# Custom Acrylic and Aluminum Shroud



## CyberDruid (Sep 12, 2011)

I started by cutting a 15 degree angle on a piece of 1" acrylic then slicing off two pieces for the end caps. Then I cut two strips from 1/2" with a 15 degree angle on each side and trimmed those to length to fit a custom louver grill I had made by a Hot Rod shop in MO. I chose 15 degrees to match the angle of the case feet.









Precision cutting and fitting was required. Cutting bevels with a table saw in acrylic is difficult because unlike wood the plastic grabs the side of the blade and pulls up and into the blade making parallel lengths a real challenge. I wasted a fair amount of material and even tried some other blades before I got the lengths to come out even close...much sanding was required.





I have some ancient SilenX fans I use for fitment and a taped them into a pack of three to be sure I had the interior dimensions fo the shroud correct.





Before I started the glue process I made sure all the saw marks had been sanded off to 220 with a block.





I also dressed the cut edges of the long pieces taking care not to change that 15 degree angle.





I sourced some 1/16" Blood Red transparent cell cast acrylic to use for the top and bottom. This material will stabilize the 4 side pieces and tie together the corners. When finished only the polished 1/16" edge will show.





I took painstaking care to align all the parts perfectly square and flat so the finished product would sit flush on the top panel.





Cutting plastic introduces heat and internal stresses which wil make parts curl or bow...hence the clamps to keep the long side in contact with the base. 





I used Weldon 3 and a Capillary Applicator to fuse the pieces together. This sounds much easier than it really is. Getting 8 surfaces to align all at once is no mean fete.





I was concerned about strength of the glue joints because almost all of the base is removed except for a slim perimeter.





Here you can compare the case foot angle and shroud angle.





As I wrapped up for the night I decided to use some Weldon 16 to reinforce the long joints and corners. Weldon 16 is a thickened acrylic laden cement that dries clear and turns into acrylic and adds strength. By tipping the piece on it's side the cement forms a nice fillet at the juncture.





The next day I routed out the base and applied a top and routed that using one of my radiator templates.





The shroud has been sanded all around to 220 at this point.





I think a shroud just like this but polished would be stunning, but this one is being taken a stage farther...





Here I've cut a strip of aluminum from a 2'x3' sheet I have on hand and trimmed to fit in between the two edges of the red plastic. The aluminum will be powder coated to match the case. Only the edges of the red plastic will show. The rest of the shroud plastic is hidden...so no need to polish that.





As you can imagine cutting perfect pieces out of sheet aluminum is not the easiest thing to do...but I have some tools, tricks, and techniques that make the process fairly straight forward...for me 





And finally I drilled the strips and taped them in place and drilled the plastic and used some special stainless steel torx drive plastic-specific self tapping screws to secure the piece. This was necessary because powder coat parts need to be hung on a metal rack...strips without holes would be a real trick to powder coat...





Using various tools I dialed the strips in until I got metal to metal joints all the way around with no overlap.





I really like how the acrylic and metal contrast and compliment each other...but the top is still not in place...the louver grill gets mounted over that pretty red top. I'll be getting around to that next week.

Fun stuff hunh?


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## Solaris17 (Sep 12, 2011)

that looks amazing.

EDIT: do you plan on making a case using the same colors and meterials? I think that would look amazing.


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## Sinzia (Sep 12, 2011)

oooh! I saw your youtube video of this earlier, I thought the base was made out of just aluminum, not all acrylic with aluminum trim.


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## CyberDruid (Sep 12, 2011)

I want to make myself a PC case using this same idea for a tiny little Zotac board. I want it to look like it's possessed with creepy light streaming from the edges. Maybe UV green acrylic with black aluminum panels. Sound activated cold cathode inside...something about the size of  router.


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## CyberDruid (Sep 15, 2011)

FINALLY!

Mounted. 













Everything metal will be powder coated Polar Anxiety (White with a red metallic dust in it )


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## Outback Bronze (Sep 15, 2011)

Nice work bud. I love seeing these sort of mods. Its great to see. I wish i could make cases 4 a livin. Unfortunatly i build gardens instead.


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## TRWOV (Sep 15, 2011)

This looks amazing. Looking forward to seeing it mounted on top of your case.


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## MT Alex (Sep 15, 2011)

Outback Bronze said:


> Nice work bud. I love seeing these sort of mods. Its great to see. I wish i could make cases 4 a livin. Unfortunatly i build gardens instead.



I'm sure CD has spent some time building err....umm...well, gardens of his own

Nice work Mr. Druid.


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## CyberDruid (Sep 15, 2011)

TRWOV said:


> This looks amazing. Looking forward to seeing it mounted on top of your case.


It's a client build, but yes one of these days when the job is done I will get a look at it. And then I'll box it up and ship it 



Outback Bronze said:


> Nice work bud. I love seeing these sort of mods. Its great to see. I wish i could make cases 4 a livin. Unfortunatly i build gardens instead.


Building gardens makes more sense (and probably more money) than modding cases.



MT Alex said:


> I'm sure CD has spent some time building err....umm...well, gardens of his own
> 
> Nice work Mr. Druid.


No gardens for me...too many helicopters:shadedshu


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