diy open layout build with some exquisite scrap wood(w/ images)

hello,
i tried posting this thread on another site but i guess because i did not have any questions it was neglected=/ in an effort to help validate my time on the project i will try again in a forum that seems more receptive to modification and the diy lifestyle.

caveat: i tried my best with my phones camera so please excuse the lack of resolution; thank you.

wood details
the woods used are as follows; old growth long leaf pine, curly maple, spalted curly ash, mahogany, cherry burl, and blood wood.

the long leaf pine was reclaimed from previous houses, barns. rough dating of some of this wood is 400+ years old; figure 1800 building's and 200 year old tree.
some pieces of long leaf pine have over 50 growth rings per inch.

the curly(tiger) maple has been sitting in the barn for 15+ years. i enjoy the character of the wood and try to use it where ever i can before more bugs destroy it.

the spalted curly ash is a from a tree on my father's property that came down during hurricane irene in 2011. it pained me to throw any of this tree away and i was happy to use some of its arguably less desirable wood in this project. the two pieces used on the long sides are book matched; just a saw blade separates them from another.

the mahogany was laying around and felt like adding another "classy" species of wood, if you will, to the project.

the cherry burl was given to me from my neighbor after i helped him out on a project. i let the wood dry out over the last several months and turned the pedestal on a lathe. using this piece for this project was bitter sweet as i feel it could have made a beautiful reel seat for a fly rod as well; i also cut off some amazing character that was too small to use for other projects =/

image trying to show the character in the cherry burl pedestal and some curly maple visible in the sides of the dvd drive box.

the blood wood was used for the same reason as the mahogany but with the added purpose to break up all the tight lighter grain of the long leaf pine.

truth be told the joints are far from perfect and there are other blunders i care not to mention. wood working is difficult when you use many tools and they are all not calibrated perfectly. i am happy to have created this project with wood some people had written off.

some other angles of the complete build

i tried to give the wiring a rhyme or reason; i braided what i could and wrapped the other wires together to join them.

i will likely de-solder(sp?) the wires i have wrapped around the top of the power supply after i have the computer up and running properly.


reset and power switch's below the power supply


hardware details
evga 660gtx video card
amd 6300 (plan to overclock to about 4.3)
coolermaster t4
pny 240 gig ssd and regular 160 gig hard drive from an asus netbook
asus m5a97 le r2.0 motherboard
g skill sniper 8gigs of ram
corsair cx430 power supply
asus dvd drive

i plan to buy another 8 gigs of the g skill ram when my rebates all come back. if i go this route i will need to trade my current coolermaster heatsink and fan in as they will not allow me use my ram slot closest to gpu. please private message me if you would like to trade in a couple months.


this build was inspired as an htpc, for streaming chess on twitch and using solidworks 3d cad software.

if you have any questions i will do my best to field them. thank you for your time.

Very nice build randomlylogical. I have also considered a nice cabinet style wood case for my PC's.

One suggestion for the wiring is to sleeve your wires. It's a fairly common practice with system modders if your not familiar with it. Here is a nice job of one in a very small case.

Looks very nice man.

Blaylock said:

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thank you for your compliment and feedback.
when you do build yours please try to limit your variables; e.g. pieces of wood and properly calibrated power tools. the wood i used helped pull this project off as it keeps the eyes busy and then focused on the standout piece within. this helps most eyes overlook some of the unacceptable glue lines.

i did like the way that wiring looked. maybe one day i would pull all the wires and do something similar. i like the idea of using all the same wire color; i recall reading about a college formula sae race car build using the same color wire to reduce costs, encourage people to never assume +/- and reference schematics.

for the time being i will tolerate the controlled chaos; or randomly logically solution ^_^

rayraysfunhouse said:

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thank you! it is not perfect but i am happy to have made something with the free resources i had.

for the record the computer is up and running well now. it made it about an hour before she was overclocked. it might be a little premature but i think i am closer to being one of you all now; it is ok'd to 4.3 like i wanted.

Lol it gets addicting. I had my 6350 at 4.3 for all of maybe 30 minutes. Then I wanted to see how far I could go.

Nice and compact

thank you. the computer is running fine. i see no reason to push the overclock any more as i am not sure how much i even needed it in the first place.

the wood frame has developed a couple more flaws from exposing the end grain and also the moisture content of the wood further reducing. as much as all these flaws bother me i do not see me making another one to fix these flaws anytime soon.

since i posted the above images i have also finally cut out the wires i wrapped around the top of the power supply; i think they were the old style large 4 pin plugs...looks a little cleaner.

I am in love with the cherry burl !!!!!

that's a sweet looking build.

I love that mount for the dvd drive. very sexy 60's space age **** going on there.

makes me want to whip out some of my myrtle wood pieces and go to town but they are slated for other projects...
going to drive up and get more in February so still....maybe

caddi daddi said:

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thank you for the compliment! i have at least two other projects i was able to salvage from the burl. i may get some updated images to show some of the beautiful figure some of the wood has.

Niku-Sama said:

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i am green with envy... from what little i understand, seems like figure often comes from stressful situations the trees live through. variables like tough winters, growing in tough soils on rocky hillsides and variable winds tend to produce stresses which in turn can produce beautiful figure in the grain of the wood. i would be interested in seeing some of the more common figured woods that come out of the pacific northwest as they are foreign to me.

i am actually going to use the 45 degree cut offs of the reclaimed old growth long leaf pine for a gun stock i will build. tough for me toss any wood. i will also have pieces of cherry burl and spalted ash burl in there as well.

as for the computer i have be bitten by the bug. i will be trying to push the oc on air a little more. i will take the fan off the stock amd heatsink and aiming it onto that large heatsink on the motherboard(not sure what the name of the component the heatsink is for, vrm thing, northbridge thing???, i do not know=/) as it seems like from what i have read i should try to get more airflow over that when i push the oc a little more. i am going for 4.5 but will only really stop if i can reach 4.6. i will keep and eye on temps and may tune to the seasoned vets here for some more advice. i will never need this oc as i never use the 4.3 it is now. just trying to have fun and learn something along the way.

thank you again for all the compliments!