Clear Case Owners

[iggybaseball]

This is a question for owners of clear cases. I am going to build one but want to know about grounding the parts. how many of u have made clear cases and havent grounded anything an everything works fine?

 

[Iron Hawk]

I dont own a clear case but this is what i know:

if your parts are not grounded they will work fine until a possable power spike hits, then you could have trouble. Just to be safe I would run a cable from the ground on the powersupply to the case siding of all of your devices.

 

[Robbiem01]

can you explain a little more about how to hook up ground to my clear case. Run a cable from where to where? I'm confused. Also, how can I CUT (not MELT) plexi. I use my dremel but it melts it (looks fine but smells horrible while melting.)?

 

[Tbird man]

well if your makeing a stright line you can score and snap. to ground your components all you need to do is run a wire from your ps case to the anywhere on your drives and from the first drive to the next in series. for the mobo run a wire to the standoff mounting hole. if you make metal drive cages you only need to ground the cage. same if you use a metal mobo tray.

 

[Iron Hawk]

If you cut at a very slow speed you could cut it without it melting. solder a piece of cable to the outsid of your PSU and sonder the end to the case of your CDrom Drive, HDD, FDD, Etc.

 

[Iron Hawk]

Tbird Man beat me to it, and he has correct information.

 

[Tbird man]

personally soldering is a little too perminent. a simple bolt and round or fork connector should work fine.

 

[TT120]

I have a clear case and have not grounded anything other than the grounding that the power connectors that go to every device does. It works just fine.

 

[kd7aze]

While not as big a problem in the digital age what do you do to protect against RFI with a plexi case?

Kid

 

[Acko]

Even if using a clear case it could have a basic chassis frame from an old case (All panels, top & bottom stripped off) this would be ideal for earthing all components & give you no problems with extra drives etc. at a latter time. It would really look smart if painted in a contrasting colour showing through the plastic.

Acko

 

[tft]

My clear case has never had a problem. The only thing is, that I built mine with screws instead of gule. The screws on the bottom reach the desk, so it's always grounded. Anyway, I think screws are much more durable, and easier to disassemble the case with than glue

 

[orangezero]

i would recommend having the people at the hardware store cut it for you. if they screw it up, don't buy the piece.

if you already have it, well, the snapping method worked okay for me. i also tried to use my dremel tool but the ends were never quiet straight like i would have liked.

 

[SpeeDj]

If you look at your ATX Connector from you PSU you will see that most of it is of grounds, and as TT stated all your power connections to every drive have two grounds, as well as your power cord to your PSU has the main ground to your house current. The only concern of clear cases is EMI that I am aware of. You have no need to keep redundantly grounding something that is grounded many times over.

Just my two cents

J

 

[iggybaseball]

so since the psu grounds it do i even need to use spacers or can i just screw the mobo to the case?

 

[SpeeDj]

so since the psu grounds it do i even need to use spacers or can i just screw the mobo to the case?

If you are referring to standoffs yes you always want to use standoffs just to be safe. Other than that you should be fine.

J

 

[iggybaseball]

If you are referring to standoffs yes you always want to use standoffs just to be safe. Other than that you should be fine.

J

thanx

 

[CJ145]

Also, how can I CUT (not MELT) plexi. I use my dremel but it melts it (looks fine but smells horrible while melting.)?

Try using a roto-zip. Other companies make simmalar ones called different names. Ot is fairley easey to cut if you go slow. It also leaves prity nice edges but I still would sand them down.