DIY cable tidy box made of metal

[mmoalem]

Hi all - have a question re building a cable-tidy box. 

I have seen few of these on amazon and they are all made of plastic - I would like to have one or two to stick in computer cables, a small ethernet switch a mains power strip and possibly couple of raspberry pis i use as servers. I thought metal box would be better for dissipating heat and was planning to turn couple of metal filing boxes into cable tidy boxes with ventilation holes drilled on top and sides. But the fact that all the ones I seen for sale are made of plastic made me wonder if there is an electrical issue with a metal enclosure... It might be down to manufacturing cost  as I know a typical PC case is made of metal but just wondering if there is more to it than just cost and will I need to ground the boxes and how (in typical home environment)

cheers

Michel

 

[Blue Duck]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=adaptanle+box&oq=adaptanle+box&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l3.4991j0j7&client=ms-android-h3g-gb&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

 

[mmoalem]

thanks but I guess I did not describe it properly - it needs to be much bigger and stand alone - this is a plastic one on amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hama-Maxi-Cable-15-6-Rubber/dp/B00GRP4HDI/ and this is the type of filing box I want to re-purpose https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000RGR4EW/

The main reason I was going to use metal is worrying about the heat generated by the PIs servers, the small external HD connected to them and ethernet switch 

 

[Blue Duck]

You can get them in a variety of shapes, sizes and to suit different environments.

http://cpc.farnell.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?catalogId=15002&langId=69&storeId=10180&gs=true&st=Adaptable box

You could also get a heatsink to suit or a cooling fan, the possibilities are endless.

http://cpc.farnell.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?catalogId=15002&langId=69&storeId=10180&gs=true&st=Heat sink

 

[mmoalem]

thanks for the links - I see what you mean but these too come in galvanised steel or plastic (at least on some other sites) so If I used one of these 300mm x 300mm boxes free standing on a wooden floor with various bits inside including main power strip - is there an advantage for metal or plastic in terms of safety? if one of the power adaptors inside catch fire will metal be safer? and if I use a galvanised box will I need to earth it and if so where would I wire it into in a home environment? will an insulated wire to a radiator be a good idea ?