Oak ProjectMost people have a list of things they would like to do before they die. I happen to have a rather long list and thus it must be broken down into sub-lists. One such list contains computer related items:
Seriously, I have been pondering about building my own custom case for many years and have just recently had the time, effort and materials to do so. It all started with a junk computer case given to me. Someone had taken advantage of the lonely case and stolen the power supply and 3.5" drive cage (mounted in the cage was the computers hdd and floppy). The biggest problem I faced in building a custom case is the mounting the motherboard and cards. This is where the lonely case came in. Using a drill and jig saw I managed to remove the equivalent of a removable motherboard tray from the old case. This allowed me to create a wood enclosure and not have to worry about the exact mounting of the motherboard and cards. The choice of wood was my next decision. I looked around at a few local lumber stores and found that I could use pine (too inconsistent, no thanks), particle-board (better to work with, but no thanks), plywood (reasonable price, a good choice) or a hardwood (expensive but the best choice). It happens that I have a friend that owns a cabinet shop; so I stopped in one day to inquire how much he would charge for a few pieces of custom cut high quality plywood. Would you believe he was having loads of computer and network problems at his store? A long story made short, I received all the custom cut oak and finishing products in exchange for helping him with his problems. Not bad saying he wanted $90 for the oak I used. Note: Please understand that the tools I had access to were sometimes less than adequate but I managed. I had a 3/8 drill, jig saw, dremel and hand tools. That’s about it.I had 6 pieces of 14"x14"x1" solid oak with 45 degree beveled edges cut. I then stalled for a week or two because of the fear of messing up $90 worth of oak. Finally I got up the nerve to assemble it into a cube. I am not going to go into how I accomplished this, but it was very difficult. As you can see in a few of the pictures, I got it pretty close but not perfect. I used 1.25" wood screws to hold the cube together. This makes it very strong but also difficult to disassemble. Note: There are 10 screws per side, except on the top. Roughly a month went by before I could set aside time to work on the oak project. When I finally found time again, my first job would be to cut the motherboard and power supply holes in the back of the cube. Upon finishing, I was rather pleased with how it was all coming together. This gave me the fuel to finish the project. From there I cut the 120mm fan hole in the back, the three 5.25" bays in the front and the hole in the front for the switches. It was time to seal and finish the oak. I again stopped by my friend’s cabinet (he also owns an adjoining paint store, how convenient). I picked up some water-based polyurethane and a brush and I was on my way. After sealing all the individual pieces, I assembled them back into a cube and put a on finish coat. I was almost done, just one more obstacle. Making a 5.25" drive cage. I put much thought into the problem with no avail. Then a friend suggested I use Plexiglas. But of course, that would work perfect. Many hours later, after fighting the brittle plastic, I had created a working drive cage. And folks, that is the short and simple version of my oak project.
Notes - Updates - PicturesNote: I created a common ground plane by connecting all the drives and motherboard tray to the power supply.Note: What's in the box
Note: The case has two 60mm intake holes cut directly in front of the motherboard tray. One has a grill and the other will soon. Note: I am not too worried about emi emissions (yes i know they can cause problems). If need be, i will work on it. Note: This project was a lot of fun. It is my first custom computer case and most likely will not be my last. One thing that is nice about the oak case is that it is mine. No company mass manufactured it. Nobody told me how to achieve the final project. And nobody can bash it cause it is not perfect. I can say these things because it is my custom oak case and I like the way my first custom computer case turned out. Note: I hope this short article has given a few geeks the idea that they control how their computer looks. If they want to modify their case, then go to it. If they have the means to build a totally custom case (from anything, even stone), then they should give it a shot. I personnaly think that the worst looking case is the one left original. Thanks for reading and have a nice day.
Here are a few pictures The light does not do it justice. The satin finish turned out very nice.
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