Help me customize a PC case

I'm planning to build a new gaming PC. I've had an idea for making a really custom case that would be more of an art project than just selecting lights and bling and attaching them. I figure folks here could help me on how to execute properly.

I want to take an existing, boring case and turn it into one with a post apocalyptic theme.

My thinking is, strip off the beige paint down to bare aluminum. Mar the surface with rust, scorch marks, bullet holes, and such. Add lights inside to make it look like it is either on fire (red at bottom, yellow up top; ideally with some sort of pulse or flicker), or suffused with a nuclear glow (mix of orange and green).

So: What paint stripper to remove mediocre paint from aluminum? Just pretty much anything from the hardware store?

How best to "rust" the surface? Oxidized aluminum doesn't look like rust. Spray paints that look rusty? Mash steel wool on it and cause that to rust on the surface of the aluminum?

How best to get bullet holes in the sheet aluminum? I live in a neighborhood with people. Can't shoot it up in my own back yard. I doubt a shooting range would appreciate me bringing my own, metal target. A drill hole doesn't have the same effect

After marring the surface, will adding a layer or two of clear coat keep the rust and char from making a mess of the desk where I set this computer?

Note: I reserve the right to decide this is a bigger art project than I want to take on at this time, and just end up putting the components in another nice case that I already have sitting around.

Best way to get bullet holes without bullets is going to involve a hammer and a hole punch. Take it out back or put it on a work bench, get a big ol pointy metal bolt, and smack it hard with a hammer.

Rust can be done a few ways, it depends on how you want it to look. Im used to rusting plastic, so i just go to the hobby store and raid the rc plane aisle. Those guys like their warbirds to look authentic as hell, so there's whole kits for painting rust. Usually it's mixing up some flat copper paint of some fashion and either sponging it on or streaking it on, depending on the nature of the damage. If you're a cheap ass you can take a bit of steel wool, rust it in some water, and mix said water with your choice of clear for effect.

mndsm wrote: If you're a cheap ass you can take a bit of steel wool, rust it in some water, and mix said water with your choice of clear for effect.

I was going to suggest just scrubbing areas with steel wool to embed some steel shavings. Then just let it sit outside a few days and it will rust.

Overall sounds like a fun project. I'm interested in how you will control the lights - depending on how elaborate you go. I really want to learn how to drive RBG led strips with an Arduino.

Bedazzler!

Beer Baron wrote: I'm planning to build a new gaming PC. (...) I want to take an existing, boring case and turn it into one with a post apocalyptic theme. (...) How best to "rust" the surface?

What postapocalyptic may look like:

Deliberate rust is a juvenile anti-movement backlash against over-produced customs. It's just as lame.

laser etching/ cutting

My opinion: You want a postapocalyptic looking deck? Leave the case sides off. Hold the hard drives and stuff in with zip ties. Make sure some of the components clearly don't belong in that case. In other words, make a Real Hacker Deck.

My favorite example of this was the caseless computer. Components were just sort of hung off of zipties and strings on the wall so they wouldn't contact anything else. THAT is true post-apocalyptic look.

Fake bullet holes and other BS is making a rat rod, and rat rods are the ultimate in hipster poserdom. See "Zero F*cks Given RX-7" for a perfect example of how to be a douchebag.

Yes, this whole subject makes me angry.

Put a beige floppy drive in it for a cool retro look!

I guess this pisses me off because, as anyone who has tried to use a dead PC for fabrication materials could tell you, PC CASES ARE GALVANIZED. They don't rust. Making them look rusty means you took a deliberate step to make them rusty, in complete antithesis of the idea that it aged that way.

Jeez and I was just wondering how I might build my next computer to be as small, quiet and simple as possible. Something like a HTPC.

Knurled wrote:

Beer Baron wrote: I'm planning to build a new gaming PC. (...) I want to take an existing, boring case and turn it into one with a post apocalyptic theme. (...) How best to "rust" the surface?

What postapocalyptic may look like:

I think book of Eli is more accurate than the ridiculous (but still awesome) world of mad max.

I like the rusty bullet hole look idea.

When saying "Post Apocalyptic" I'm inspired by some of my favorite shooters, specifically: Half Life (2), Fallout, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.

So, yeah... If I wanted to go full out, I'd hunt down some like 70's vintage solid steel rack to slide components onto. But I want this to fit neatly into a mid-tower form factor that's reasonably convenient to carry about.

I'm not looking for this to look like a computer that survived that apocalypse, or that some post-apocalyptic tech built out of the spare parts he could scrounge. I'm just looking to play around with a softcore art project that someone just dipping their tow into these sorts of waters can pull off.

Or I could get really adventurous and try to convert an ammunition box into a micro-atx case. But that would require fabricating a rack for components, which I really don't know how to do, and would be scared to do wrong and thus destroy a machine.

Get some thin 22 gauge steel, scuff it, dent it, rust it, and pop rivet it to the case in sheets for a paneled, pieced together effect.

Needs a cup holder.

You could sandblast the case (and I think they're aluminized, not galv) and leave it outside for a while.

The PCs in STALKER:SoC weren't in terrible shape, and that was realistic - computer cases don't rust significantly or get terrible damage to the case no matter what you do to them. I have a really old, really beat up steel case that held my home server until recently, the paint is bad but it just has a few flecks of surface rust.

I think you should look for an old full-tower server case, it'll have yellowed plastic and a retro look to it...that's what a realistically post-apocalyptic PC would look like. Use positive-pressure cooling with properly filtered intakes for a realistic post-apocalypse-friendly cooling setup.

My custom build is hopefully going to turn out looking more like this, hopefully:

But, it might turn out looking like this:

Not to thread jack, but this topic got me thinking. I have an a old ATX case that is taking up space. I am thinking about covering the outer the panels and with Tolex and speaker cloth to style after a vintage Fender guitar amp. Build into something that that resembles this:

Or this:

I wouldn't be surprised if it has been done already.

I may be able to help facilitate the bullet hole portion of this project.

If you want to add rust you could take an angle grinder to a piece of steel and blow the sparks at the cover. They tend to embed themselves in the paint and start to rust pretty quick. But personally I like the riveted on steel that was mentioned earlier.

Knurled wrote: What postapocalyptic may look like:

I dunno, I'm pretty sure blower drive belts are going to work the same way after the collapse of civilization as they did before.

Seriously, though - one idea that could work would be to go to the junkyard, find some beat up car doors or other flat-ish pieces of sheet metal that already have dents, rust, etc., and cut them up and rivet them together over the outside of the case. Best way to make it look like you fabricated a case out of scrounged metal would be to do exactly that.