Custom Case from Scratch

[Jishaku]

I´m planning to build an Lian Li PC-08ish Case by myself.

I have CNC and a laser cutter (I made robocup robots)

 

I never did something like this so please share your experience on the topic like or example:

What Aluminium to use and specific possible mistakes I should avoid.

 

[Lord_Karango17]

Only related thing I have done is use a laser cutter to make an acrylic midplate, so this is way over my league, but I would assumed you would want to minimize the amount of welds to do (so make like a big net to fold out)

[manikyath]

this (and its prequels, in a design kind of way) has a lot of small tips and tricks.

 

aside from that, its like any other project you've worked on, measure, measure again and make sure you're correct to the millimeter (ideally, half or tenth of a millimeter)

[johnny5c]

For the aluminum I'd got with 3003 sheets, easy to weld and bend plus not as expensive as 5052 or 6061.

[kkpatel87]

-snip-

 

I would do some extensive reading on sheet metal engineering. I would not recommend welds but riveted joints. Also make sure to analyze how much load you want to put into your case and what the distribution is, this will guide your material selection.

[Jishaku]

Why is welding a bad idea?

[W-L]

Why is welding a bad idea?

 

Welding tends to distort thinner metals and can cause them to cup or bend very easily if not done properly causing tolerances to be off since it requires fairly precision work. I would recommend to start with a case and build from there like an IO plate:

http://www.mountainmods.com/motherboard-parts-c-21_34_66.html

[ManWithBeard1990]

Don't forget the little holes in the motherboard tray that the ends of the expansion card brackets slot into. That is all.

[Spotswood]

Don't forget the little holes in the motherboard tray that the ends of the expansion card brackets slot into. That is all.

 

Or avoid having to cut those slots by using tall (>=.5-inch) standoffs.

[ManWithBeard1990]

Or avoid having to cut those slots by using tall (>=.5-inch) standoffs.

That's actually not a bad plan.

[byalexandr]

From personal experience, I can tell you that achieving a consistent, high quality finish is very hard to achieve. For starter tools, you at least need:

 

A bending or press brake

Drill and tap sets

Punch and die sets

Riveting equipment (if you want to go with rivets)

Drill press

Painting/Coating equipment

CNC/Laser/Precision Plasma Cutter (or a jig saw, but not nearly as nice looking in the end)

 

And a general skill with hands on work. I'm pretty good at that stuff, but it's extremely important (and probably the most important) to have the proper tools. Without them you're going to be scratching your head on how to achieve what you want with limited tools, and you'll have to take shortcuts and you won't end up with what you wanted in the first place.

[Jishaku]

From personal experience, I can tell you that achieving a consistent, high quality finish is very hard to achieve. For starter tools, you at least need:

 

A bending or press brake

Drill and tap sets

Punch and die sets

Riveting equipment (if you want to go with rivets)

Drill press

Painting/Coating equipment

CNC/Laser/Precision Plasma Cutter (or a jig saw, but not nearly as nice looking in the end)

 

And a general skill with hands on work. I'm pretty good at that stuff, but it's extremely important (and probably the most important) to have the proper tools. Without them you're going to be scratching your head on how to achieve what you want with limited tools, and you'll have to take shortcuts and you won't end up with what you wanted in the first place.

Where could I get access to a bending or press brake and powder coating equipment?

[W-L]

Where could I get access to a bending or press brake and powder coating equipment?

 

In most places you would need to know someone who own a metal fab or workshop. If your in school and have a shop class most may let you work on some side projects or things using their equipment. 

 

Powder Coating or things like metal plating will need to be contracted out to places that can do work like that. 

[byalexandr]

Where could I get access to a bending or press brake and powder coating equipment?

You can get cheap bending brakes at Harbor Freight, or you can get multi thousand dollar hydraulic press brakes. As for powder coating, it all depends. You'd need an oven, special spray guns, a compressor, etc.