mods cases for a living.
(sorry, I can't give links as he is a competitor)

" lian li panels are 1.2mm alu ish, silverstone are 1.5mm
coolermaster costmos are 1.5mm too.
corsair 800d is about 1mm steel and are terrible. "

So, that's from the horses mouth.

(I was a little over generous with my aluminum size of 1.5 - 2mm)

coupe69 · 27 Sep 2010 at 20:28

Zalman GT1000 - 5mm

setter · 27 Sep 2010 at 20:30

Or any thermaltake case, 0.5mm aluminium, made from recycled beer tins.

coupe69 · 27 Sep 2010 at 20:31

setter said:
Or any thermaltake case, 0.5mm aluminium, made from recycled beer tins.

ROFL

raikesi · 27 Sep 2010 at 20:31

.8 to 1.8 normally

s452 · 28 Sep 2010 at 05:32

i think the thickness should be partly dependent on the area of your case too, for example my side panels on my lian li v2000 and v2110 are about twice as thick as my lian li PC-q07. judging visually.

necrontyr · 28 Sep 2010 at 13:11

if your gonna go through with building this case i hope your gonna make a build log and pics and post them up !

SilverStone Rep · 29 Sep 2010 at 03:56

For steel cases, we usually use 0.8mm, which is plenty for even larger tower cases with good structural designs. We also use 0.6mm on a few small cases as their smaller surface area do not require the same thickness to achieve good strength.

There is more variety for aluminium cases, 1mm is the minimum we use for parts of the case or smaller cases. For larger surface areas, we like to use 1.5mm or 2.0mm thickness. For unibody frames, we use anywhere from 2.5mm to 8mm.