VOGONS


First post, by Hamby

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Oldbie

I went on Amazon looking to see if I could find a decent small enclosure box for a raspberry pi project.
I came across this:
YaeCCC Electronic Enclosures Blue Metal Enclosure Project Case DIY Box Junction Case Enclosure Preventive Case (12.2" x 11.2" x 4.3")

I'm not sure if it's big enough in every dimension to put an AT power supply and x86 motherboard in; but if you can, it looks like a comparatively inexpensive solution to the problem of finding a case for my old motherboards (I've been holding onto a 286 and a 486 motherboard for ages, looking for an AT desktop case for them).
Some painting, some cutting, some drilling, maybe some 3D printing and I might have an appropriately retro looking case. And only about $22 US vs the $90+ vintage AT tower cases go for on ebay.

Reply 1 of 1, by BitWrangler

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You really want to allow 9" x 12" x 5" high to get in common baby AT boards with the cards and their brackets, so 4.3" is a bit low for that, you'll have to cherry pick cards that are a little below bracket height and de-bracket them, or use low profile cards and brackets. Then you've only got a couple or three inches width for PSU, you might get an NLX form factor one in there, with ATX to AT converter.

In general, if you want a yet to be specified build in THAT case, you can pull it off.. but for general casing of AT parts it's a bit tight, and a collection of parts you've already got might not be ideal for it. It's a get the parts that fit the case project, not a case that the parts easily fit project.

I don't know if I need to note that it won't take full length cards either, you need 14" for those and that's if the bracket is flush with the back panel, not inset. To allow an internal mounting rail and card holder rails at the back end, it's more like 15".... Also older boards, though still "baby" AT because they don't go on for another few inches past the keyboard hole, may need a full 14", particularly those like 286 with a lot of socketed RAM, or first generation boards of 486 or even Pentium, where they don't so much have a chipset as an extremely large set of chips.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.