Modern consoles bring joy to televisions around the globe, but they’re fundamentally mass-produced totems to gaming excellence. That wasn’t good enough for [Matt], who decided that his PlayStation 5 needed a total case makeover. (Video, embedded below.)
The material of choice is brass. Capable of being polished to a mirror-like shine while being readily workable and available, it’s perfect for making a PlayStation 5 look just a little more deluxe. While [Matt] has worked with brass before, replicating the PS5’s case in the metal pushed him to learn new skills. The main center divider was easy enough, with paper used to create a cutting template to match the form which bends through 90 degrees. The real challenge, however, was the side panels. With complex curves across several axes, manually bending metal plates to match the shape proved impossible. Instead, a custom wooden and plaster jig was made, onto which brass plates could be clamped to match the curves. A blowtorch was then used to release the plate’s internal stresses in a process called normalisation.
[Matt] does a great job of making the whole thing look easy. With that said, the final results are stunning enough that we’re sure it would be difficult to replicate without a lot of experience and attention to detail. In particular, the deft way the side panel clips were dealt with had us nodding in sage approval. The final console makes a great companion for the brass-housed monitor [Matt] created for his [DIY Perks] channel quite recently. Video after the break.
Recently? He’s been making videos for 9 years on youtube, might not of all been under the name DIY perks, but I’d swear he’s been going a few years at least?
(is the google sign in for comments broken for anyone else?)
And this shows why I can’t read ;)
Or maybe the grammar is wrong, I’m not wrong, I’m never wrong on the internet!
Nobody’s ever wrong on the internet :)
You’ve got to give it to the man, he makes our 3D printed part smoothing look like child’s play compared to what it takes to get this level of quality. Sure, it’s not very “hack-ish,” but there are still a few good nuggets in there–like using the paper to create a curved, 2D template of a 3 dimensional object. Considering there isn’t much to do with a PS5 right now with its lack of games, this looks it would be more of a challenge than finding one in the first place. I’m seriously interested in what he meant by “polar opposite” at the end, I would have thought the plastic parts is where that other pole existed in the first place but I’m guessing he’s likely going to put the console in a different case entirely, maybe even something wooden like he’s done with the enclosed computer desk.
The only problem with polished brass is fingerprints.
Otherwise it is absolutely perfect here. What a beautiful case!
Clear varnish can help.
Yes, but eventually it wares off your fingers and you’re back to square 1. Better to electrify it and discorage repeated poking.
IMO the problem with brass is people who can’t leave it unpolished to develop a nice patina :-P
But patina or artificial ageing of brass only really looks awesome when the surface is detailed.. Such flat perfect smoothness doesn’t really suit that look.. So now he needs to engrave the whole thing, wonderful patterns, important technical details etc, so then in 20 years time when it starts to really patinate it will be really really pretty!
ooh shiny!!