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Homebuilt acrylic case project part II


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I tried cutting into some 3/32" acrylic today with the rotozip tool, and I didn't get the result Dragoe did:

 

IMG_1492.jpg

 

It got hot enough to melt the plastic to part of the backer board I was using. The bit wandered like crazy. I guess it's back to the table saw, which I would've used had my dad been home. He doesn't want me using big power tools while he's gone. I wouldn't leave my kid to use a table saw by himself either.

 

This is our shop:

 

IMG_1493.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

I'm building a binary clock to display on the inside of the case. You can read more about it here: http://www.hanssummers.com/electronics/clocks/binary/

 

So I went out and bought a few things. RadioShat sucks so I wasn't able to get everything and I probably paid too much for substandard electronics, but here they are:

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/akai-...ei/IMG_1522.jpg

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  • 3 months later...

This is going to be a really slow moving thread, but I thought I'd give you a quick update. I haven't been able to work on my case at all because that piano you may have seen in the pic of the shop, is being worked on so that we can get it upstairs. As a result, we've needed a lot of space and basically every tool I'd need to cut anything is out of the way (i.e., unusable).

 

However, I've used the time to really give this case a lot of thought. After seeing some of Danger Den's wooden cases (http://www.dangerdenstore.com/product.php?...01&cat=1&page=1) in the case pic thread, I've decided that the core pieces, i.e., the front panel, back panel, top & bottom will be made out of some kind of wood. We have a ton of oak, cherry, walnut, and some other woods, so it will most likely be made out of one or more of these. Who knows, I may end up turning a couple of knobs or buttons or something on the lathe. I'll keep you posted.

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GOD DANG!!! I wish i had a shop like taht i could creat lots of crazy stuff when u have the right tools.. all i have is a screw driver.. knife and wire cutters..lol

and most of the tools i seen in teh pic i have exprience using them and my o my u could create something very every nice

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I've pretty much decided on a 10" width. That will make it possible both to mount the drives and possibly two 120mm fans side by side. I haven't decided for sure on the fan placement yet. With a 10" width, is it possible to mount a 120mm fan next to the PCI slots?

10'' is a nice width, that is the width I went with on mine. But it is not wide enough to put two drives side by side (you are talking about the 5.25 ones right?) Also if you use wood you will have a hard time mounting two 120mm fans side by side because the wood will be thin around the fans.

Not saying that two fans can't be mounted side by side, just that I decied not to on mine. On the PCI slots, I doubt it, again the wood will probely be too thin, but I could be wrong (have to measure mine sometime).

 

I see you have a Rigid sander in your shop, I really like those they work great.

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Actually, now that I'm going with wood I can make it any width I want. When I bought the perspex I was really crunching it, so I didn't have any play room. But I've got loads of wide boards that I can really do stuff with. I hadn't decided whether or not to utilize that, though, so I really appreciate your input. :D

 

Keep in mind I'm mounting the drives to be side-accessible, so when I say wide enough to mount the drives, I mean wide enough to accomodate the depth of the drives. I'll actually end up having three drives side-by-side, x 3 or 4 rows (in case I want to put all my HDDs in backplanes or something). The reason for doing it this way is because of how my office, and specifically my desk, is layed out.

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You must have a good source of wood to be able to get wide wood that is straight.

I ended up going with 10", because of the wood I used.

Good luck with it, and do you have a plan drawn out? Or is just in your head?

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We're actually remodeling the kitchen, so we bought a lot of extra wood at the same time. I can also edge glue two boards together should the need arise (because I'm not 100% sure exactly how wide everything is). And if I do that, I may also do some interesting laminations with contrasting woods.

 

I did draw a plan which you can see at the bottom of the first page, but specifics are not set in stone at this time. I'm going to work from the drives out. What I'm going to do is build three boxes in which I will mount the drives. These boxes would then slide into the bottom section and be locked in by the bezel. Because the acrylic is not exactly 1/4" or 1/8", the first thing I have to do is custom fit these boxes to my 5.25" drives. Then, using these boxes, I will measure the stock for the top and bottom panels.

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