I spent $70CDN (approx. $45 USD) on a used PC with a swiss-army motherboard
(fully integrated), $25CDN on LEGO, $75CDN on three Ethernet NICs , $12CDN
on Clear Acrylic Plastic scraps and had everything required to construct the
unit. I have always wanted a LEGO-wrapped box so this seemed like the
time for it. I also wanted a low-wattage, fairly powerful CPU.
This avoids more cooling-generated noise in my computer room and lowers my
power requirements. The old breaker hasn't tripped on me lately and
I'd like to keep it that way.
A couple of notes before getting into the implementation:
1. LEGO is heavy. It may not seem like it but it really adds up.
This case weighs as much or more than a good metal PC desktop case. That shocked
me.
2. My first base and motherboard tray were made from hardboard. That's
the material used for backing on cheap entertainment units and bookshelves.
It's fairly strong and not too heavy. I didn't like the result - too
crude looking and I needed to further reduce the total weight.
3. If you need Clear Acrylic for something and don't need a whole sheet,
most plastics and hardware stores sell scraps and ends. You can save
a significant amount of money and often get a cool assortment of colors.
4. Cutting acrylic is not as easy as it may appear. The motherboard
tray cut like a dream. Three cuts and the edges looked great.
My fine toothed blade got a bit of material stuck to it though and then came
the base, which was thicker. The base cut was not smooth - due to the
thickness of the material and the length of the cut, the blade heats up enough
to melt the material. My first cut was done and the excess from the
cut did not fall off. I looked at it in confusion and wondered if the
law of gravity was held up on appeal. Almost immediately it dawned on
me that it had fused (that melted plastic look and the fact that all of the
tools, scraps and other objects were not leaving the floor clued me in that
gravity was still more or less working). I was warned that a saber saw
can cause the plastic to melt and sure enough it can. Dremels are worse
- apparently a good old hack saw is the besst way to cut this material unless
you have the right table saw/blade/expertise. Alternately you can pay
the plastic shop to cut if you want to avoid the process. Even more
elementary would be to clean the blade or use a new one.
5. To hold some of the more critical LEGO joints together I used crazy glue.
It works well and ensures the kids cannot pillage my LEGO for their nefarious
purposes. Crazy glue does NOT work on acrylic. It would not stick to
the surface at all. I wiped it off and got the cloth stuck to my hand / hair
/carpet / garbage bag. I pictured me hanging from the ceiling of my
den with my hand stuck to the cloth stuck to my head stuck to the ceiling
in a commercial from the 70s...strong enough to hold this 200lb man from the
ceiling until he starves or his wife stops laughing long enough to help...actually
I was pretty careful. I realized quickly that my glue did not stick
to acrylic. I also came to the conclusion that the glue was laying for
me to do something stupid like touch it so I used a wet wipe to get it off
the plastic. Then I used a dry cloth to clean it. I don't trust
that stuff to be forgiving since my wife effectively removed one of the joints
in her finger temporarily by gluing the joint shut.
