is any one out there metal fabricators i was wondering bout building the experimental system with 2 motherboards and the seperate components. then i thought i would measure how much room it would need. does anyone knwo how hard it would be to make a case. i dont care bout looks. just want to make sure there is airflow and proper grounding. any ideas?????
It would be dead easy to make a case out of mild steel or aluminium, the problem is making it look nice. In order to get nice bends you need the proper sheet steel bending equipment. To join the bits together you would need captive nuts (quite tricky), or had a TIG or MIG welder to hand. All in all, if you know little about metallurgy/engineering/fabrication, I would forget it! Perhaps a local steel fabrication business could help you out. Don't forget that a job like this is quite labour intensive, with a skilled person, that can be expensive. I was a mech engineer for 17 odd years, I could do it, but it would take time (to do a good job & make it look nice), materials & a workshop to do it in. To do this PROPERLY will take time. I would consider getting 2 cases & joining them together. It is quite a challenging project! You just cannot do a nice job like this without the necessary skills & equipment. I'm sure someone will come along & contradict my every word, that is their prerogative, someone always knows someone who knows better. I am not saying that I am correct, but as I was an apprentice trained Engineer & college trained to boot, I think I may have an inkling of what I am talking about! Personally I would prefer to use aluminium & have a brushed stainless steel frontage (I love stainless steel, but it is a biatch to work with!) Aluminium has its probs too, it is soft & is easily marked/damaged - depends on the magnesium & manganese content to have a compromise on its strength. Oh & if you have aluminium & steel touching, you get a minute electrolytic reaction, causing oxidisation (aluminium rivets & mild steel do not get along!) [bold]Don't forget, if you want quality, you have to pay for it![/bold] All the best in your quest! I do believe in if you are going to do something, do it properly, I read that you are unconcerned with its' looks, I think that is a shame! You have a great opportunity to make something a little different, then you spoil it by not wanting it to look nice. Oh well.
thanks for the advice. i am not too worreid bout looks cuz its in the closet. i am just trying to save space and to see how feasible it is. but i will probably just go with stacking type cases. and stack them i wish i new how to mod like the pros cuz its got to be possible. if someone can put 3 gaming systems in one computer than maybe it can be done with some special moddifying. thanks again
The problem is the shear size of the MOBOs & graphics cards, if you used water cooling you would not need bulky CPU fans, but that still leaves the fact that graphics cards are attached at right angles to the MOBO, then you would need 3 PSUs, 3HDs 3 sets of cables, all in a small space. It is very possible, but moving air around the components in a confined space could prove problematical. The heat generated by 3 PSUs could be tricky, fitting them externally is a possibility, but the length of the power cables could cause probs too. What you want to do is entirely possible, but tricky! The vat of cooking oil scenario would be a good idea, but you still need to store & connect your HDs. If it is going to be kept in a closet, how would you ventilate? Unless it was all kept in a fridge, but then you would have to consider condensation & its' impact on the components. You could use a dessicant, similar to the stuff the construction industry uses in its' drier packages (made by Rhone Poulenc). This would keep the humidity level down, (when air is cooled the moisture in the air turns to condensation, this is a problem when compressing air too, hence drier packages, stops components from rusting) But you would need to change it out & dry it in an oven, otherwise it gets saturated & would become ineffective.
