Urgent materials needed for Science Challenge?

Question

for a science challenge I am making something which would contain hot metals and wires with wires coming out of it. Does anyone have any suggestions on what material I should use which doesn't get very hot when hot water/metal is inside it, which is easy to get hold of, (easy to make into a certain shape), is easy to cut into an finally looks robotic (ie some type of metal or clear material?) so it looks good not rubbish!
note: i would be willing to cope if a material cound't some some of the above things but it must be able to do the first, second and possibly even the third)
Thanks!

Answer 1

Obj. 1. an insulator good to 100 deg.C, such as Styrofoam
Obj. 2. a common workable material, i.e. aluminum or wood
Obj. 3. robotic looking. shiny metal (aluminum) or a metallic paint finish

You could test the concept by putting a foam coffee cup inside an aluminum beverage can. You might be able to strip the paint off the can, or repaint it, or cut it down the side and turn it inside out. (Careful, don't cut yourself).

MP

Answer 2

If holding hot metal is the most important part I would recommend modeling clay. It holds heat well, and you can make it thicker if you're going to hold 'really' hot stuff. Also you can shape it to any size/ shape you need.
As for making it look good, so far I've had two ideas. First , get a 'robotic' metal canister from any source. I would send you first to an office supply store for a 'trendy' pen holder or trash can (depending on size you need). Then you can line it with the modeling clay. Just think ahead about 'can the canister handle the kiln to dry the clay, or can you make the liner removeable?'. my second idea is to keep the shape relatively simple, then cover it in carbon fiber. you can get carbon fiber from a RC modeling store, or maybe a place like Autobacs that deals in customizing cars.
Another direction is to craft it out of acrylic. Acrylic sheet is easy to find. you can buy it, or find something large made from acrylic at the swap meet. Acrylic can handle hot water fine, hot metal maybe (depending on how hot) and it is easy to assemble with CA super glue.

Answer 3

What temperature do you mean by hot metal?

If the water inside is still water then wood would provide insulation, then you could stick some thin sheet metal on top to look good.

Otherwise many plastics (think of a kettle) would help and metal with outer layer to prevent heat conduction could also work.

The world is your oyster.

Answer 4

I know you asked for a material, but If you have an old computer tower lying around somewhere, you could use the casing for that. It's made to have electronics in it, and it probably looks robotic. If you know your tools you could probably do some cutting and screwing and custumise the shape.

Answer 5

you need to rethink this and get sucsinct in the question format