Acrylic Case w/ 20 blue LEDs

[Necrofire]

Imma building one. Trying to build one, at least.

I had this planned a while ago, but school and work keep me busy.

Here is what I want the specs to be:
1. No screws. I want the case held together with a latch or two, but everything else I want held in by gravity.
2. Smaller than an ATX HTPC. My cooler is the tallest thing in my case, I have this beast. So this is a challenge.
3. Professional-looking power buttons and lights. I have 20 Blue LEDs, a 4 switch DIP, and plenty of wire. I want this thing to glow, and then turn it off when it gets annoying.
4. Silent, but windy. I have 4 80mm fans, a 120mm, a 92mm, a 60mm, and 4 or 5 smaller ones that I don't know the sizes to.
5. Good air flow. I want front to back air flow, with most of it exiting the graphics card and power supply, with positive air pressure inside.

Any suggestions are appreciated...

Imma also keep a timeline...will put at bottom of post.

Early October-ish
1. Got idea to build case.
2. Gathered dimensions, bought enough acrylic sheet for the job.
3. Attempted to create case, failed miserably, and cracked a large piece of acrylic.
Current supplies: A bunch of acrylic sheets, a cutter, a ruler, fans, idea of how it will look.
Needed supplies: A drill, MEK or super glue, latches, LEDs, time.

November 6:
1. Renewed interest in case due to increase in free time.
2. Bought 16 blue LEDs...470nm, 5500mcd, 15 viewing angle.
3. Posted this thread about renewed interest.
Current supplies: LEDs, time.
Needed supplies: A drill, MEK or super glue, latches.

November 9:
1. Received 16 Blue LEDs in the mail.
2. Received new power supply. (a single 120mm fan instead of 2 80mm, and 150 more Watts.)

December 12:
3. Decided on using 1/4" acrylic sheets instead of the 1/8" I have right now.
4. Decided on a date for the build. Class is out, so it's gonna be sometime next week.

 

[GSG-9]

I would use a clear cocking, or even super glue, super glue may be to brittle but you can try it. If I were you I would put two 120s in the front and two in the back, cross airflow. Note the intake/outake you want the same cfm for both, it will give you the quites airflow that will help keep dust out (high pressure will be noisy and low pressure will trap dust)., or if you want to go even thinner I would put 80's in, turn the psu 90 degrees and get a flexi pcix16 cable so you can turn the videocard 90 degrees. That way your total width is 120-80mm.

I myself have a matx case that is 86mm or so, I have one 80mm in the front (36cfm)(Silverstone something...) one 140mm (yes 40)(Aero something...) at 19cfm and 2 80s in the back at about 25cfm each (Silentblades) it keeps my c2d and 7800 nice and cool even in a matx case that the video card partitions into two sections.

 

[GSG-9]

I would also raise the bottom off the case and put a place for a fan directly on the bottom :]

Link to x16 flexi-riser card http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=10881

 

[Necrofire]

First of all, clear caulking only provides a water-tight seal, it does not bond the acrylic.

Second of all, my cpu heatsink is the tallest object protruding from my mobo, so the flex-riser card won't help much.

They're great suggestions, and I would buy the flexi-riser card if the graphics card was the tallest. I'll try and post pics of my setup, and how I want it to look. If you can think of a setup that would reduce space, I'm all ears.

 

[panchoman]

good luck man

 

[tkpenalty]

Great Idea! I'd love to see it. A good way to utilise LEDs is to make "light columns" basically have an arcrylic rod with an LED attatched to it directly. The thing is to try to make it so that it makes the whole rod itself glow (light reflecting inside it). You can get some very stunning effects as well as more efficient lighting by doing this. Try to get the LEDs embedded inside the arcrylic itself.

 

[Necrofire]

That was my plan with the LEDs, except all sides of the case were going to be lit up.
Also, I took some pictures, will have them up in about two hours, I have class in a few minutes (and I still need to photoshop them).
Also also, I was thinking that the height of my case will permit the use of 120mm fans, so I might buy 2 or 3 of these.

 

[Necrofire]

Picture 1 shows the new case's size compared to my current one.
Picture 2 shows the height of my heatsink, my TV tuner won't be in the new case.
Picture 3 shows where I want to put the power supply, but I'm not sure I want the harddrives in front of the cpu heatsink, imma thinking of putting them below the graphics card.
Picture 4 shows what the most space-saving setup for the new case. Remember, there's 3 harddrives total.
Picture 5 shows a top view of where the power supply will go and where the harddrives might go.

BTW, I put links because putting pictures here takes up too much space, and it makes it easier for those not wanting to load giant pics if they don't want to.

Should I put these up in the first post?

 

[GSG-9]

Who says the cpu fan has to be inside the initial acrylic enclosure :] If you had it over hang that would be awsome (assuming you could find a way to keep if from receiving damage.

I was thinking having the acrylic toothed (is that the right term?) Like some woodwork (Dressers?). (Sorry I dont know how else to describe it :/) But if cocking does not bind plastic I don't think it would work anyway.

I will find my mmatx case design and post it, it was a good idea, but it was a bit expensive at the time.

wow that picture is crappy...sorry its the only one I could find :/

 

[Necrofire]

I know what you are thinking, like a dovetail end, except more like gears where the corners meet...

It would be hard to get the rounded edges, but the design looks interesting, from what I could make out.

The way I have it in my pictures, with the harddrives below my video card, covering my pci slots and with the power supply right behind the heatsink is as small as I could think.
Btw, the heatsink isn't the tallest when I have the power supply where I would like it, so it would be under acrylic anyway. I've already bent some of the fins, and cut myself numerous time on it also, so I don't want to risk it being in the open.

Caulking does not bind acrylic, it only sticks to stuff. Super glue would 'melt' the acrylic, kinda like welding metal, except it happens at room temperature. The same idea behind welding metal together is how super glue works on acrylic and other plastics.

(There's also some stuff that's called MEK, Methyl-ethyl Ketone, it takes paint off and eats away at acrylic, so it would do the same thing, and it comes in the same containers as other paint-removers, like denatured alcohol. But it's messy, and wherever it lands will slightly dissolve the acrylic.)

 

[GSG-9]

Yup! the dovetail was what I was thinking.

 

[Necrofire]

I've come to the conclusion that creating perfect dovetail fits with a drill would be near-impossible, so no go on the dovetail.

I updated my post, I just received my new power supply and the 16 LEDs in the mail.

 

[Necrofire]

Another update, sometime early next week is the start date for the build.

 

[steelkane]

Seems like a fun project, as far as connecting acrylic together maybe you could try http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=132&products_id=22268 I have used it before & it's super strong. It's cheap enough to try, Hope it helps.

 

[Necrofire]

I've got waht I need to bond acrylic, so it's all good.
Can't wait though, next week I'll post mah process and results.

 

[strick94u]

I have always wanted to make a case out of bullet proof glass