Seeking consultation from Lexan artists and technicians

[BonzaiDuck]

This may seem like a strange post.

I'm still planning a "Conroe-build" -- carefully. My last (and current) system uses the last-generation motherboard socket-478 with AGP graphics. I had built the system to resurrect an old Gateway 2000 full-tower (beige!) case, and had been putting off the dremeling necessary to fit a Lexan sidepanel window to it.

I replaced an earlier AGP card with a LeadTek 7600GT, and I had hoped to fit a heatpipe cooler to the LeadTek. There was all sorts of trouble, but I discovered I could fit a Sytrin cooler on it without a fan, or a ThermalRight V-1 Ultra in the manufacturer's intended orientation.

So I put the LeadTek card and V-1 Ultra cooler back into the system and fired it up without replacing the case cover. Great! idle-to-load range is just 5C degrees.

Then I attempted to reinstall the case cover. No cigar -- the heatpipes from the V-1 extend a quarter-inch too much and interfere with the case cover. I finally cut my Lexan window hole, installed a half-inch thick rubber grommet and half-inch aluminum standoffs so that the Lexan panel sits a half-inch outside the plane of the case panel. It looks fine, but I can't help imagining a more elegant solution: an egg or football shaped bubble in the Lexan window to accommodate the heatpipes while allowing the panel to be installed flush with the case-panel.

Can anyone offer specific directions on realizing that idea? Do I need a heatgun? Should I make some sort of mold? Is there a way to assure that the remainder of the lexan window will remain perfectly flat?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Well -- I'm still searching the web desperately for DIY information. . . .

As much of a kloodge that this thing has become, there should be a way to "mold" a Lexan panel . . . . .

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Google forming Lexan http://www.recumbents.com/WISIL/bubbles/hpvbubbles.htm

Yes! That is way over the top for your needs 😛 Harbor Freight has the #35776 heat gun
on sale for $10...Often. Ace Hardware stocks Lexan.

I would try vacuum forming the heated Lexan into a mold. Run a hose from the car's
intake manifold, place a valve in this hose to control the suction.
A second valve to bleed air into the area being sucked might give better control.

You may not even need a mold. Just by playing with suction and heat may give you what is desired.

Good luck.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Good man, GY!!

I'll probably need to experiment with some scrap pieces to see if this is feasible.

The "bubble" distortion in the flat surface needs only be about 3" long, 1 to 2" wide, and 3/8" to 1/2" at its deepest point. It will be maybe an inch to inch-and-a-half from the edge of the entire lexan panel, such that the remaining material must remain flat with the overall panel's surface. Then, the whole thing will just install with a rubber molding strip from FrozenCPU.

It is all "cosmetic." Probably would make my MOJO "resellable" if I want to do that, although I usually play round-robin with the computers in the family, use spares for "servers" and eventually donate expired technology to charity -- or just take it to the designated landfill. I'm getting ready to dump a Pentium 3 system after moving a RAID 5 array and PCI controller to a newer machine. Then, the Core 2 Duo build.