Silly Question.. Built Your Own?

Zenduri · 9 Jun 2009 at 20:23

Since joining OCUK forums ive been doing extensive reading accross all sections of the forum and I've learnt a hell of a lot but while scouring this section of the forum, a thought arose.

This is probably one of the most retarded questions asked and may give some people a great deal of entertainment, but... Aside from places like Mountain Mods has anyone here ever built there own case from scratch.

By this im talking about the case minus controllers and salvaged electronics.

If so... please linky

Hybrid

mjones1 · 9 Jun 2009 at 20:27

Your best bet is looking on the bit tech forums they have some cracking project logs.

misterPK · 10 Jun 2009 at 09:28

There are several in here, just look for them a bit harder!

PK!

Soundood · 10 Jun 2009 at 10:07

i have seen some crackers, but you really need to know your limitations when building, usual stroy is a guy trying to build a case from 2 mm sheet steel, trying to bend angles in a vice and alike.

if your using metal, then you really need some access to major tools, a workshop maybe and so on,

for self builds i have seen some crackers coming out of wood and Perspex (Acrylic)

if i was going to do one, it wouls be acrylic, ising three differant coloured layers and then engraving through to these colours all over the case.

RoEy · 10 Jun 2009 at 12:51

soundood said:
if i was going to do one, it wouls be acrylic, ising three differant coloured layers and then engraving through to these colours all over the case.

That's a big 'if'...

RoEy

Ducky Spud · 10 Jun 2009 at 13:01

Seen lots of self build cases started.... very few seem to get finished though

~>Dg<~ · 10 Jun 2009 at 13:04

the irobot one finish plssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Flare · 10 Jun 2009 at 13:12

~>Dg<~ said:
the irobot one finish plssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

plssssssssssssssssss

Monkey Puzzle · 10 Jun 2009 at 14:39

HybridX said:
Since joining OCUK forums ive been doing extensive reading accross all sections of the forum and I've learnt a hell of a lot but while scouring this section of the forum, a thought arose.

This is probably one of the most retarded questions asked and may give some people a great deal of entertainment, but... Aside from places like Mountain Mods has anyone here ever built there own case from scratch.

By this im talking about the case minus controllers and salvaged electronics.

If so... please linky

Hybrid

I'm in the middle of a scratch build at the moment, but somewhere like Bit-tech is great for scratch builds and intricate mods.

Someone raised the idea of an OcUK project-log subsection a few months back. Lots of people seemed to like the idea, but nothing's come of it.

Monkey Puzzle · 10 Jun 2009 at 14:41

soundood said:
i have seen some crackers, but you really need to know your limitations when building, usual stroy is a guy trying to build a case from 2 mm sheet steel, trying to bend angles in a vice and alike.

if your using metal, then you really need some access to major tools, a workshop maybe and so on,

for self builds i have seen some crackers coming out of wood and Perspex (Acrylic)

if i was going to do one, it wouls be acrylic, ising three differant coloured layers and then engraving through to these colours all over the case.

Limits schmimits!

Glaucus · 10 Jun 2009 at 14:48

If you are going to build your own you are going to need money, tools and some expertise.

The easiest is taking and old style wood desk that has draws and cabinets and simply modify it to hide the innards of a pc in it. Freeing up loads of space for a nice clean look.

The next is acrylic. However you will need some tools a dremel and two types of router attachment minimum. Looking at best part of a £100 just for that. then you will need polishing materials to clean the cuts up. The perspex is also fairly expensive £100+ for a case. Good thing is it's easily available and can be cut to your specified size. Leaving just holes, grills ect for you to cut out. Loads of different colours to choose from.

Hardest is metal and unless you have a workshop forget it.

Kodiak · 10 Jun 2009 at 15:06

Ive build a case out of 2-3mm thick Alu.

Took awhile and you do need a workshop. Experience in using the tools helps too.

But, it isnt as hard as you think. There are PDFs of the ATX standard showing detailed layouts for the mobo tray. The biggest hurdle is all the metric/imperial crossover. Damned yanks. Good thing the workshop I used has an extensive collection of metric and imperial drill bits and taps.

You will need a wedge of cash though. Raw materials arnt cheap. I got lucky with my aluminium and managed to get it cheap by saying I was a student.

Skree · 10 Jun 2009 at 19:43

lol my first custom case was an old bedside cupboard.. actually used it for years throughout the early days right up till i got a coolermaster 201.

made by dremeling out the back to fit a removable mobo tray/backplate, dremeling out some drive cradles of cheap cases, cutting some blowholes.. araldited my 50x cdrom to the top..

seen some good cases made out of those cheap plastic storage boxes.. it's a pain as i'm looking to watercool in an old case that i won't chop and finding a stylish radbox is proving challenging

but forget metal unless you've got tools, cash, and skills. or LOTS of cash

edit: ikea sell a little 1 meter tall bookcase, 40cm wide, 30cm deep.. they sell a door for it too, often thought about filling it with a load of big water gear and a pc.. lol