Tech project

[chimpy]

Hi. I currently take 'Product Design Technology' at school (I'm 16), and I have to decide on what I want to make as my project. We have wood, metals and plastics available, and tools including scroll saws, sanding machines, band saws etc (I don't know if they're the proper names, but that's what my teacher calls them ).

I was thinking about making some sort of computer case (ATX), for a medium spec computer, out of some sort of hardWOOD (not metal, would be too difficult, I imagine). I just wondered how feasible (sp?) this would be. I'd imagine the ATX holes/standoffs for the motherboard would be kinda difficult to impement, but if I could get it working,I think it would get me a great result (A!).

I have built my current computer, and it'sworking perfectly, but that's about as far as my hardware experience goes. I have NO experience with 'dremelling', or ANY sort of modding at all. Reckon I could still do it? Any advice/thoughts are extremely welcome, thanks.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: chimpy
Hi. I currently take 'Product Design Technology' at school (I'm 16), and I have to decide on what I want to make as my project. We have wood, metals and plastics available, and tools including scroll saws, sanding machines, band saws etc (I don't know if they're the proper names, but that's what my teacher calls them ).

I was thinking about making some sort of computer case (ATX), for a medium spec computer, out of some sort of hardWOOD (not metal, would be too difficult, I imagine). I just wondered how feasible (sp?) this would be. I'd imagine the ATX holes/standoffs for the motherboard would be kinda difficult to impement, but if I could get it working,I think it would get me a great result (A!).

I have built my current computer, and it'sworking perfectly, but that's about as far as my hardware experience goes. I have NO experience with 'dremelling', or ANY sort of modding at all. Reckon I could still do it? Any advice/thoughts are extremely welcome, thanks.

Shouldn't be too bad. I managed to mount an old BX board in the bottom of a mame cabinet with a few minutes work. So long as you can line up the holes and make decent joints, it should be fun. Study the design of the case first and plan, plan, plan.

:beer:

 

[chimpy]

Thanks

Got any more tips/advice or anything? Like, any links to similar projects, or any sort of help, no matter how small? I need all the advice I can get if I'm gonna embark on this 'adventure'

 

[fire400]

it's not impossible.

find parts that you know will work well.

mainframe: steel, plastic parts, aluminum, diecast, whatever

type of chassis according to size: b-atx, mid-atx, server tower, etc

holes for screws, basically a drill tool to run through your metal so the board can be mounted with screws later on

the back panel and surrounding areas: fan grills, I/O plate for motherboard connectors, drive bay openings, shevles for HD's or potential integrated water cooling kits

side window? surface quality, decals? paint? glossy coats? sticker stick quality?

any doors? will it have a panel to open up?

power supply mounting?

power buttons? LEDs? modding with lights?

weight? how heavy of materials will it support?

chemistry 'n physics, will the computer be grounded? open areas?

wheels mounted on the bottom? stands? tabs to hold the comp in place and sturdy standing?

there's a website about all this stuff with greater detail, but I'm too lazy to find it, I'm sure you'll come across it on a web search. companies also sell this kind of stuff. there are acryllic cases that are see-through (clear) that require you to assemble your own case.... But I heard are a pain if you need to extract the motherboard, terrible terrible. but it could be a fun experience.

don't get washed up on the wrong shore though, you can always find a case for 20 bucks including shipping.

I mean, even compaq cases are pretty sturdy, and they have really crappy MSI motherboards in them, lol~ the new HP mobos come with PCI-e graphics card slots available, wonder how well they'd house a 7800 with the PSU they have in them, lol

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Several case builders with pics of thier projects can be found at http://www.silentpcreview.com/


...Galvanized

 

[chimpy]

Thanks.

GalvanizedYankee, that site is perfect, thank you. I found this - it's exactly the sort of thing I'm looking at making, but I doubt mine will not turn out anything like that

Thanks again, and keep any comments coming in.

One thing I was wondering about - 'grounding' the components - cases are made of metal so any static etc gets discharged to the ground, right? Well that wouldn't happen in a wooden case, would it? Would I need to trace a wire from each hard drive and CDROM going towards a grounding point? I'm not very good at this!

 

[So]

Originally posted by: chimpy
Thanks.

GalvanizedYankee, that site is perfect, thank you. I found this - it's exactly the sort of thing I'm looking at making, but I doubt mine will not turn out anything like that

Thanks again, and keep any comments coming in.

One thing I was wondering about - 'grounding' the components - cases are made of metal so any static etc gets discharged to the ground, right? Well that wouldn't happen in a wooden case, would it? Would I need to trace a wire from each hard drive and CDROM going towards a grounding point? I'm not very good at this!

Use metal screws to support your motherboard...then, solder ground wires from a couple of those screw heads to somewhere grounded, like say, the housing of the PSU.

 

[chimpy]

^sol...der? I have no experience of soldering at all, and tbh I wouldn't know where to find a soldering gun, or trust myself with one, especially near any computer hardware! I guess I can somehow stick it on, though... hmmm.

*thinks*

computers + wood = heat heat heat!! Would this be a problem? I would probably buy some really cheap parts to put in it (Athlon XP, 512MB RAM, cheap but stable motherboard etc). Would they be okay, or do they tend to give off so much heat that a wooden case wouldn't really be possible?

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Everything is grounded to the PSU and it's properly grounded three prong wall plug

Even the IDE and/or SATA cables are grounded to the mainboard. OK!
It is a good idea to ground the HDD housings.

...Galvanized

 

[chimpy]

so the whole grounding/static thing isn't a problem at all?

Heat is my main concern now then!

 

[bigstrickler]

Look into different types of woods and stuff. Also you can drill out holes and place in case fans too...

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

For your drooling pleasure http://www.waiteworks.com/case1.html The guy that builds these is a member at http://www.techimo.com/ His user name is Knothead.

For even more drooling pleasure http://ecogeek.org/content/view/62/1

I would register over at SPCR if I were you.


...Galvanized

 

[fire400]

Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
For your drooling pleasure http://www.waiteworks.com/case1.html The guy that builds these is a member at http://www.techimo.com/ His user name is Knothead.

For even more drooling pleasure http://ecogeek.org/content/view/62/1

I would register over at SPCR if I were you.


...Galvanized

lol...

 

[chimpy]

thanks again GalvanisedYankee. I don't expect mine to turn out ANYwhere near as good as any of those, but it's something to aim towards. Main problems are time, tools, and the materials I have available to me. I shall register over at SPCR

 

[Bobthelost]

While you're here:

Soldering is where you melt a metal called "solder" and use it to make a permanent (well, you can remove it but it's a bit of a pain) connection to another wire or bit of metal.

Heat and wood is not good, but you're not going to be heating the wood up to anything near the point where it'd burst into flames. Think about it, the hottest part of a computer is the CPU and GPU, neither of which are in direct contact with the case, neither of which will go above 80*C (unless you've got an X1900XTX)