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Modding Shelfuter - Computer in a Shelf 6th Jan

Discussion in 'Modding' started by j-a-c-o-b, 6 Jan 2013.

  1. j-a-c-o-b

    j-a-c-o-b What's a Dremel?

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    Shelfuter

    Shelfuter is my first mod pretty much, you can't really class a side panel mod a mod because of how easy it is. but anyways.

    I do have some joinery experience of course, and a step dad who works with stainless steel anyways pics below

    [​IMG]

    Ok, the wood here is just simple chipboard, When I built the shelving I wasn't particularly going for anything fancy. So I will be putting wood at the back there and to the right all the way to the bottom of the shelf, I don't fancy showing much of the wall.

    [​IMG]

    I will be covering over the screws you can see to the left. I will possibly get my step dad to make me a mobo tray as well as pci slots and the I/O. but we'll see

    [​IMG]

    I will fill in the gap at the far bottom right as well. and cover the screws over. I aim not to have any visible screws in the wood

    [​IMG]

    So your aware, The shelf to the right is also exactly the same as it is to the left of the TV, it's an absolute mirror image apart from the shelf to the left being 2 cm smaller in width. I just haven't included it in the picture for some reason.

    So yeah, dimensions.

    height: just under 640mm
    depth: a foot, just over 300 mm
    width: just under 400mm

    So I have a fair amount of room to play with.

    Part 1 will be putting my hardware in (hardware below)

    GA 970A-DS3
    AMD FX 6200
    2x4GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600MHz
    Powercool 550W PSU (changing hopefully for a 650/750W PSU from corsair)
    AMD 5750 GPU (changing hopefully for a 7870 in Crossfire)
    90GB Corsair Force GT 90GB SSD
    1TB HDD, 320GB HDD

    Part 2 will be watercooling it

    All blocks will be from EK, blocks will be the CPU and the GPU, both plexi.
    480 alphacool rad (either the 30mm or the 45mm)
    Bitspower fittings (shiny silver) and res
    laing D5, most likely the mcp655.
    Mayhems for sure, Probably go for blue
    Not fussed about tubing, might go blue or clear, I'll make my mind up when I cross that bridge :)

    Part 1 won't take long, just need money and time, could probably get it done in a couple of weekends

    Thats pretty much it

    Constructive criticism welcome :)

    Thanks

    J-a-c-o-b

    EDIT 1 (9th Jan): Added SketchUps

    [​IMG]
    As you can see in this photo, there is a gap at the back, this is to help with cabling, the very back area is the wall and the next bit is the wood. There is just under a 4cm gap there, but I have not compensated for the thickness of the wood, just because I was lazy, but the wood thickness won't be more than 2cm. The gap won't be visible from this angle in real life of course. This was just for visual purposes.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    EDIT 2: I passed my driving test today, at the end of the day this means I'll have spare money now for my PSU near the end of this month. I think I'll just tell my mum my current one has died.
     
    Last edited: 22 Jan 2013
  2. spolsh

    spolsh Multimodder

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    Interested to see where you go with this.

    Are the components all going to be exposed ?
     
  3. j-a-c-o-b

    j-a-c-o-b What's a Dremel?

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    Most of them will be yes, apart from possibly the PSU and the hard drives (apart from the SSD) which won't be on show, as I believe these aren't worth showing.
     
  4. OcSurfe

    OcSurfe Uber Noob

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    ditto,
    very intruigued by this,
    keep going mate, has good potential
     
  5. j-a-c-o-b

    j-a-c-o-b What's a Dremel?

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    Added Sketchup Ideas plus my idea explained more. Will also add another sketchup with my PSU and HDD/SSD mounting idea.
     
  6. exiled

    exiled What's a Dremel?

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    first before saying its a good idea for space i would tell you by your pictures i'd reenforce the shelf it already looks like its bowing hate for you to build it and all your components fall when the shelf gives way when you factor the tv and xbox already are giving the shelf a strain to hold them. like doesn't have to cost a lot but maybe a 2x4 to the bottom of shelf or a metal brace would do it
     
  7. j-a-c-o-b

    j-a-c-o-b What's a Dremel?

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    I agree, it has being suggested elsewhere that I put a battern in for extra support, seems that you have also suggested I think it would be a good idea to do something about it.
     
  8. exiled

    exiled What's a Dremel?

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    np happy to help
     
  9. j-a-c-o-b

    j-a-c-o-b What's a Dremel?

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    Hoping to get started a week today, it might not happen, but we'll see.
     
  10. j-a-c-o-b

    j-a-c-o-b What's a Dremel?

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    Going shopping today for the wood and a bit of timber for extra support

    edit: to bit-tech staff, this will need to go into project logs section now.
     
    Last edited: 19 Jan 2013
  11. j-a-c-o-b

    j-a-c-o-b What's a Dremel?

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    Update:

    When I went to a mates house to get an old case, I was lucky to find he had a case with a removable motherboard tray, which has made things so so so much easier. Brought it home and gave it a wash, smelt of smoke a bit, I think I might spray this as well, because it's got a few scratches and I'd prefer a matte black finish.

    [​IMG]

    Yesterday a lot of progress was made with the shelfuter. I purchased a 600mm by 12mm by 1200mm MDF board (tried to find something better but this will be strong enough.) Bought two long pieces of wood, not MDF board, got some natural stuff for this. It's 1.8 meters by 35mm by 35mm. Also got some hinges, a door handly thing and a padlock (only because it looks epic and when locking it, it sounds awesome).

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I cut a piece from the MDF board to make the door, It fits in the door space literally millimetre perfect. I also cut another bit of wood to screw the hinges to. The screws that came with the hinges are about 2mm too long, so I'll use a spacer or 2 to fix that.

    [​IMG]

    I had a huge amount of trouble getting that out after getting it in

    [​IMG]

    I realised earlier that this was kinda unnecessary, but the door has already being cut down a bit to compensate. It doesn't matter too much to me though honestly. To fit the MDF board in, I had to cut part of the chipboard that supports the top right, I cut like 2cm off it to fit in on. I'm not actually using that PSU there btw.

    After this I then cut some more MDF board to put to the back of the shelf. This again ended up being millimetre perfect as usual. I then realised I was routing cables behind this, (which I discovered would be VERY VERY difficult to do once it comes to building the PC). I decided I'd get the long piece of wood, and cut two 40cm bits to go to the top and bottom.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    This has left a big 3cm behind the wood for cables, should be enough, may even route tubing behind here its so big. I don't quite know why but it looks a fair bit bent, It would be because of how tight it was, this shouldn't be a problem.

    [​IMG]

    Here it is with it screwed together and back in place.

    After this, I realised the distance between the PSU and where the door would sit was like 9cm. So I cut another bit from the wood so I could slot the PSU into it and also not have the wires hanging out as they are now.

    More updates to come later today (this was all from yesterday)
     
  12. j-a-c-o-b

    j-a-c-o-b What's a Dremel?

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    Update:

    Below is the PSU in place with the cutout for the 24pin and the 4pin to be hidden behind the wood out of site. I may consider getting a new PSU, but this has lasted 2 years this Feb plus 550W is enough pretty much. I have considered getting something better, but the GPU is more necessary to upgrade. The line above the PSU is where the bottom of the motherboard tray will be.

    [​IMG]

    I found this old HDD cage from an old case. This no doubt will be sprayed matte black. A hole will be cut at the back just behind the HDDs for the HDDs. You can also see the new wood for the hinges, this stuff is working so much better

    [​IMG]

    Here is the door from the front, I'm not too happy about having the hinges visible, it could of being done where the hinges are on the inside, but the screws I used were slightly too big, and came out about 2mm on the wood. I'd prefer for the screws to poke out on the inside rather than the outside. So that's why you can see the hinges. You can also see my drawing for the window, the section at the bottom will be mesh, there only the PSU and HDDs (not SSD) to be seen here which aren't too interesting to me. There will also be a mesh section at the top. In the middle will be the window which will have the entire motherboard visible.

    [​IMG]
     

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