A fun ppportunity to overdesign something! : )

[krw]

They'll work but won't make EMI regs (thought not miss by much).

[krw]

How is a static magnetic field going to bother anything? There aren't any hall-effect parts on the board, particularly in the high-speed data paths.

[Puckdropper]

Bill [e-mail] wrote in news:dim%K.515999$ [e-mail]:

Take a look at Menards. They might have something that will fit in their weldable steel/aluminum angle display. Personally, I'd just use a single nut or 3D print something if it had to look pretty. You can also search for "Internally threaded rod" (If you have a lathe, it's also pretty easy to make. Just use a tap in your drill chuck and turn the lathe by hand as you cut the threads.)

Oh, regarding the rare earth magnets: Super glue will probably hold just fine. Use good stuff, I like the Loctite brand from Walmart and Menards. There are different thicknesses and qualities available, it might be worth looking in to if you regularly glue stuff where a thicker slower to set super glue would be handy. (Woodcraft had some options as well as Hobby Lobby, but I'm only able to speak about Loctite brand from experience.)

If you're at all serious about super glue, you NEED accelerator. I use cheap enough to be disposable small paint bruses to apply it. Some come with a spritzer but that just wastes it. There's some stuff from Bob Smith Industries that really works well.

Puckdropper

[Bill]

To be honest, I had never heard about super glue accelerator until you mentioned it, and so I found and read an article about it. Thank you, it seem like handy knowledge to have.

[Scott Lurndal]

Deny. We run them outside of cases all the time.

[Clare Snyder]

The only issue with no case can be cooling. The case directs cooling air across the components, but as long as you have provisions for good air movement a case is not required to RUN. LEGALLY is a different story, as the case is required to sheild RFI and EMI - and the requirements for that are pretty stringent - with special coatings on plastics (or special plastics) and specific designs for cover fitting. I was involved for several years with a small computer manufacturer - and getting case designs certified was always a pain inthe A$$!!!

[Bill]

Now that's an interesting perspective (that had in no way occurred to me). Is there anything "special" about the large clear panels that they use in many computer cases?

[Bill]

It occurred to me that if one affixed a steel plate to the base, then super glue would not be unnecessary. I took a magnet to test the bottom of the case, and there was "plenty" of attraction. But there were a some folds or seems which kept the bottom from being perfectly flat. I will investigate again with a flashlight when I am more in the mood. There were alot of wires in the way! %-)

Incidentally, I found a graphics card to bid on this morning, but some "meanie" pushed the price high enough that I didn't even bother to watch the way it ended. More often than not, most of the bidding action is in the last 15 minutes (as many have figured out that there is not much of an incentive to bid early, and give someone more time to respond to your bid). A 3 day auction on graphics card seems to get the same attention as a 7 day auction--there are a lot of "watchers" (40-50+ on the graphics cards I have been looking at). Surely, not every watcher is watching to buy, but still....

[krw]

When I was in that business, components designed for personal computers had to pass EMI tests +6db. IOW, there was only 6dB allowed for the case. Cases really are bad - slot city.

[krw]

None of the third-party cases meet EMI regs. If there were a test for them, these manufacturers would just ignore the tests, just as they do now. As I mentioned in my last post, board and accessory manufacturers were left to do the heavy lifting.

[Markem618]

Plastic can be coated with metal, did that with the ST2500 teleconferencing system at Shure to meet RFI and EFI emissions.

[Clare Snyder]

A LOT of them are NOT approved - -the ones that are will have a special plastic - as I noted. You would be surprized how many "gamer" machines sold in North America can not be used in many businesses because they don't meet FCC requirements - or UL requirements.

[Puckdropper]

Bill [e-mail] wrote in news:gWI%K.750032$ [e-mail]:

I used to run them outside a case when I was building them as a teenager. But this was when CPUs were topping out at 500 mHz max. I put the motherboard on wooden blocks so the expansion cards could hang down and would let them run overnight at least.

I don't know that I'd try that now, mainly because I'd find the whole thing a bother. SATA cables are so much smaller than IDE cables it's just much easier to route everything in a case than to build it and transfer it.

Puckdropper

[Puckdropper]

Bill [e-mail] wrote in news:MEQ%K.566144$ [e-mail]:

I picked up another tip from Adam Savage. Baking soda can be used as an accelerator. If you are using super glue to form a butt joint, you can add the baking soda to the joint and it will form a small gusset that adds significant strength to the joint.

Puckdropper