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Project: EVGA Classified SR-2 Case

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Spotswood

Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2010
Location
New Hampshire, USA
I've been commissioned to build a very large wooden case to house his upcoming watercooled EVGA Classified SR-2 rig. This case is designed and built to run cool, quiet and be ultra-flexible for future upgrades.

EVGACase2.jpg

EVGACase1.jpg

EVGACase4.jpg



Note how the side panels are constructed as air ducts for supplying cool fresh air to the front and sides of the case:

EVGACase3.jpg


The walls will be constructed of 1.5-inch solid oak face frames with 5.2mm oak veneer plywood "panels" bolted to the inside of the frames and with aluminum "adapters" bolted to the front of the panels. The openings in the panels are sized to the largest pieces of hardware envisioned to be mounted in a particular location. The adapters could be exchanged with different adapters depending on what particular hardware is to be mounted in a panel opening.

EVGACase5.jpg



Here are the specifications and some of the features of this case.

Physical Characteristics:
  • External dimensions (HxWxD - inches): 44 x 26.5 x 35.5
Materials:
  • 3/4-inch solid red oak, 3/4-inch and 5.2mm oak veneer plywood.
  • .100-inch aluminum sheet and 1/8-inch aluminum angle, channel and rectangular tube.
  • 1/8-inch clear acrylic.
Features:
  • The side doors act as air ducts to supply fresh air from the bottom, top and back of the case to the front/sides.
  • Unique modular panel construction provides flexibility for the placement of drive bays, fans, power supplies, etc.
  • Mounting locations for two power supplies.
  • Air flow is: fresh air enters from the side/front and exhausts out the back.
  • The bottom case has two custom radiator holders for mounting up to four 140x4 radiators.
  • The case is actually two separate cases bolted together.
  • Removable ten slot motherboard tray.
  • Motherboard tray can be mounted in a horizontal or vertical position.
  • Powder coated aluminum.
  • Wood finished with black water-based stain and polyurethane.


The bracket to hold the two Black Ice GTX 560 radiators is a simple affair, consisting of some aluminum 1x2-inch square tubing and channel.

RadBracketModel.jpg

All of the pieces are held together with two long 1/4-inch threaded rods which act as clamps to hold everything together. The ~4mm tall acrylic bumpers get compressed down to ~2mm to keep the radiators in place:

RadBracketBumper.jpg

RadBracket1.jpg

RadBracket2.jpg

All of the aluminum bits will eventually be powder coated gloss black.
 
Some serious real life events have kept me out of the shop most of the week. However, I did manage to create a couple of patterns which I'll use to router out the holes for the 5.25-inch drive bays:

DriveBayTemplates.jpg


And I built a jig to guide my plunge router to router out the 3/16-inch slots in the 5.25-inch drive bay rails.

OpticalTemplateParts.jpg

FinishedOptialJig2.jpg

OpticalJigCleat.jpg


A full size drawing is taped to the .10-inch thick aluminum to guide the placement of the jig.

OpticalRailsAl.jpg

FullSizeDrawingOnAl.jpg


Two sets of stops are used to accurately position the router at the beginning and ending of each slot.

FinishedOptialJig.jpg
 
Last edited:
Fabrication of the 5.25-inch drive bay rails continues. After breaking all 3 of my 3/16-inch woodworking router bits I ordered some standard end mills and they have performed awesomely. Because they are run without any lubrication I needed to keep the feed rate really slow.

RoutingSlots.jpg


After many hours I managed to complete 28 out of the total 35 rails for this case.

10BayOpticalDriveRails.jpg
 
Tired of routing all of the 5.25-inch drive rails, I switched to fabricating the PSU(s) mounting plate:

PSUPlateModel.jpg


I made a router pattern for 5.25-inch drive cage.

PSUPlateOptical1.jpg


And routered out the .10-inch thick aluminum.

PSUPlateOptical2.jpg


The round corners were filed square.

PSUPlateRoundCorner.jpg

PSUPlateSquareCorner.jpg



Another pattern was made for the two PSU mounting holes:

PSUPlatePSUTemplate.jpg



Here's the plate (it still needs to be trimmed to its final width):

PSUPlate.jpg
 
Wow. So people will pay to have custom computer/cases built? That would be a cool job.

If you don't mind my asking, what is the future application of this computer, and how much are you making it for?

I saw your other cases, and they all rock.
 
Wow. So people will pay to have custom computer/cases built?
Yes.
That would be a cool job.
Yes it is. I'm a very lucky guy.
If you don't mind my asking, what is the future application of this computer, and how much are you making it for?
Size wise, the only case that comes any where near the size of this one is the MountainMods Ascension, but that case is just 6 pieces of aluminum.

EVGACasewMM.jpg

This case is very modular and has air ducts on three sides. Therefore, the price of this case is very reasonable considering.
I saw your other cases, and they all rock.
Thanks! :rock:
 
Next up were the two internal mounting plates for triple 140mm case fans.

TripleFanPlateModel.jpg


Another aluminum part requires another router template/jig. A 140mm fan was sacrificed for use as a router template:

140mmFan.jpg


3/4-inch aluminum flat bar was epoxied to the fan frame to keep it nice and square.

140mmHoleTemplate.jpg

The fan housing was used as a guide to route out yet another full size jig. The jig was placed over a double layer of .10-inch aluminum sheet and routed out with a 1/2-inch flush/pattern router bit.

TripleFanJig.jpg


The finished cuts require zero cleanup (filing/sanding).

TripleFanPlate.jpg
 
Now that I know how wide the widest plate is, the PSU mounting plate was cut to width and mounting holes were drilled.

PSUPlatewAMountingHoles.jpg


I'm really proud of how well this turned out.
PSUPlateCloseUp.jpg


Another plate requires yet another router jig.

OpticalPlate.jpg

OpticalPlateJig.jpg


Both plates were routed out of one big sheet because the big sheet is easier to clamp to the workbench.

OpticalPlateJigInUse.jpg

BothOpticalPlates.jpg

FinishedOpticalPlate.jpg


A test fit:

OpticalCageMockup.jpg
 
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