Bulletproof PC Case


Not our typical fare, but I can’t resist. [RCarter] is building a PC from scratch with a single unique feature – it’s designed to be bulletproof. Apparently, when it’s done he’s going to take it out back and teach it a lesson. Right now he’s more concerned with shock-proofing the hardware. Most people do this sort of thing at the end of the PC’s useful life.

29 thoughts on “Bulletproof PC Case

  1. When he first started the thread on our site I was like “Ah, OK just some thinking out loud”, but when the armor plating came out I knew he was serious!

    It has been a pleasure seeing this system being build and I can’t wait for the video of them shooting the heck out of it!

  2. Well, if someone wanted a 2 ton washing machine sized computer this is the way to go. Not only could you shoot at it and expect it to work afterwards, you could damn near drop a sherman tank on top of it and it would bounce off.

    If this thing fell down a flight of stairs……it would crush, mangle, and or destroy every step it encountered and when it reached the bottom the staircase would be thrashed. If you hit it with your car doing 75mph youd still have a working computer but also a really messed up car. i am SURE it takes no less than 6 people to carry it or move it or even budge it….um….if you are gonna make a computer into a tank u should maybe put wheels on it.

    Personally i think making a 2 ton computer is silly—-like making a 2 ton bulletproof candy apple or a 2 ton fishing pole; when all the hard work is done and its the end of the day….NOW what will you do with it?

    Stub youre toe on it at night, thats what. Big lunky 2 inch thick piece of STEEL ROAD PLATE for a base…..i mean……Why not just make the whole thing out of road plate and then not only is it bullet proof, its also acid rain proof, ocean proof, armor piercing bullet proof, bomb proof, vacuum of space proof and midget proof?? I mean…..where does the madness end?

  3. The plastic used to make a mac may be used in bullet proofing, but I seriously doubt you’d take your mac out and shoot at it and still have a working machine.

    I’d have to live in a pretty rough neighborhood to want to bullet-proof my pc. I can see some combat situations where an armored machine would be useful, but I think it’s much cheaper to use a client-server topography and have your clients cheap, easily replaced terminal laptops rather than armored, two-ton road blocks. Though it would be something handy to hide behind.

  4. lol, well it doesnt have to be 2 tons to be bullet proof, there is this metal that is pretty light (for metal, its not like 2 pounds) that is bullet proof because it is a magnet and when the bullet is shot it spikes up and the bullet hits it and cant get through..

  5. @13:
    Ok, would you rather go on a rollercoaster 15 times, or get hit in a near fatal car accident?

    sure, it may bounce around, but shouldn’t be hard enough to actually knock anything.

    Also, considering the weight of the machine, its not going to move much anyways.

  6. I really don’t get the point here.

    Beyond the obvious fact that this is a utter waste of time and materials, if you really wanted to build a machine that can withstand serious damage and keep running, this is not the way to do it. Why does he have optical drives and hard drives? Why not use flash media? Why not encase the motherboard in foam (with some creative cooling, obviously).

    But then, I guess trying to find logic in such a project is equally pointless.

  7. Thanks for the comments ya’ll!

    I’d like to address some of the comments and concerns.

    Yes, this is silly. That’s the point. How many times have you wanted to shoot your rig for whateve reason? We feel the same way. Now we can.

    There is no logic involved in this. We are doing it because we can. We have the materials and the tools. That is enough for us.

    An “utter waste of time and materials?” I think not. Virtually all of the case materials used so far are salvaged from various jobs. We have opticals and harddrives because if we didn’t, we’d be called out for being sissies about this whole thing.

    The worklog gets updated at least every couple of weeks. In fact, the last of the parts that need to be mounted to the chassis should be in today or tomorrow, so look for an update in the next couple of days. Armor work should be starting before the end of the week.

    Thanks again!

  8. You’re probably not going to need to suspend the drives. From the weight, I don’t think the thing is going to move that much. The isolators on the bottom will deaden any shock a bullet will transfer that the armor doesn’t absorb.

  9. This isn’t “unique”.

    There are common off the shelf systems that have this feature. Look for NEBS Level-3 systems. Intel even makes white-box versions.

    One of the tests for NEBS Level-3 certification is to take the equipment out into the field an shoot at it. This is to ensure that when some drunk hunters start taking pot-shots at the systems after they’re deployed in the field, the cell tower or whatever they’re controlling continues to function.

    This is definitely cool though.

    (What’s the deal with the comment form not allowing perfectly valid ‘+’ characters in the user portion anymore? There are standard regexps for validating e-mail addresses, yet people insist on re-inventing the wheel…)

  10. I agree with some of the others about the springs, with a case that heavy, bullet impacts arent going to really move it, so all the hdd mounts have to do is deaden the shock caused be one sharp jolt, in which case short soft rubber armatures would probly work better. Not to mention, if it does move, as it will durring transport, deppending on the stiffness of the springs, the drives may end up bouncing up and down like crazy.

  11. @14 any hit hard enough to damage the drive the springs really aren’t going to prevent anything, but on what i’d call a softer hit (still a hard hit) the springs will cause more damage then help the situation.

  12. Wow, for a bunch of hacking enthusiasts i’m amazed at the closed-mindedness being displayed here.

    The guy has been pretty clear about its mission and that it’s done tongue-in-cheek.

    _now_ let’s nuke it from orbit.

    -or build a cruise-ship out of it …or something.

  13. @6:

    Absolutely right. I have an old broken G4 tower and tested the theory. M1 Garand at ~50 yards put a hole straight through both sides. Wanted to try a longer distance but I can’t aim worth a damn.

    But I’ve got a cool case mod now. :D

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