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How to Build a Clear Computer Case
Mikey LeBeau writes "Geeknews has a story right now on how to build a clear computer case, and just looking at the pictures, I'm quite impressed. Anyone up for mass-marketing these suckers? "
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That yeong-yang case wholesales for $230, retail is closer to $300. When i asked them how it's worth even half that, they stopped talking.
- Eric
This is just like television, only you can see much further.
switch off your speakers. FCC will take care of it if he built it himself and didnt get approval...its not dangerous for your PC IMHO.
That all depends on what kind of a radio it is and what kind of licenses he does or doesn't have.
If he's using a stock CB radio - that is, 4 watts deadkey / 7 watts peak, the police can call it a domestic disturbance and tell him to knock it off.
This is just like television, only you can see much further.
It sounds cool. Itd look cool if the server werent down :-). Slashdot affect?
...considering as I never actually have my case on =)
I believe there are conductive transparent plastics or films that may work for shielding transparent cases, so please do some research.
I have two kick-ass translucent cases. One is bright lime green and the other is purple. I go the pair to go in my dorm this fall. They are nicely designed too, with slide-off sides. The cases are are a translucent colour on all sides, but in the front, they have a cool white swoop that goes around the drive areas. I got them at www.hardwarepro.com
As if it wasn't obvious this was going to happen...Geeknews is down now...more than likely because of the infamous "slashdot effect". Not that this is entirely a bad thing...but as long as myour on the matter of cases, why not mirror the other case article they had up there?
-L20 "I hate quotes" -L20
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I am trying to look at this but can seem to get into the site, the domain is not registered on my DNS I believe,
Modern consumer electronics crap lacks adequate shielding. Unless the neighbor is violating FCC regulations you must accept the interference or modify your crappy crappy equipment to reject the signals. The local police have absolutely no jurisdiction over radio.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
(I hit a wrong key or something, this submitted once already before i was finished)
That all depends on what kind of a radio it is and what kind of licenses he does or doesn't have.
He is being pretty rude, and ought to buy a low-pass filter. Maybe you should buy one for him?
If he's using a stock CB radio - that is, 4 watts deadkey / 7 watts peak, the police can call it a domestic disturbance and tell him to knock it off. But they can't take away his radio.
If he is using an outlawed CB or 10 meter ham equipment mofidied to use the 11 meter range (the CB range), he is breaking the law. Unfortunately, the FCC is brutally underfunded, and in 1997 couldn't even get funding to write letters to manufacturers expressing concern over the illegal uses of things like 10 meter linear amplifiers that work just as well on 11 meter. Again, the police can treat this as a domestic disturbance. Unfortunately, only a federal marshall can legally take away his radio. (Tho the cops may do it anyway)
If he is a licensed ham using ham radio equipment that is broadcasting on bands his license doesn't allow, or is transmitting with greater power than his license allows, the FCC won't be happy about it. Your local FCC rep might come out and order him to turn over or destroy his transmitter.
If he is a licensed ham using ham radio equipment that is within the allowable ranges of his license, the police can treat it as a domestic disturbance, but other than annoying you he is breaking no laws.
Most people don't take the time to read the definition of a class B device. A "Class B" electronic device is required to accept any interference caused by other devices. To put that another way, if your neighbor is using legally licensed amateur bands and your TV is picking up his signal, it's *your* fault. He's being a bad neighbor, but it's your fault that your tv is picking up his perfectly legal transmission.
So, you've got a few options.
(1) Offer to buy him a "low pass filter" - anyone who works at a radio equipment store will know exactly what you mean if you ask them for one. it may cost as much as $20, more if he's running a heck of a lot of power out the back of his radio. he puts this in-line on his coax before it reaches the antenna. I would not recommend going to RadioShack for this. Try looking through the yellow pages for a business that sells or leases business radio or ham equipment. A low-pass filter tries to clean out the ranges of transmission that will interfere with A/V equipment. It shouldn't interfere with his fun.
(2) Call the police and have them treat it as a domestic disturbance. They'll come over and give him a talking to, maybe scare him a little. If he's got illegal radio equipment, the most they can legally do is tell the FCC. Some cops will take it away anyway on the chance that the person in question knows it's illegal and won't complain to the feds.
(3) Buy some high-pass filters to put on your tv and stereo to filter out his transmissions. This might not work, if, like you say, anything with a speaker repeats his voice.
(4) Stick a pin through his coax. This will make his radio's finals explode the next time he tries to transmit. This is, of course, destruction of personal property, 100% illegal, and I don't condone it. But some people can be real pricks, and the other three might not work.
Overall, don't assume that he's doing it maliciously. He might not know that he's causing you a problem. He may have some high-pass filters for you to install on your TV and stereo. Maybe he has a low-pass filter that's simply stopped working and he doesn't realize it.
Ham's are generally gregarious people who like to share their hobby with anyone who's interested, much like any other class of geek.
This is just like television, only you can see much further.
we need better cases :)
Funky. We've come a long way, I guess.. I remember being in awe when I saw my first non-beige machine back in '88 or so..I'm really surprised nobody has gotten into the market for selling customized parts for cases. I think my box would look excellent with 15 coats of cherry red paint and some chrome on the front. :)
Bowie J. Poag
Bowie J. Poag
It looks neat, but isn't one of the points of metal cases to block radio interference? It strikes me that plexiglass (or is it transparent aluminum?) cases would not work properly.
IANAP, though, so I could be way off.
The other problem is that everyone would see how messy the inside of my case is. It get embarrassed when I have to go into it when people are around.
-awc
I have been working on a clear case design based on the
In-Win A500. Plexie(sp) glass and I will use the chassis
from the A500. No neon lights (what is that about anyway?),
and all of the awesome benefits of the A500. These cases
rule! Everyone should have an A500.
like this a week after you buy a new (insert eq here)?
=p
This is nothing really new..just new to the mass public I guess.
:) Unfortunately the machine was stolen a few years back.
My old drummer in my band made me a pleiglass computer case years ago.
Just to give you a time frame on this, it ran Slackware 2.0 on my kicking 386dx40
Remove the top cover case, it looks more hard core than those ugly curvy plastic case.
this will be cool when i get to fill one with an overclocked quad athlon and then submerge the fscker in mineral oil. Especially with the glowing case, now if i could only find something cool looking that has the same density as mineral oil, to give the cool effect of "orbit" drinks. Now that would kick some G3 ass!!!
Geeknews is very slow, does anyone know of any other sites about other custom computer cases. Also, what does a NeXT(caps?) cube look like?
We tried chickenwire inside plexiglas, but it looked like crap and didn't work too well. (I could still pick my IDE bus up on FM radio 10 feet away). That was years ago tho. I did manage to replace the cover on my 10 meg drive with a clear one tho, and that was very cool.
Since then, I've seen "clear" calculators and other things that lead me to believe that clear substances can be made fairly conductive.
Combine that with a network of ultrathin copper wires embedded in the plastic to "drain" anything caught by the clear coating, and we might have a winner. Come to think of it, the wire could be inlaid in patterns and used decoratively?
Let's not stop there! Forget the ceramic cases on chips, make them out of glass. And embed LEDs into the chip at interesting points. Hey where do I go to patent this?
plexiglas doesn't supress RF. So that case is leaking RF all over the place. No one will be 'making' THAT case style for sale. So you are on your own to break the law and make that case.
Bigger is better, especially when it comes to heat.
A larger case will always be cooler than a smaller one, equally equipped
oh, and people, remember to have some fans REMOVING air. When air is compressed it heats up
The reason that black plastic PCs are so expensive is just because black parts are VERY difficult to get, particularly for individual shops. One customer at my old store wanted a 100% black system - including keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Finding a black 2X CD-ROM was tough. The customer ended up paying a ridiculous amount of money for a P200 system. Color is ready for prime time, but it seems to me that manufacturers don't want the little shops to access it that easily.
LOL! Does that mean we can't use the clear cases until they invent a transparent RF shield? ...
Friends don't let friends misuse the subjunctive.
hey buddy, you should change your sig so that it is attributed to Ghandi. The question was asked by a reporter, Ghandi asnwered.
Ben Garrison, a mindless idiot who will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.
TheGeek
http://www.geekrights.org
TheGeek
http://www.geekrights.org
Kill the monkey
TheGeek
http://www.geekrights.org
TheGeek
http://www.geekrights.org
Kill the monkey
Two words - 'Charcoal Grey'. Classy, and very cool. Apple... are you listenin'?
here's somethin kinda the same i build a long time ago
www.napnet.com/iLinux
If he's actually transmitting enough power to cause you to hear it with the amp turned off, he's most likely operating outside of FCC rules. Talk to your neighbor first, he may not realize it's happening.
My neighbor's cb does the same to my speakers.. I found a fix though.. I just take my unused case cover for my computer and sit it over my sub, which contains the amp, on the floor and it actually works very good, no more interference :)
- Jim - "I hate people." -
I really hate it when people brag of having X many coats of (laquer no less!) paint on their custom car, so don't start on computers!
Wanting to have that many coats of paint on anything is asking to have it crack on you. Never mind that Laquer is a crappy paint, most likely to oxidize, crack, and is a huge enviromental hazard in application.
(1) Offer to buy him a "low pass filter" - anyone who works at a radio equipment store will know exactly what you mean if you ask them for one. it may cost as much as $20, more if he's running a heck of a lot of power out the back of his radio. he puts this in-line on his coax before it reaches the antenna. I would not recommend going to RadioShack for this. Try looking through the yellow pages for a business that sells or leases business radio or ham equipment. A low-pass filter tries to clean out the ranges of transmission that will interfere with A/V equipment. It shouldn't interfere with his fun.
(3) Buy some high-pass filters to put on your tv and stereo to filter out his transmissions. This might not work, if, like you say, anything with a speaker repeats his voice.
Here are a few other ideas:
* Buy a package, or two, of 0.01 uF bypass capactors, and connect them across the speaker treminals. The bypass capactors act as a short circuit to RF, but won't do anything to power and audio.
* Try putting an AC line filter between the device being affected, and the AC line. It is possabile that the interferance could be comming in through the AC wiring.
* Switch to shielded cable, if you have that option(some manufactures mold the cable pernamently to thier speakers). This will make a big differance(it will cut down on alot of crosstalk, and other interferance), and you really should use shielded cable on your audio/vidio, speaker, data, and antenana(RF) conections anyways.
BTW, one inportaint FYI: ham radio operators can legealy operate radio equment that they've built or modified without having that equiptment type-accepted, as long as it's for personal use. For expample, If a ham builds his own radio, or modifies his radio, and he's useing it for his own use, his doesn't have to get it type-accepted. If he's building or modifing radio equiptment comericially, however, he still needs to get that equiptment type-accepted for it to be legal.
I like my case; it's heavy, big, and beige.. who has ideas on what I can do to make it cool? I could, paint it, ... what else?
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
I always seem to bust the pile-up with <100w so I never bothered to acquire a linear. Better still, wait until the rare DX calls me and begs for my QSL info...
;-)
Also, I don't dim my own lights and crash my server.
QRO: Last resort of the LID!
73, de Gus, Eight Papa Six Sly Mongoose
This is the publicity they were looking for so they could push commercial.
>>* Buy a package, or two, of 0.01 uF bypass capactors, and connect them across the speaker treminals. The bypass capactors act as a short circuit to RF, but won't do anything to power and audio.
That might not be a good idea:
In the ARRL Handbook (for the Radio Amateur) 1999, page 28.12, it says:
"Warning: Bypassing Speaking Leads:
Older amateur literature might tell you to put a 0.01-uF capacitor across the speaker terminals to cure speaker-lead interference. *Don't do this!* {emphasis in book} Some modern solid-state amplifiers can break into a destructive, full-power, sometimes ultrasonic oscillation if they are connected to a highly capacitive load. If you do this to your neighbor's amplifier you will have a whole new kind of personal diplomacy problem! -- Ed Hare, KA1CV, ARRL Laboratory Supervisor"
Could be a problem to get the system to comply with the CE regulations limiting electromagnetic emission in this computer case......
http://www.yeongyang.com/yy-0210.htm this case used to be avail in black also
I seriously doubt you can hack a NeXT cube up, but black (and beige) cube ATX cases do exist: http://yycomputer.com/YY0210.HTML (I have one. It's not too shabby, but it is expensive.)
tasty.
I say I ain't giving you no tree fiddy you goddamned Loch Ness monster, get yo own goddamned money!
Not quite. Ghandi did say something like that, but it was about 'civilisation in England' IIRC, asked by Winston Churchill.
Sorry to be a pedant, feel free to moderate this down!
Greg
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant)
Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
http://www.clearcases.com/
Check this site out for a really nice clear colored case!! And there only $80.00
I have one, it sucks if you have 3 7200 RPM hard drives. There is no way at all to cool anything in the 3.5 inch bays, they have a thick piece of solid metal blocking them. Bad, bad design.
I can't remember which vendor it was that I want a case from... Had a 4-digit part number, thou... Something like 6890 or something. (It wasn't PC Power and Cooling - great cases but WAY too expensive!)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Here's an idea...
Why not box up your POS stereo equipment and ship it back to the manufacturer with a demand that they fix it so that it isn't susceptible to RF interference. It isn't your fault, but most consumer electronics equipment is designed by penny pinching morons who would rather save a dollar or two by not adequately shielding and filtering their products.
Those of us who legally operate radio transmitters get blamed for the design faults of the crap they sell to consumers. Even when our transmitters are in perfect condition. I have been blamed by neighbors for all sorts of problems, even when I haven't transmitted a signal for weeks. Any glitch in their TV or stereo gets blamed on the nearest CB or amateur radio operator. It's easier than thinking.
If you are experiencing interference in audio equipment, it is caused by poor shielding and filtering in your equipment.
If you are experiencing interference with TV or radio equipment, it is probably due to design defects in the front end (RF input) or shielding of your TV or radio.
Interference problems that are caused by transmitter defects are relatively rare. The vast majority can be traced back to design shortcuts in the equipment experiencing interference.
Congress and the FCC have been too chicken (read as coopted by the consumer electronics industry) to issue standards for interference susceptability in consumer electronics equipment.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Wow, a use for those old 286 boards I keep *just in case I need a certain part*.
How about:
- Use an old VCR case.
- Inside an old monitor/tv. Stick some plexiglass where the CRT used to be.
- A desk drawer. I know a guy who did this for a voicemail server. He'd pull the drawer out to service it.
- Three words: wall mounted motherboard.
- An old microwave. Use the op interface for server functions ("clear" will properly reboot, the number keys will set a runlevel. Fun!)
- Bend up the sheet metal from an old microwave, etc to make your own funky case.
- Flying V case
- Modify an old Compaq suitcase computer. I had discussions about this with a boss who was a cad guy, hated tiny notebooks, and had a couple that were wasting away in the storage room near my office.
- Merge the motherboard with your monitor, Mac style... orrrr merge with you keyboard.
- For those concerned about heat: stick it in your vacuum. Actually that's a very bad idea, RF-wise.
- The knapsack PC! Everybody wears one and simply connects to the nearest monitor.
- Surgically implant behind your breastplate. Even better, use nanotech to *build* it behind your breastplate.
Oh the possibilities are endless.
Whats the use of a clear case if you don't have a
clear harddrive. That would look sweet.
It comes in 2 or 3 really nice HUGE black cubes.
So what if it takes 3 lines of 220V 3 phase power; you can stuff 32GB of RAM into it and it can go up to 114 PCI slots. Not to mention the 12 processors. Too bad it doesn't run Linux yet...
=-]
Bad idea. In some parts of the USA that might result in getting shot as a prowler/trespasser.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
ack, I have enough problems with the strange blue dust that collects in the dorms. With a clear case, you could watch them grow inside. Yech. I got better things to do than dust out my box, like oogle over my uptime. Besides, how often do you stare at your case? I usually try to put it somewhere unnoticed, but still accessible for an ocassional disk or cd swap. Won't a clear case in sunlight heat up more than a traditional case? I got a better idea. How about a huge tower system all chromed up. You can use it as a full length mirror. How about imbedding your mb and drives and junk into your desk, covered by plexiglass. Then you can glace down on your desk and watch everything. How about just hiding the box and having a remote stat display on your desk, about the size of an alarm clock. Come up with me to my room so I can show you my box. I know you want to.
Hmm... fill your clear case with an inert solution, and put some of those sony robotic goldfish in there...
now THERE'S geek factor!!!
Have you been into a Tiny computers showroom recently? You'll find that they have a selection of cutaway/clear caseswhich they use to demonstrate the technology inside their machines to customers - maybe people should ask them about it.
http://www.jonmasters.org/
slashdot effect.
I think what you're discribing is an AC line filter. If that's the case, you have to be the one to use it, since it's your equiptment that's being interfered with.
It looks like the interferance is comming in through the AC line, although I'm not ruleing out poor or badly shielded A/V, speaker, and antenna conections, or a bad ground somewhere in your house wiring.
Does the FCC notice on your electronics look like this: This device complies with part 15 of the FCC rules. Operation is subject tw the fowwing two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interferance, and (2) this device must accept any interferance recieved, including interferance that may cause undesired operation?
That lable's on every electronic device, form your stereo, to your computer. What it basicly says is if your device starts putting out interferance, and the interferance proves harmful, you are leagelly obligated to stop using it until you get it fixed. But, if something is interfering with your device, even if it is causing problems with that device, you have no leagel protection from the interferance, you're on your own.
It is connected via a UUNET link.
ah yes the infamous slashdot effect.. its malda's plan to rid the internet of small news sites who might steal his glory some day :). just curious.. what kind of server is /. running on?
How many poeple run thier PC's with the case off? I know i do, and the RF that now must be escaping the case isnt a problem (doesnt effect TV's or anyhting else electronic thats close by). So why bother about RF in the first place?
Further to the comments on RF interference. Don't all the
components in a machine connect themselves to common
ground via the metal case? I'm sure that major problems
would occur if differing charges were allowed to build up on
components. I can almost see the hard disc arcing across the
motherboard... Maybe some investigation into
grounding would be useful too...
Anything with a clear case can be successfully marketed to the prison industry - they already have such cases for TVs! And don't forget education - just ask the kids at Jonesboro High, where backpacks are only allowed if they're see-thru! Nation of jailers, nation of jailers!
As the man said, one of the achievements (if you want to call it that) of the iMac case is the fact that it passes FCC standards. You have to make sure your case can keep EMI from temporarily making all your other stuff inoperable.
plus just get yourself some allen bolts, drill through the panels at various places, and you've got yourself the mounts for the internals. break out the dremel, and round the edges (or a bandsaw if you have one), and dip it in a chemical like acetone to give it a frosted look. instead of static flourescent lights, hook 'em up to the hard drive, or scsi bus, so they blink on and off. you'll win the most-annoying prize for sure.
hrm...I think I have my next case.
-lev
Q: What do you think about American Culture?
A: I think it's a good idea.
(adapted from Gandhi)
apple?
11 was a racehorse
12 was 12
1111 Race
12112
...is a nice, simple, black cube. Not clear. No racing stripes. No holes and crap drilled through the front. Drives hidden behind a panel somewhere, and maybe a tasteful bank of LEDs or an LCD panel on the front. Simple.
I'd even use a Rock City case, after I paint over all the funky squiggles over the front. Too bad you can't buy those seperately.
Is it possible to mod a Next cube to take PC internals?
--John Riney
jwriney@awod.com
As an historical note, there was a
clear-cased demo model of the original
Compaq luggable gracing the cover of
one of the PC magazines circa '84.
It attracted a lot of interest, which
merely prompted Compaq to announce it
was a one-off and that it had no plans
to put clear cases into production. Kind
of funny since Apple is always claiming the
PC world is ripping it off....
I'm looking at building a nice machine this fall, but I'm not sure what I want to use for a case. I've seen some nices ones at futurecases.com and whatnot, but I dunno if anyone's seen better. I'm looking at putting an Athlon into this beast, so keep the power requirements in mind (yeesh, I forgot 'em myself... O_o). So, anyone got any suggestions? (We are talking commercial here. I haven't got the gumption to build my own.) Dygel, a.k.a. Eric Kolb dygel@weyland-yutani.net
There is a good reason why computer cases are made of metal, RF sheilding. While mother boards are getting better in being self-sheilding, the case is still part of the equation. Bet a computer built in a plexiglas case won't meet clase B fcc regs, let alone class A! You CAN make a case out of plastic, but usually must spray the inside with graphite or other rf conducting material. (Open up a Mac and see what I mean). If there is such a material that is also trasparent (I don't think so!) then this might work. Why should you care about rf sheilding? Wait till your roomate tries to listen to his radio or TV. Or the CB'er next door keys up and reboots your computer!
This was the first time I've ever been there. I went and looked around and read all the articles. They didn't seem very geeky nor was there anything I feel was newsworthy. Just when I thought Slashdot was going downhill, places like this come along and make me remember how great it really is.
Hey, have a nice one, guy.
Well, I have 3 200+ mhz computers all lined up in my basement, and not one of em has the case on it.....Maybe now ill get un-lazy and put them on. Who knows, maybe next week I will take them all out of the same power strip and maybe get a UPS.
Back in the '70s most 35mm cameras came in a brushed silver finish, perhaps with a little faux leather (i.e. textured plastic) to provide a little grip. The ``Professional'' black finish always cost more.
On computer cases, I think that most of the places I've visited lately on the Web offer at least some of their cases in black.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
After having worked on computer systems for too long, all I can say about anyone wanting a clear computer case is:
Any computer equipment after it's been running for a month or so is going to be filled with a fine dust that's going to make your clear case look absolutely disgusting. Electronic equipment has a tendancy to attract superfine dust that's nearly impossible to clean off unless you want to completely disassemble the entire thing and dip the case in some industrial cleaner.
Unless you have a clean-room environment to place one of these systems, do yourself a favor and avoid these cases.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
Try my idea, an aquarium surrounding the computer... Water is great w/ killing RFI.
I ate my tag line.
I ate my tag line.
-=Ellis (D)25=-
Isn't there some kind of RF problem going to be
created with just a clear case? I have heard
of people coating plexi with wire mesh, but damned if I know if that would solve the problem.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Slashdotted already??
Those plastic PB cases have a very thin metal lining to cut down on RF.
Cobratek
DONT TREAD ON ME MOÎΩN ÎABÃ
How many /. readers actually have cases on their PCs? Mine only gets put on when I have to transport the box around. (I dont want anything to fall out I guess)
Next time I run my yc156(3cpx5000A7) amp on 20 meters I'll be thinking of all the windows machines in my neighborhood that are rebooting.
yeah I can't get there. You know maybe the guys at slashdot could ask permission to post a copy of the story on slashdot servers b/c 1) the /. effect will not terrorize anyone else server and 2) slashdot/andover gets money via more banner advertisements. Save those poor websites from overabuse or they will someday call slashdot a terrorist organization.
No, Compaq were definitely NOT the first with this.
In the very early 80's, you could get replacement
Apple ][ trapdoors (you know, the snap-out lid that
you could lift out to get at the cards) made of
clear perspex.
The idea was that after you put in your Z80 card
and your Mountain soundcard and your serial-port
card and your Centronics port card, and whatever
else you could afford to cram in there, it would
be nice to watch Das Blinkenlights inside the box.
I have an article from Apple magazine (which was
given away free at most Apple dealers) with a
photo of one, but no doubt someone is reading this
who has an early-80's DDJ or Nibble magazine, with
an advert for one of them in it.
Check out the SC750 thats a bad boy!!! www.supermicro.com
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Comment removed based on user account deletion
i was reading this article, and decided to search through the slashdot archives, because it reminded me a lot of an article i had seen before.
i came across an january article that had a link to Colorcase.com which sells colored translucent case, as well as a number of other realy cool looking cases.. no neon lights though.