So I’ve been pondering this idea for a while now, trying to decide if it would work or not.
I work at a precast concrete plant, and basically have access to all the 'crete i’d ever want.
We all do little projects here and there from making tiles for walkways etc to small counter tops and such. You’d be surprised how much concrete can look like granite, given the right treatment.
So the though is this… Build a form for making a box. and maybe one for the face. (This might not be do-able as it would have to be too thin) In order to make holes for buttons, all you have to do is insert block outs where you want them to be, and plugging in the buttons/joystick would be a snap.
Obviously the case would be heavy as all fuck, but If it comes out like it looks in my head, it would be pretty sick. Not really a lap case per say. I estimate that the whole thing would probably weigh 20-25ish pounds.
As far as I can tell, the smallest stone You could use would be 3/8 agrigate, and generally you’d want the thickness of the piece to be double that at least for strength, otherwise it might be too brittle.
I feel like I can make a good argument for how this would work in my head, but the reality might unfortunately be much different.
Yeah I figure there would be a lot of hurdles to overcome…but hey, we make giant parking structures, stadiums, dormitories…
Shouldn’t be that hard right? I’ll get to work on some rough plans this weekend.
In my opinion, having the faceplate be stone would be the ultimate in sexy sticks, however I’m gonna focus on just making a box for now, as I think making the stick is going to necessitate a bunch of inserts and such. If the concrete is too thin, it will eventually crack, even If I use hardening agents in the mix. Of course I could be totally wrong. There’s only one way to find out!
Probably not for travel or serious comp, but it would look hella cool sitting on your coffee table!
Bad idea, last week my stick fell off my CPU unit (where I should never have left it in the first place) while I was passing and a corner went straight into one of my foot-thumb. It hurt, but it didn’t hurt as much as if it had been made out of stone.
Out of curiosity, could you post a pic of this granit-look you mention?
Well I don’t think it would crack, but thin concrete is fairly brittle. The plate would have to be a least an inch thick (my estimate…possibly more)
Reason for this is because of the aggregate in the concrete. Less agg means less character. Even if I could make a thinner one, it would just look like normal poured crete…which is not really that cool looking.
As far as the ball top goes, Possible yes, practical? No. You would basically need to make a block, then grind it down to a sphere. Its out of my range of capability unfortunately.
C’mon man! Pain is pride!!!
Yes it would be smooth. Think polished granite. although it probably won’ be shiny. more like a matte finish i guess. The process is basically:
Make a mix with a bunch of aggregate (little stones). You vibrate the mix after its in the form which gets all the air bubbles out. If you vibrate too much, the aggregate sinks to the bottom. This is desirable for the finished face because once you take it out of the form, and flip it over, you grind down the face, and basically go through the same process that is used to make granite shiny IE a crap load of sanding and buffing till its smooth. don’t think its possible for me to make it shine, but I’ve seen the work some of the guys have done and it does look pretty cool.
