On Wed, Jun 06, 2007 at 10:23:33AM -0400, Rod Giffin wrote: > FYI: For something along the same lines that I forgot about. A friend > of mine who lives in Katata built a 5 board Linux cluster with a trash > can as a case. The project is fully documented, and the system actually > works fine. http://ca.geocities.com/garbage_can_cluster [ at ] rogers [ dot ] com/ In November 1998, OCLUG member John Turnbull built a PC case for a firewall out of 45-minute rated fire-retardant gyprock wallboard and presented it at one of our meetings. I love his sense of humour. :) I must have photos of that somewhere, but I suspect they haven't been scanned yet. > William Case wrote: > >Thanks Rod; > > > >That gives me a lot to think (and dream) about. > > > >On Mon, 2007-06-04 at 09:48 -0400, Rod Giffin wrote: > > > >>William Case wrote: > >> > >>>Hi; > >>> > > > > > >>>Starting with the case, I would like to do one of a couple of things; > >>> > >>> 1. Build the case with fine wood finish (mahogany, dark oak, dark > >>> walnut or Quebec Maple) . Has anyone heard of this being done > >>> before? I haven't googled for HOWTO sites yet, but am trying to > >>> collect my thoughts, and yours, about pit-falls and/or > >>> suggestions on how this might be down. And, how I might trim my > >>> monitor, keyboard etc. to match? Or, > >>> 2. Re-paint (colourize) a vanilla case and trim, in a non-standard > >>> colour scheme with some kind of paint or whatever that would be > >>> durable. I had in mind, what I call 'mustang yellow' like the > >>> mustardy yellow used on sporty cars. > >>> > >>>Any thoughts, suggestions or additions? > >>> > >>> > >>There are quite a few good computer case designs based on wood. If > >>you're a good carpenter, you can actually make them look like a piece of > >>furniture. There are two things to keep in mind though - ventilation, > >>and shielding. Wood is a good insulator, and can make an otherwise > >>noisy computer fairly quiet in comparison. But it also does not provide > >>any shielding. (Even plastic computers are coated with a metalic film > >>inside.) What you can do though, is laminate a metalic film to the > >>inside of the case to provide that shielding. Aluminum foil is often a > >>choice, but in fact brass foil would be better, a lightweight (24 guage > >>or thinner) steel lining would be even better. Home Depot or Rona might > >>have some metalic melamine, but make sure it's actually metalic. Other > >>than that, you can also go to Cohen's on Merivale and pick up some > >>relatively thin brass sheeting. > >> > >> > >This is along the lines I was thinking. > > > > > >>The nicest simple designs I've seen replaced the metal case cover with a > >>maple door skin veneer. Thin wood, but exotics are possible, and it's > >>usually knot free so even if it isn't an exotic, it can be stained to > >>look that way. On the front of the computer, the guy replaced the > >>plastic bezel with one made of wood and plastic, in order to have the > >>shaping in places where it was required. Stained in cherry and > >>varnished, it looked like an expensive piece of furniture. He actually > >>used the metal frame of the original computer case to mount the > >>motherboard, power supply, drives etc. > >> > >> > >I'll see what I can google for. Somebody probably already has a set of > >plans and materials list available. > > > > > >>Another guy I know made a beautiful full sized desk/computer, that > >>looked like a mahogany bankers desk. I think the wood was actually > >>poplar or birch. The lower left hand drawer was actually the computer > >>case. The monitor was embedded in the surface of the desk, under > >>non-reflective glass, and he'd made a flip top sort of cover for the > >>front drawer for the keyboard. That desk was a work of art. All of the > >>wires were routed through a plastic conduit inside of the desk,so that > >>all you could see sticking out was one power cable and the ethernet > >>cable. Everything else was internal - but accessible through removing > >>the glass covering the monitor. When he switched to a LCD display, I > >>think a small modification was required in order to mount the monitor at > >>the front of the glass instead of way down in the bowles of the desk. > >> > >> > > > >I have longed wondered why that kind of thing wasn't available in the > >'high-end world'. I would sure be a great piece of furniture to have, > >if it wasn't gimmicky but reflected genuine classical furniture design > >and construction, and was rigged so that motherboards etc. were > >replaceable. Hang the expense. > > > > > >>Enjoy yourself! > >> > >>If you're just going to paint an existing chassis, you can use an > >>air-brush or find some kid who's good with an airbrush and do some > >>incredible designs. Use an enamel paint, and this can also look really > >>cool. I had a couple of photos of one of the fighters my Dad used to > >>fly painted on the sides of a case of a computer that was in my living > >>room. (friend of my son is really good with an airbrush, but he lives > >>in Calgary now.) It got lots of comments, and looked really good. > >> > >>Something I just thought of something that can add to the "look" of a > >>wood computer case. Neon or argon light bulbs, the ones with a soft > >>orange glow... They'd give the computer a sort of 50's look of having > >>tubes inside. I'd personally avoid ultra-violet... unless you're going > >>for an ultra-modern look (in which case just buy an all black chassis > >>and go with that.) > >> > >>Rod. > >> > >> > >> > > _______________________________________________ > Linux mailing list > Linux [ at ] lists [ dot ] oclug [ dot ] on [ dot ] ca > http://www.oclug.on.ca/mailman/listinfo/linux slainte mhath, RGB GPC Listmaster -- Richard Guy Briggs -- ~\ -- ~\ <hpv.tricolour.net> <www.TriColour.net> -- \___ o \@ @ Ride yer bike! Ottawa, ON, CANADA -- Lo_>__M__\\/\%__\\/\% Vote! -- <greenparty.ca>_____GTVS6#790__(*)__(*)________(*)(*)_________________