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Making an aluminium skeleton?

post #1 of 6
10/19/12 at 3:33am
Thread Starter 
Hey,

What would be the best way to make an aluminium skeleton like this:

skeletonf.png

Would welding provide enough strength?

Or do they sell something like this;

cornery.png
So I could put that around/in the corners?

Thanks in advance,
Thomas
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post #2 of 6
10/19/12 at 4:29am
The frame skeleton like in the first pic, it doesn't seem that hard honestly. I bet most hardware stores sell beams in that exact shape for home projects like framing and whatnot, you'll just need to properly cut them down to size (some stores do this on the spot).

I bet good welding would provide enough strenght. Welded metals like aliminum don't come appart easily if properly welded, just make sure the aluminum beams are thick enough to support the weight on the components (load test it beforehand with some weights just to be extra safe).

The second pic, it just seems too bulky/thick. It's probably doable, and you aren't including measures, but having solid aluminum walls would probably be cost innefective, weigh too much, and just be unpratical to work with.

So yeah, i'd look at the first option and look further into what types of materials the hardware stores around you sell. Also, i would calculate the weight of the entire system and look for the appropriate thickness. If it's welded togheter good, you should be good to go.

Edit: Also, make sure the motherboard tray is sturdy enough to take all the weight. If you place it on the bottom pane of the skeleton box, it'll have to take the weight of all the components connected to the mobo. This is especially true if you use supercoolers or crossfirex/sli, which add to the weight.
Edited by Syde - 10/19/12 at 4:32am
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post #3 of 6
10/19/12 at 4:41am
Thread Starter 
I meant using those little blocks to put them on the edges of the skeleton and use bolts to hold the aluminium L profiles together.
The skeleton will only be for an ITX mobo, so dimensions of the skeleton will be 200x200x200mm. (Using flex ATX PSU under the mb tray)

The skeleton will probably only have to support the heavy side panels, 10mm thick white/black acetal (aka delrin/pom). As the internals will be mounted on a bottom plate instead of the inside the skeleton.
But I might change that however, and have it all supported by the skeleton.
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post #4 of 6
10/19/12 at 4:55am
Oh, got it how, was reading it wrong! Sorry biggrin.gif.

I don't know if they specifically sell something like those for reinforcement. But if you could get your hand on something similar, provided that the bolt is snug and stable, and thick enough, i think it would be able to support it with no issues. What i do not know is if, with the passage of time, the bolts could somehow loosen with use/transportation, and cause some sort of vibration, but i guess some nuts and rubber washers would solve that.

The thing i remember seeing around here were some sort of chicken feet like (3 feet) steel structures which would serve the same purpose.

I would personally go with a good welding if I could. Or maybe even both solutions, just to make sure it lasted over the years even if it accidentally took some hits or bumps, but that's probably not necessary.

Good idea on the acetal panes, it should look pretty good! Maybe some pics if you decide to go forward with the project? wink.gif
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post #5 of 6
10/19/12 at 5:14am
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Got a new build coming up first in a Lian Li PC-V600FX, I'll post a build log about that aswell as moving my old hardware into a Fractal Arc and cleaning that all up.

After that is done I was going to try out a cube ITX build but with sanded plexi. Would be the same dimensions but without a skeleton.
I'll probably just cut-up my old acrylic case into square sheets and use these to hold them together;
cpa-84.jpg
(I can use these from my current full acrylic case)

The sanded acrylic would light up nice I hope (Using just a few leds).

Or I could make the skeleton already and just switch the acrylic sheets for the massive acetal plates once I'm bored with it. (Probably wont take long as the white acetal would look so nice)
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post #6 of 6
10/19/12 at 8:33am
Yeah, for acrylic sheets those cubes would do just fine. And the sanded acrylic would most likely light up pretty good with some high power LEDs!

But the white acetal panels would just look so slick i can't tell you to not do it biggrin.gif If well executed, it just looks like it would be a pretty nice idea, and would look very neat.
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