Once I had the idea of constructing an aluminum PJ case instead of a wooden one because alu can pass the heat more easily to the outside. I thought "well if nobody does that, I guess it won't work" But the idea crossed my mind several times and just now I read on a german DIY board that they also thought of that and a few people actually built one.
Wether it's good or not, i couldn't really figure out but it seems quite logical that it could actually cool the inside down by having the case act like one big heatsink... No?
Note: I might be wrong here! Letz start a discussion and/or experiments and/or get the theories on the table 🙂
PS: this is the link where I saw that stuff: LINK
letz get this ball rolling here
Wether it's good or not, i couldn't really figure out but it seems quite logical that it could actually cool the inside down by having the case act like one big heatsink... No?
Note: I might be wrong here! Letz start a discussion and/or experiments and/or get the theories on the table 🙂
PS: this is the link where I saw that stuff: LINK
letz get this ball rolling here
It's done a lot (i did it a lot atleast 😉. A normal case can easily heatsink stuff like driver transistors, bridge rectifiers, and even power opamps if it's large enough. You can take the OUTSIDE surface of the case and do some math to get the °C/W rating - 50 / (square root of surface in cm2) is a good approximation for non-anodized Al.
declined
Heya declined alloy is perfect for a case as in cooling and strength, u paint the inside matt black and leave the outside silver for heat transfer, the black on the inside stops internal reflections and also absorbs the heat into the alloy, the outside of the alloy that isnt painted can transfer heat very well to the outside but be warned that most alloy is coated with a clear coat so it doesnt tarnish when u touch it, some alloy does and some alloy doesnt, the one that doesnt will have the better heat transfer and with all of this in mind i should also tell u that the case its self will be warmer with it being black on the inside but a better heat transfer than wood as wood is more like an insulater as a case.I was going to make my first one out of alloy but didnt bother to find the sources to find any decent allaoy so it stands as it is with it not being made out of alloy, but in the future ill have a alloy, wood and clear inclosures for particular projectors that are on the cards to build.
Trev
P.S All of my new light box range is made out of alloy and work flawlessly
Heya declined alloy is perfect for a case as in cooling and strength, u paint the inside matt black and leave the outside silver for heat transfer, the black on the inside stops internal reflections and also absorbs the heat into the alloy, the outside of the alloy that isnt painted can transfer heat very well to the outside but be warned that most alloy is coated with a clear coat so it doesnt tarnish when u touch it, some alloy does and some alloy doesnt, the one that doesnt will have the better heat transfer and with all of this in mind i should also tell u that the case its self will be warmer with it being black on the inside but a better heat transfer than wood as wood is more like an insulater as a case.I was going to make my first one out of alloy but didnt bother to find the sources to find any decent allaoy so it stands as it is with it not being made out of alloy, but in the future ill have a alloy, wood and clear inclosures for particular projectors that are on the cards to build.
Trev
P.S All of my new light box range is made out of alloy and work flawlessly
Alloy = aluminum?
Can u just use regular spray-paint or can you only use special heat resistant paint? i have glossy heat resistant paint which didnt come cheap, so can i use this or is it really essential to use matt paint?
Another question: is it a lot harder to construct a case in alu than to construct one in wood?
I'd think a wooden frame with alu "walls" would be ideal... is that a good idea or is it best to use the "flightcase method"? (alu walls & alu corners & alu everything)
Can u just use regular spray-paint or can you only use special heat resistant paint? i have glossy heat resistant paint which didnt come cheap, so can i use this or is it really essential to use matt paint?
Another question: is it a lot harder to construct a case in alu than to construct one in wood?
I'd think a wooden frame with alu "walls" would be ideal... is that a good idea or is it best to use the "flightcase method"? (alu walls & alu corners & alu everything)
Wood lined with aluminum would probably defeat most or all of the cooling effect from aluminum.
Wood is essentially a heat insulator. Anyway, compared to just about any metal it's heat transfer chracteristics are terrible. With and Al case, you get heat transfer between the air inside the case, and the cooler air outside the case. Air is also a fairly poor medium for heat transfer, unless you are moving it, then it's pretty good.
Lining wood with aluminum will not improve your heat transfer. However, unless you put a little thought into it, I don't think you'll see much benefit from just sticking your amp into an Al case either. So, I'd say stick with what you think looks better. Wood's a whole lot easier to machine for most people too.
Now, if you're into cool heat designs, and come up with something where you have somewhat direct connections between your devices and the case... That might be pretty cool. Literaly. Haha.
Wood is essentially a heat insulator. Anyway, compared to just about any metal it's heat transfer chracteristics are terrible. With and Al case, you get heat transfer between the air inside the case, and the cooler air outside the case. Air is also a fairly poor medium for heat transfer, unless you are moving it, then it's pretty good.
Lining wood with aluminum will not improve your heat transfer. However, unless you put a little thought into it, I don't think you'll see much benefit from just sticking your amp into an Al case either. So, I'd say stick with what you think looks better. Wood's a whole lot easier to machine for most people too.
Now, if you're into cool heat designs, and come up with something where you have somewhat direct connections between your devices and the case... That might be pretty cool. Literaly. Haha.
declined
heya there declined, well alloy is short for aluminium, better to call it alloy then typing aluminium all of the time lol.
Ok the paint u will need to use as for a projector is matt black, just standard enamel is fine but make sure it is matt, why? because we dont want any reflections on light inside on the inclosure to cause any abnormalities as in picture quality and for uv/ir on electrical components. There are other reasons why we use matt black, and a couple are the fact that matt black absorbs more heat than gloss black as gloss reflects light to a certain degree therfore not absorbing as much, another reason is matt black also absorbs ir light, black with a ir light is actuallly white and therefore with it being matt in surface structure it does absorb more ir light then if it was gloss, so realy we are using this matt black as kind of a filter in a way to turn light energy into heat, thus absorbing the stray visible light and uv while also absorbing as much as we can of the ir light source wich we all know is our main culprit for heat.
Working with alloy to me is just as easy with wood providing u have the right tools, but i am a technical/mechincal engineer and have been in this feild for a while so to me its not hard to work with, a sujestion in making a projector would be making a inner chassy first holding everything set up in place, that way heat is absorbed by the chassy and a simple slow rpm fan can cool this, and then a outer enclosure where u hide all of the rivets, screws ect so it comes up nice on the outside, anyway thats my thoughts hope it helps u to some degree. Trev
heya there declined, well alloy is short for aluminium, better to call it alloy then typing aluminium all of the time lol.
Ok the paint u will need to use as for a projector is matt black, just standard enamel is fine but make sure it is matt, why? because we dont want any reflections on light inside on the inclosure to cause any abnormalities as in picture quality and for uv/ir on electrical components. There are other reasons why we use matt black, and a couple are the fact that matt black absorbs more heat than gloss black as gloss reflects light to a certain degree therfore not absorbing as much, another reason is matt black also absorbs ir light, black with a ir light is actuallly white and therefore with it being matt in surface structure it does absorb more ir light then if it was gloss, so realy we are using this matt black as kind of a filter in a way to turn light energy into heat, thus absorbing the stray visible light and uv while also absorbing as much as we can of the ir light source wich we all know is our main culprit for heat.
Working with alloy to me is just as easy with wood providing u have the right tools, but i am a technical/mechincal engineer and have been in this feild for a while so to me its not hard to work with, a sujestion in making a projector would be making a inner chassy first holding everything set up in place, that way heat is absorbed by the chassy and a simple slow rpm fan can cool this, and then a outer enclosure where u hide all of the rivets, screws ect so it comes up nice on the outside, anyway thats my thoughts hope it helps u to some degree. Trev
Thanks a lot!
Yes it actually helped me a lot ! I think I'll build an alloy case now instead of a wooden 🙂 I'm gonna "practise" -right now- in attaching rivets etc 🙂
do you also have any tips concerning this? or is it just basic stuff?
(hmm maybe the basic stuff is also hard for me since i never worked with alloy before 😕 )
Yes it actually helped me a lot ! I think I'll build an alloy case now instead of a wooden 🙂 I'm gonna "practise" -right now- in attaching rivets etc 🙂
do you also have any tips concerning this? or is it just basic stuff?
(hmm maybe the basic stuff is also hard for me since i never worked with alloy before 😕 )
Alloy
"heya there declined, well alloy is short for aluminium"
Just for info purposes alloy isnt short for aluminum.
Definitions:
1. A homogeneous mixture or solid solution of two or more metals, the atoms of one replacing or occupying interstitial positions between the atoms of the other: Brass is an alloy of zinc and copper
2. The relative degree of mixture with a base metal; fineness.
There are many different aluminum alloys as there are steel, copper, brass etc...
Im not trying to slam on you just thought you'd like to know
Doug (Ex aluminum factory QA and ex foundry QA)
"heya there declined, well alloy is short for aluminium"
Just for info purposes alloy isnt short for aluminum.
Definitions:
1. A homogeneous mixture or solid solution of two or more metals, the atoms of one replacing or occupying interstitial positions between the atoms of the other: Brass is an alloy of zinc and copper
2. The relative degree of mixture with a base metal; fineness.
There are many different aluminum alloys as there are steel, copper, brass etc...
Im not trying to slam on you just thought you'd like to know
Doug (Ex aluminum factory QA and ex foundry QA)
dnt32
Yeah u are right there dnt32 i suposed i shouldnt have used alloy as like stainless steal is an alloy but its just a slang in non technical terms for aluminium, atleast where i come from lol
Yeah u are right there dnt32 i suposed i shouldnt have used alloy as like stainless steal is an alloy but its just a slang in non technical terms for aluminium, atleast where i come from lol
declined
Well as for fixing aluminium together the best and easiest way is riveting, aluminium is also easy to bend compared to steel but will also take abit to bend when u start bend to over 250mm in lenght, another way for a frame is for corners in tubing to have 90deg brackets mounted on the inside of the tube and then riveted from the outside therfore hiding the bracket but u will end up with 1 tube with an exsposed open end, this we can over come by making a 45deg cut on each tube end and making a flat right angle plate and having that inside of the tube and rivet it on the outside if u know what i mean lol the only other ways to fix aluminium is double sided tape to panels on frame and welding weather that being a spot weld or a mig weld, eitherway there is always somthing , flash panel screws work well too.
Trev
Well as for fixing aluminium together the best and easiest way is riveting, aluminium is also easy to bend compared to steel but will also take abit to bend when u start bend to over 250mm in lenght, another way for a frame is for corners in tubing to have 90deg brackets mounted on the inside of the tube and then riveted from the outside therfore hiding the bracket but u will end up with 1 tube with an exsposed open end, this we can over come by making a 45deg cut on each tube end and making a flat right angle plate and having that inside of the tube and rivet it on the outside if u know what i mean lol the only other ways to fix aluminium is double sided tape to panels on frame and welding weather that being a spot weld or a mig weld, eitherway there is always somthing , flash panel screws work well too.
Trev
heh nice to see my case beeing so inspiring.
how did you get there declined? i assume you don't speak german, otherwise you would've asked me there...
in germany we call aluminium "alu" thats even shorter!
and it's not that hard to work with. i used a sting saw (have no idea if that's the right expression but it's a handheld electric saw which moves a small blade up and down) to cut the alu plates into the right sizes. the rest is manly makeing wholes and sticking rivets through them. screws are nice and makes everything convertible, but i don't trust them on a long shot. rivets keep tight and are "alu" also heh...
the heat was not realy my reason for choosing alu, i just was lucky enough to get those plates. i saw a german suplier on ebay who deliveres aluminium and other stuff. just look out on your ebay, there should be plenty of offers in the cunstruction material section or where ever...but could be expensive.
how did you get there declined? i assume you don't speak german, otherwise you would've asked me there...
in germany we call aluminium "alu" thats even shorter!
and it's not that hard to work with. i used a sting saw (have no idea if that's the right expression but it's a handheld electric saw which moves a small blade up and down) to cut the alu plates into the right sizes. the rest is manly makeing wholes and sticking rivets through them. screws are nice and makes everything convertible, but i don't trust them on a long shot. rivets keep tight and are "alu" also heh...
the heat was not realy my reason for choosing alu, i just was lucky enough to get those plates. i saw a german suplier on ebay who deliveres aluminium and other stuff. just look out on your ebay, there should be plenty of offers in the cunstruction material section or where ever...but could be expensive.
nitemare
sounds like a nibling tool or electric shear's, in most big industry places ie my work they use what is called a gulotine for sheet metal but for the home user well the nibbling tool, electric sheers or tin snips is about your best bet however u can cut aluminium tube and sqaure tube with a cut off saw with a tungsten blade, i wouldnt try this on sheet metal as it my grab and that means hospital with somthing missing from u lol
Trev
sounds like a nibling tool or electric shear's, in most big industry places ie my work they use what is called a gulotine for sheet metal but for the home user well the nibbling tool, electric sheers or tin snips is about your best bet however u can cut aluminium tube and sqaure tube with a cut off saw with a tungsten blade, i wouldnt try this on sheet metal as it my grab and that means hospital with somthing missing from u lol
Trev
It's about time people started talking about alloy cases... we're getting there. On the boards in china and korea they've been using alloy for a while now. (They set the standard for this project)
i realy love ... alloy. it's light, thin but solid and nice to look at.
unfortunately it's also expensive, if you don't have the right sources(wich i don't). the other stuff i used to hold it all together is mostly alloy too, except the corner pieces. everything's available in local stores. but big sheets are hard to come by. at least where i live...
cutting bars and other small stuff is simple with a dremel. i only have that and this other electric saw. i can't cut very straight with them but it works for me...
unfortunately it's also expensive, if you don't have the right sources(wich i don't). the other stuff i used to hold it all together is mostly alloy too, except the corner pieces. everything's available in local stores. but big sheets are hard to come by. at least where i live...
cutting bars and other small stuff is simple with a dremel. i only have that and this other electric saw. i can't cut very straight with them but it works for me...
my projector is now a aluminium cube, still some tidying to do but I will post some pictures soon. most details on ask impact 400 thread.
hi folks
building an alu case is not strong enough, take a look on your video recorder or dvd player or what you want
it has a base (generally made of steel) a front with buttons, a back with connectors and a plied piece of alu screwed on these. that's all !!
i've found "brushed alu" 80cm*50cm 0,5mmthick for 10$
you can cut it with a large cutter (need to pass 3 time on the same cut)
bye
building an alu case is not strong enough, take a look on your video recorder or dvd player or what you want
it has a base (generally made of steel) a front with buttons, a back with connectors and a plied piece of alu screwed on these. that's all !!
i've found "brushed alu" 80cm*50cm 0,5mmthick for 10$
you can cut it with a large cutter (need to pass 3 time on the same cut)
bye
moi
lol moi landrovers are made out of alloy lol it depends on what u do with it, where u put folds and what angles, fixtures u use, normal steel plate is weak too until u bend or weld it, with making a projector out of it u will need to make up a frame , and thats the main overal strength, the panels well are just panels to hide the insides, and that price u got on alloy there is exspensive i can get a 3mx2m 1mm thick sheet here for about 15euro and thats been powed coated too.
Trev
lol moi landrovers are made out of alloy lol it depends on what u do with it, where u put folds and what angles, fixtures u use, normal steel plate is weak too until u bend or weld it, with making a projector out of it u will need to make up a frame , and thats the main overal strength, the panels well are just panels to hide the insides, and that price u got on alloy there is exspensive i can get a 3mx2m 1mm thick sheet here for about 15euro and thats been powed coated too.
Trev
moi
aircrafts are also made out of it too moi, its a different grade but its still aluminium, ive actually work with it abit and i tell u its stronger than stanless steel, i tried to tap holes in it and it kept breaking taps thats how strong the stuff is , once its bent u dont bend it back, its like a spring lol anyway its off subject so i shut up for now
Trev
aircrafts are also made out of it too moi, its a different grade but its still aluminium, ive actually work with it abit and i tell u its stronger than stanless steel, i tried to tap holes in it and it kept breaking taps thats how strong the stuff is , once its bent u dont bend it back, its like a spring lol anyway its off subject so i shut up for now
Trev
wow! 15 euro??? but i live in germany, buhuu...
my plates are 2mm thick and pretty stable. ofcourse i have also a frame, but everything is holding each other together, i'm not a pro.
pretty stable though, better than a VCR case or such...
my plates are 2mm thick and pretty stable. ofcourse i have also a frame, but everything is holding each other together, i'm not a pro.
pretty stable though, better than a VCR case or such...
nitemare
ya i use 1mm thats all u need and some tubing thats got a 1mm wall thickness, as i said it depends on what u do with it for strength, anyway if u would like maybe abit later on as im busy i could send u some alloy cut to rough sizes u want so u could trim it up and thus keeping the package smaller, im not sure on the shipping though, i dont think it would cost much to send to germany surley, we are just down the road basically lol
Trev
P.S Leave it with me cos im getting hold of some fixtures that can help us out and not to use rivets so much and its stronger, faster and nicer, but get back to us on the alloy idea of shipping so i know what im up for in the near future.
ya i use 1mm thats all u need and some tubing thats got a 1mm wall thickness, as i said it depends on what u do with it for strength, anyway if u would like maybe abit later on as im busy i could send u some alloy cut to rough sizes u want so u could trim it up and thus keeping the package smaller, im not sure on the shipping though, i dont think it would cost much to send to germany surley, we are just down the road basically lol
Trev
P.S Leave it with me cos im getting hold of some fixtures that can help us out and not to use rivets so much and its stronger, faster and nicer, but get back to us on the alloy idea of shipping so i know what im up for in the near future.
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