Aluminum Thermoplastic sheets

[Herc130]

I was/am considering buying a mountain mods case or making my own. I was going through adding up material cost with shipping included and it would seem that as expensive as mountain mod cases are, me buying material to build my own is going to run over $300 (getting enough 1.5mm+ aluminum sheets shipped to me is the killer). However I found these in Lowes locally

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=89091-82801-L69-08&lpage=none


24"x24" sheets of two thin aluminum sheets sandwhiching ...some kinda shreaded plastic material. Can't be much worse then using wood. Wondering if anyone ever used it for a build, how much worse the thermoplastic ruins the heat transfer compared to straight-up aluminum sheets and if there is any better/cheaper place to buy aluminum sheets online then Macmasters? Also, considering I will be watercooling and using tons of fans, does the case material really matter in regards to heat?

[Lurid]

Doesn't really matter in regards to heat, so long as you have adequate case airflow.

[Herc130]

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, still cost over $130 to ship and @$150ish for the sheets..and thats before adding on any tubing. Found these guys

http://www.fastenal.com/

and they have locations all over the USA, including 3 in Oahu and as far as I can tell ordering anything online and having it shipped to their store front does not incurr any shipping fee's.

A 4'x8' .063" (@1.6mm) thick sheet cost $138 or maybe go with the .05" (1.27mm) thick sheet for $105. Not too bad, if you are careful and plan it out, one sheet of 4'x8' should be enough to make one case the size of an MM Ascension. Better still, I found that my work no longer uses 6061 grade aluminum sheets and these sheets are open for personal use. Think we have nearly 20 sheets of 4'x8' 6061 in various thickness, but mostly .063" :)

I must admit I was actually hoping to find the cost of making my own would be so great, I'd have an excuse to get an MM. But it now looks like pure dollar cost is probably going to be $100 or less, which is a cost I am willing to spend on a DIY project that could end in a pile of useless material. Unfortunately I am going to the mainland for school for a couple weeks, hopefully there will still be enough material left when I return. Playing with sketchup now to figure out exactly how I want it set up...which is going to be a near copy of the MM Ascension with horizon mobo and trinity front.