The Makin' of a Case Safe/PSU combo

This will be the first of a series of instructables I will be making using old computer parts and electronics. I am not an expert so please bear with me. I am one of those guys that went through a lot of computers throughout the years and after upgrading to a new machine, the old one will be just there in the basement collecting dust. So, instead of throwing it out to add to the landfills, I decided to get creative and give them a new life.

In this instructable, I will be showing you how I made old computer hardware into an innocent looking safe. This will be a preview of the project and a complete breakdown can be found on my website.

Here's a video of the finished product:

Step 1: Bare chassis to work with

For the next few step, you will need a couple of tools to work the metal. Here is a list of tools I used:

• Dremel tool kit with cutting and sanding accessories (optional)
• Sand paper (a not too course grade)
• A hand file
• Hammer
• Bench vice
• Pencil or marker
• Tape measure or ruler
• Rivet gun and rivets
• Hacksaw

Comments

[pmn9393]

I hove to point this out, lol. If somebody is gonna rob your house, that's one item they're gonna take for sure, so not the best safe. But i have to admit, this is amazing build and instructable. However i wouldn't be hiding my valuables in it, maybe best for hiding things you'd rather people just not find.

[MrJentis]

Point taken. Well it serves my purpose, to store my electronic components, resistors, capacitors, etc.

[pfred2]

Is that an Intel P3? I still use one of those!

It boots up in 16 seconds flat too:

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/2250/wedoct27bootchart.png

[Kasm279]

What CPU speed is yours? I have a small P3 box that I can either put a 650MHz or a 1.0GHz on in...

[pfred2]

Mine is a 1 GHz. I'm not sure if I can put anything else into it or not. It is a Gateway E-3400 I was just running it earlier today. It seems to be having some technical difficulties lately. First it told me I only had 22MB of RAM so I pulled the RAM modules out of it and put a different one in, fixed that, now it is exiting its GUI X Window, whenever I run the one program I need to run on it.

Though oddly that program (EMC2) keeps on running.

I'm still going to have to figure out what is going on and fix it. It is kind of spooky because that program controls some stepper motors, so they keep right on whirring away, even though the machine is semi crashed. X Window crashes, but the rest of the machine doesn't. I can't even find the program on the process list, it is like a ghost in the machine! But if I restart the program it says it is already running.

This looks like it is going to be a very deep can of worms to dig to the bottom of to me.