PC Modding

Raymond Hernandez14 said:Does anyone know where I can pick up some cheap plexiglass? Also, does anyone have a link for a full guide on building a PC out of plexiglass? I mean a total step-by-step from scratch—drilling holes for the motherboard, cutting side panels, all that stuff!!?!?

Unfortunately, no.

Well, that’s easy for you to say. It's not exactly rocket science! Just find some photos online of a PC modding build made out of plexiglass—if you've got enough imagination, you should be able to whip something up in no time...

Listen, regarding my mother... I have absolutely nothing to complain about. As for the materials, I find myself in a bit of a tight spot at the moment.
I had been weighing the possibility of working with glass, but I am starting to suspect the overhead might be prohibitive. While cutting the material itself seems relatively straightforward, the drilling process presents its own set of challenges. Even if I managed to get through the motherboard, I'd still be looking at at least six holes. And then we run into the logistical nightmare of power supplies, heat dissipation, hard drives, and port accessibility!

Here’s this, maybe it'll help you out a bit.
As for putting everything together, I stumbled upon this and that

Good guy... I truly appreciate it... thanks for all the hard work... I will be sure to check back in with some photos once I have everything wrapped up!?

Get it working and let me know!

Hey everyone, what’s your go-to method for bending sheet metal?

If it's too thin, it bends easily, but you lose all structural integrity. On the flip side, if it's thick enough to be sturdy, it's a nightmare to work with. What thickness do you consider the sweet spot? Is it 1/8 inch, 3/16 inch, 1/4 inch...?

What kind of metal are we talking about here? Steel or aluminum? What’s the goal?

If you want a solid, well-built case, 1mm steel is definitely the way to go.

If you’re working with aluminum sheet that isn't thicker than about 2mm, you can pretty much bend it just by using some muscle—or, if you happen to have a sheet metal brake lying around, that makes life a whole lot easier.
It really all comes down to the angle you're aiming for; if you need a sharp 90° bend, just clamp it to the edge of a workbench and give it a few good hits with a hammer,
but if you're looking to get a nice, smooth radius, you'll want to wrap it over a pipe that matches the curve you want and tap it with the hammer from there.
Once you've got the shape right, you'll just need to hit it with some spray filler, do a bit of sanding, and then you're ready to paint.

Since I’m feeling a bit inquisitive today, I guess this technically falls under the umbrella of PC Modding, right?
Has anyone here actually messed around with wiring up individual LED diodes directly to a computer power supply—say, via a standard Molex connector
and if so, what voltage are we talking about here, 5V, 7V, or even 12V? Also, which resistor values should I be looking at, and would a series or parallel circuit give me the best results?

steelsailor3 said:Let me jump in with a question of my own! I assume this falls under the umbrella of PC Modding.
Has anyone here ever tried wiring up some individual LEDs directly to a computer power supply—like using a standard Molex connector?
I'm wondering what voltage I should aim for—is it 5V, 7V, or 12V? Also, what kind of resistor would work best, and is there a specific advantage to using a series versus a parallel circuit?

Regarding the V, it was actually on this page 22
image
As for everything else, I'm honestly not sure.

Thanks Henry Thompson66, but here’s the catch: most of these LEDs actually run on about 3.2 to 3.3V
so you really ought to be throwing a resistor in there to drop the voltage,
and since I’m more of a mechanical guy🙄 I’m pretty much clueless when it comes to anything involving current🤷 😕

To figure out the voltage drop—basically the difference between your power supply and what you actually need—just use R=U/I. A little 0.25W resistor should do the trick, maybe bump it to 0.5W to be safe. LEDs don't pull much juice, though you can calculate the actual power draw with P=U*I or R*I^2 if you want to be precise.

Going with a series connection is usually the better move since the LEDs won't burn out as easily. I heard it’s because of those tiny resistance differences between individual bulbs. Just keep in mind that the voltage per LED ends up being your total supply voltage divided by the number of LEDs.

If you're more of a mechanical guy, you probably aren't exactly a pro with a soldering iron, but you likely know your way around a screwdriver. 🙂 In that case, honestly? It'll be way easier to just wire them up using some lever nuts.

Here’s an example that might be helpful! Link

placidcanyon2 said:If you’re trying to figure out the voltage drop—basically that gap between what your power supply is spitting out and what you actually want at the terminal—you just run the math using Ohm's Law, $R = V / I$. Honestly, even a little 0.25W resistor should do the trick, though if you want to be safe, maybe grab a 0.5W one. Since LEDs don't pull much juice, you shouldn't have any issues.

You’re probably better off going with a series connection—though you have to be careful because that's when one single LED decides to give up the ghost and takes the whole string down with it. I’ve heard that happens because of those tiny little variations in resistance from one diode to the next, which just messes everything up. Just don't forget that the voltage you're dealing with on any given LED is basically just your total power supply voltage divided by the number of LEDs in the chain.

If you consider yourself a mechanic, you probably wouldn't know the first thing about using a soldering iron, though I bet you could handle a screwdriver like a pro. 🙂 Then you’re just taking the easy way out by using those damn terminal blocks for the chandelier.

Exactly. 👍

Thanks, guys. I owe you all a beer if I don't end up burning the whole house down first.😁

Here is a great shot featuring the V V link

Not all fans are gonna play nice at 7V. Why? Honestly, no clue. All I know is that one of my Intel fans literally went up in smoke because of it. 😵

I guess this is the right thread for this sort of thing...

So, I’m looking to install some neon lighting in my rig and have a few questions. For instance, if I pick up something like this: http://www.newegg.com/p/neon-lighting-kit/index.html how exactly does the power connection work? I was told it’s similar to hooking up a hard drive, except I might need to snip a few wires here and there—which isn't a huge deal if it comes to that—but still, what's the actual process for powering it up?

And where am I even supposed to mount this inside the case?

Man, you can go wherever you want, but you’re just plugging into a Molex—you know, that power connector for optical drives and hard drives. I've seriously never heard of anyone needing to cut through God himself to get that done.

There’s a massive tangle of wires spilling out from the power supply, and honestly, I’m just trying to figure out which one connects to the neon lighting. I don't have a clue what any of these specific labels or wire types are actually called 😕