[sdiy] Synths from PC Cases (was: rack chassis)

[Roy J. Tellason]

On Saturday 05 November 2005 08:26 pm, R. D. Davis wrote:
> Quothe Wood, from writings of Tue, Oct 18, 2005 at 01:14:16AM -0500:
> > Where do you guys get low priced rack chassis in the U.S.?
>
> Speaking of such... has anyone given any thought to recycling PC cases
> into symnthesis equipment, or making custom racks which use old
> modified PC cases?

Yes.

> They are everywhere in such abundance, getting tossed into dumpsters, etc.,
> that it seems like a possibly money-saving opportunity for some SDIY
> projects.  At the very least, they're a good source of some screws, wire and
> other components.

I haven't tossed any of mine except for XT-class cases and even there only 
after removing anything remotely usable from them first,  which includes all 
hardware,  LED aseemblies,  switches,  etc.  A guy I know was at a place that 
was tossing a lot of older cases but although he did send me a bunch of stuff 
he didn't consider those worth it,  or practical,  so I asked him if he could 
pull some of that stuff and he did.

I know some people doing DIY-CNC stuff (machine control, etc.) are using old 
PC cases for that kind of thing,  sometimes adding more power supplies,  etc.

I've thought about using such stuff for projects,  but haven't acted on it 
yet,  though I sure haven't been inclined to get rid of any.

I don't know that this would work real well for something that needs to have a 
whole lot of front panel controls,  though I have seen some really absurd 
things build into "drive bay" configurations in the past.  Like a 40W 
multiple-channel power amp with "graphic EQ" and similar nonsense.

Hell,  I still have some old card cages I'm thinking about using,  if I can 
come up with enough of those 44-pin card-edge connectors from someplace.

-- 
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space,  a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed.  --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"