PC case control box

Hello everyone.

I am trying to put together a control box from an old PC case of mine(drivers, PSUs breakoutboard, maybe even a Mini ITX board). I am almost there, just need some finishing touches.

One of the things I would like to do is to have all the connections going into the box detachable. At the moment I just have cables running straight through the case. What Smiler did here with the plugs on the front of the case is round about what I am aiming for.

However, what I would like to do (just because I am difficult) is to have the panel mount plugs running out the back of the case.

To do this I plan to use two PCI slots. Now heres the problem... I have emailed some companies to get a quote on getting a specially made double PCI panel laser cut out of stainless steel (with holes cuts for the plugs), but because it is such a small part there is a minimum order and its £50. What I was hoping is that someone here would be interested in doing the same thing, and would could get the company to make a few of the PCI covers and share the cost between a few people?

I was going to use these plugs for the motors, which I already own,

and IEC plugs for AC in Power. You can buy them on ebay for practically nothing.

Pics attached to help give everyone an idea of what its all about...

Any interest?
Dave.

Hi,

Email me the DXF for the laser profile's you need and material spec and I will get some cut for you.

PM me your address so that I know where to post them.

Steve.

Hey Steve,
Awsome!

Attached the part here in the hope that someone else might find it useful... feel free to use it if you so wish.

0.5mm stainless is what I was hoping for. Grade etc is irrelevant, as long as its tough, and won't rust.

I'll also send you a PM with my address, and email as well.

Cheers,
Dave.

Edit: got so excited i forgot to attach the file!

I have done somthing along these lines, sorry to hijack !

In the end i had the bob wiring coming out the back and into the bob, the bob then went onto the m/b with no need for a parallel cable to conect them.

Yea i had the PC in the same case, didnt get any problems and i never used shielded cable.

Looking pretty sweet Lee! I like the idea of putting the drives and PSUs in the drive bays. You've actually had the PC in there at the same time as the PSUs and the drives going? I didn't really think it would be a problem, but its good to know for sure.

Hopefully will get myself a mini iTX next month to finish off the box...

Where did you get the black cable tidy stuff?

Cheers,
Dave.

Yo,

yea i was going to post up a build log with all the pics and so on, yea i liked the idea of using the drive bays as well, the tower is sat in front of me now, the plan was to extened the driver L.E.D's onto the front beisel? with fuses and so on.

I was also going to swap the pooh red and green L.E.D's fitted to the case and replace them with clear bule ones, but no never got that far.

Yea i'v got an older AMD based PC inside the case with all the other stuff, didnt see/notice any problems.

The cable brading i got from the USA on 300m drums, dont know how much is left now as i used to sell it on ebay. I know i'v got lots of the smaller size left, they use it for ICE installs and stuff like that on cars.

Steve i'v got a few big sheets of Ali, think its somthing like 1.5mm thick, its just sitting here if you can use that for this project ? I'v got some 200x200mm cut ready to go, shouldnt cost much to post it to you ?

Thanks,
Lee

I have got a load of that 'black cable tidy stuff' as well, got a couple if sizes which should do you, let me know if you need some of that as well.

Can you check the DXF, when I open it in my CAD package all I get is one horizontal line? ____________________________

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HiltonSteve

Can you check the DXF, when I open it in my CAD package all I get is one horizontal line? ____________________________

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Same here,
I'll bet this was done in Turbocad ?

That's a classic export move of theirs.

.

Dammit!

It was exported from Rhino, but I did the work in Maya.

I opened the dxf in Rhino and its all there. However I opened it up in eDrawings viewer as well, and its like you said.

Can you open .IGES? Its attached... and in a zip because the site won't let me upload an iges.

What sizes of the black cable tidy stuff have you got?

Nope.
Bobcad, Alibre and Solid Edge can't open it.

It's a simple 2 D shape, why not draw it as 2D ?
Laser cutters only read 2 D files.

.

Can't open it here either.

May be quicker to re-post the original drawing that you did but dimension it up, that way I can re-draw it.

Steve.

This is so annoying!
It just seems stupid that I spent all that time making the part, and then I have to make another drawing only for someone else to make another!

One last go... I messed around with settings, tried a bunch of different formats... hopefully something works.

If not I'll knock up the drawing this afternoon.

Hurahhh!

I think I have finally got it!

It occurred to me whilst in the shower (I find the bathroom a great place to solve problems). DXF is a 2d format, yes? For some reason when I import my Maya file into Rhino it gets rotated 90 degrees so that when you look at it from the top all you see is line! So I thought maybe I need to rotate the object so that the drawing can be seen from the top view port, and sure enough I can now see the drawing in eDrawings viewer. So fingers crossed this works.

Are you sure you want it 134" long ?

134mm...

u sure thats not to do with your import settings, or the units the prog is set to use?

John, you are wrong its not 134 inch's long.

Its 3.4m!

Leave it with me, I will sort it out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lee Roberts

I have done somthing along these lines, sorry to hijack !

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How do you plan on keeping this little lot + BOB and PC cool? Looks like you have the same Zapp kit as me and it gets pretty hot I can tell you! I have finally managed to get the three 120mm fans in my case working and although it's a bit noisy, everything stays very cool indeed now.

Jeff.

I have 2 boxes under my machine and I would prefer to have a setup similar to what you have down.
I would sure like to see the build log for that PC/controller Lee.
Any chance of you posting a build log?
Thanks, Keith