building a case, curious about electrical issues.

[Hyperlite]

I'm going to be building an open-air style case of expanded aluminum and rebar. I'll have a build log when I actually start construction in december, but I'm curious if there are any conductivity or grounding issues I need to be concerned with. The motherboard will sit on the lower of two levels, offset by some beefy rubber feet of some variety. I'll upload a sketchup image in a bit, I think it'll be neat. Any initial thought/concerns I should keep in mind?

I'm not good a curved surfaces in sketchup, but everywhere there is a blunt intersection of rebar will actually be a bend. So, the whole thing will be made of 5 lengths of rebar.

 

[aigomorla]

alu conducts electricity no?

Id be worried about it touching something and shorting it out.

Im guessing your making something similar to a torture rack?

 

[Hyperlite]

Yes, similar to that. There will be two levels, the mobo on the bottom with two 120mm fans in the front panel. Second level will have the psu in the back, drives in the front. Top panel and front panel will be a single piece of stiff al mesh screen.

 

[aigomorla]

Yes, similar to that. There will be two levels, the mobo on the bottom with two 120mm fans in the front panel. Second level will have the psu in the back, drives in the front. Top panel and front panel will be a single piece of stiff al mesh screen.

id just be worried about making sure none of the pins under the mobo are touching the alu.

Other then that i dont see a problem, as the board gets it ground from the PSU.

 

[Hyperlite]

id just be worried about making sure none of the pins under the mobo are touching the alu.

Other then that i dont see a problem, as the board gets it ground from the PSU.

Right, thus my big rubber feet idea. I'm probably going to paint the inside surfaces of the mobo area with something to further reduce the chance of contact.

 

[WoodButcher]

Why not use a mobo tray? Perf PC has a nice selection of relpacement parts, I used a LL tray in my newest box.

 

[Ben90]

I would think using the standard stand-offs would be a better idea than rubber feet. More rigid

 

[EarthwormJim]

Why not use a mobo tray? Perf PC has a nice selection of relpacement parts, I used a LL tray in my newest box.

I would definitely do this, or at the very least salvage a motherboard tray from a cheap case.

 

[Texun]

You may want to consider using something like lexan or plexiglas as a MB tray and some #6 bolts or rubber feet for stand offs, unless your goal is to keep it 100% metal. For rubber feet I used a set of replacement feet for a Dunlop Wa-Wa pedal. They are about 1/2" x 3/8" and I found mine on EBay for $4.

I recently did a mod using a wooden radio for my case - obviously did not have to worry about shorting anything out, but the addition of a single plexi tray large enough for the board and HD's makes it easy to assemble or remove the computer (- the power supply) from the case.

If you need any unique switches or other non standard parts for your build check out http://www.surplussales.com/switches/SWRoMisc-3.html. I am not connected with them in any way and I am not endorsing them, but I needed a couple of momentary on\off\on rotary switches and some good person in here gave me the link and I found a ton of parts and ideas.

The board receives its ground from the 24 pin power connector so there is no need to worry about running another ground wire. I was a little worried about EMI but haven't had any problems.