Squadfers first wooden case

Hey guys, well during this Christmas break i'm planning on making a custom wooden case for my gaming machine.

Reasons why I'm choosing to use wood:
1. Gives me a project to do over the Christmas break while at my parents house.
2. No case on the market will fit where I want to put this case.

Right now my gaming rig is sitting inside a CM609. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this case, it does its job very well. I'm replacing it because I'm going to be building a file server and I'm going to be using the CM609 for that job.

Here is where I'm planning on putting the new case.

Its going to fit on top of the right side of the desk, where the monitor shelf and the top of the desk meet. I built that desk summer of 09 as a project to do while at my parents house.

Here is the plans I have for the computer case drawn up in Google's Sketchup.
Front side:


Back side:


This design allows me to put the PSU/HDD/SSD/fan controller/dvd drive in one little compartment to isolate them from the actual heat producing parts.
The bottom portion will have 2 80mm fans, 1 will be a blue LED intake on the front under the fan controller. The other will be a plain jane exhaust fan. My bed sits right on the edge of the desk where the computer will be located and I don't want to have lights right in my face right there. The PSU is going to be raised up a bit so that the 120mm fan at the bottom of it can have enough room to suck air into the PSU and blow it out the back. Also, the power/reset buttons will be on either side of the 80mm fan in the front.

For the top portion I'm planning on having 4 120mm fans, 2 of them will be red led fans for the intake (the two in the front). the other two will be exhaust fans and probably be plain jane 120mm fans for the same reason as the the 80mm exhaust fan in the bottom compartment. In the drawing there is a 120mm CPU fan + heat sink (fan isn't included in the drawing, just the heat sink). And two GPU's (aiming for two 6870's). My question is, Should I add another 120mm fan on the left side of the case (the side next to the monitors) as an intake fan or do y'all think the setup I'm planning now will be enough to cool down 2 GPU's with a slight overclock (if needed) and an amd 720 BE with unlocked 4th core overclocked to 3.5ghz.

I'm going to be using 1/2in MDF and I'm planning on doing a Black mirror finish for the outside of the case and the inside of the top portion of the case. The idea of doing a red mirror finish for the inside of the case in the top portion just came into my head so I'll also be thinking about that idea... I'm going to be using some clear lexan for the top of the case and the front of the top portion, these will be removable and they will be the way to access the goodies inside. To get to the goodies on the bottom portion you will need to take off the left side panel (this part is opened in the drawings).

The locations of the two red led fans on top will be determined by the actual placement of the GPU's, the idea is to have 1 blowing directly into both of them while keeping a unified look (same distances on each side of the fans). Also this design allows me to easily work in cable management, the only cables that will be visible will be the fan wires and the necessary wires to get everything working. I do know that the I/O plate for the motherboard isn't in the drawings but that is some thing I will cut out when I have the exact measurements. Same thing for the GPU/sound card cutouts. Just imagine that they are in the drawings .

Let me know your opinions on this setup .

Also, if the black in the drawings make it hard to see the form of the box let me know and I can change the colors back to the original blueish-grey.

Looks like a legitimate design. The air flow would be decent at the least. Get a good CPU cooler and you should be fine. And yea, the black does make it a little harder to visualize.

Tips: its easier to make 120mm hectagone style. easier to cut than circle (if using a jigsaw)

Here are some more updated drawings. I decided im going to go with a blue inside color for the bottom and a red color for the inside of the top portion. I also added a motherboard tray that leaves a 1/2in gap so that I can pass the wires from under the motherboard tray.

Here is a picture showing the hole for the wires to pass through and the gap from the motherboard tray. (this image is from under the motherboard tray)


Here is the bottom portion of the case.


To take the motherboard tray out there are 4 screws that hold it in and then you slide the tray towards the red LED fans half an inch and then lift up.
Here is a top view of the case.


Here is the top/back view of the case.

That lip at the front of the case near the lexan panel is there to hide the gap that the motherboard tray makes when looking directly at the front of the case. And I also decided to add the extra 120mm fan on the side of the case, wouldn't hurt to have 1 extra fan... Im running 9 120mm fans inside my CM609 right now lol...

Here is the front shot of the case. Again the front red led fans will change positions left to right depending on where the GPU's line up, I want the left fan to be blowing directly on both GPU's if at all possible. There vertical position is about where I want to keep them.


Here is a drawing showing that the motherboard tray goes through the back, hence why it will be required to move the motherboard tray 1/2in towards the led fans to take it out.


My plan for the fans are to use a hole saw to cut the holes for them. The squares were just easier for me to make.

kk. ithink its 4.5'' hole saw for 120mm fan.

Hope everyone had a good christmas this year. I know I made out like a bandit. Scored 2 6870's for my gaming rig (the computer thats going inside this case), 2 2tbs samsung hard drives for a file server that im in the process of making and a bunch of goodies to complete my smoothwall box/network

Heres the goodies:


And the goodies that are going inside this new case. This is with the new 6870's installed:


I should be starting on this case some time within the next couple of days.

Started on the project today. Got all the pieces cut and then i started drawing out the outlines for the wholes to cut into the pieces. Then I started making the motherboard tray and got to glue a portion of it together before I called it quits for today.

Heres half the pile of pieces


Heres the biggest pieces inside my room getting everything ready to cut for tomorrow. (still need to draw out the slot for the motherboard tray in the back panel and the PSU hole)


And here is the beginning of the mother board tray.


Hopefully by tomorrow i will be done with all the cutting and have the majority of the case being glued up.

Update:
Got the big pieces of the case being glue up right now. Also got the motherboard stand offs being epoxied. Had to call it quits for today a little bit earlier then i wanted to due to having to run an errand to my apt which is an hour away from my parents house...

Heres the pics.

motherboard standoffs being epoxied to the motherboard tray


Heres the case being glued up. Still need to glue in the middle divider (part that the motherboard tray sits on) the top piece that is in the picture but its not glued (its just there to keep everything squared) and the bottom piece.

Looking great! Glad to see it coming together

NICE! Subscribed, looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Didnt get much done today due to having little time and having little to actually do that I could do...

Finished gluing up the majority of the case today. Only piece that is left to glue is the very bottom piece. Reason why Im not gluing this piece right now is because I need to have room to fit my drill inside the bottom portion so I can drill holes for the hdd/sdd mounts, the dvd/fan crontrol mounts and the holes for the PSU standoffs

Heres the case as it sits right now:
looking from the front.


looking from the top.

looking from the back.


and here is what my gaming rig looks like right now....

not ideal... but it works since i dont want to put everything back in the old case just to take it all out tomorrow.

Looking from the picture of the computer you cant tell its on expect for the blue on light on the case lol.

Small update.
Spent today running around to stores to get the last of the parts needed to finish building this case. While at the stores I was looking for 3in and 4.5in hole saws for the 80mm fans and the 120mm fans. I decided not to get these cause just getting those two items would cost more then how much money I have put into this case so far...

Here is the progress I made today.
Front view


Back view


That clamp you see in the pictures is just there so that the case wont fall over since the majority of the weight with the hardware on top is on the side that is suspended (the video cards)

Lookin' good! Nice smooth cuts there!

Update time.

Finished the bottom portion of the case today. This involved creating mounts for the DVD/Fan conroller, and the HDD/SSD. Also glueing the very bottom piece to the case as well. I also cut out all the fan holes in the wood which wasnt to bad with the jig saw... A lot better then spending so much money on a hole saw.

Well heres the pictures

Everything inside the bottom portion, it is tight but it all fits .


Heres an image showing the hole under the motherboard tray with the cables going through it.


Heres a collection of pictures showing how the case is sitting right now.
Back view.


Front view.


Inside the bottom portion with everything out of it besides for the mounts.


Tomorrow I will start sanding and hopefully be able to cut out the plexi glass sheets.

Update.

Finished sanding the case down and also got the plexi glass cut and filed. I also started on priming the case as well but for some reason my camera saved those pictures as black images...

Time for the pictures.

Front side with the plexi glass on, these pictures were takin right before I filed down the plexi glass and started priming the case.


Right side.


Back side.


Left side.


Tomorrow there shall be color on this case. Depending on how fast it dries the clear coat might also be painted on.

Very very nice! I like it. Inspires me to create! haha, good job man. Can't wait to see the final product.

The quality on this build is outstanding. Most of my mods and builds look nothing like this!

Good job!

good quality work man!

update.

Got the painting finished tonight. Im letting the case sit downstairs over night for the paint to fully cure. I do have the motherboard tray up stairs with me being used and since I havent shown a picture of the motherboard tray with the goods on it I thought it was about time to show it.




Tomorrow my shipment from newegg with the new red led fans and sata cables is coming in. Im hopeing to be done with the project by tomorrow night or by thursday night.

Aight guys and gals, the case is finally finished . My next mod will be sleeving and getting rid of the unused power connections from the PSU but that wont happen for another two months or so.

Here are the pictures
Inside the bottom portion. The SSD got moved to above the DVD drive instead of being on top of the HDD like it is in the picture.


Pictures before I turned it on to make sure everything worked.



Here is a picture with the lights off and no flash to show the LED fans.


Picture of the front with flash with the computer on.


picture from the top of the case.


The computer right now is sitting on the floor because the desk that this case was designed to fit onto is at my apartment an hour away from where i am right now. I will take a couple more pictures when the case is in it new home.