Scratch Build – In Progress Project: GALLUZZO-I < 2 Aug. update: Swithes >

hello everybody, first post for my first heavy mod. I've been modding a little before this project, but nothing serious just little things on my past computer cases.

​

The goal of this project is to build a system that has to be:

• nice looking overall with a wood-white-steel theme with some black details in it
• silent and easy to clean
• effectively air-cooled

list of all updates:

• update 1 - fan holes
• update 2 - the interior top
• update 3 - mobo tray (part 1)
• update 4 - the front tray (PSU, HD's)
• update 5 - the DVD burner support
• update 6 - the 3½ drives slot
• update 7 - the case feet and cover-support
• update 8 - the intake grill and dust filter
• update 9 - case fans and front panel
• update 10 - top grill and fans test
• update 11 - the front panel and power button
• update 12 - mobo tray (part 2)
• update 13 - the logo
• update 14 - painting
• update 15 - side windows
• update 16 - neon test 1
• update 17 - PSU enclosure
• update 18 - sleeving part 1
• update 19 - sleeving part 2
• update 20 - first system test
• update 21 - Sponsorship package
• update 22 - Thumb screws and PCI slots
• update 23 - Sleeving and pass-trough

[WALLOFTEXT]
...
[/WALLOFTEXT]

first things first: a big thanks to GANZAROLI for accepting to sponsor this build with generous discounts for wood and tools in their shops!

dont want to bore you more than that, so i'll start quickly with some updates of the past weeks, building the main structure of the case etc...

first : cutting straight edges into the 45x45mm silver fir laths, went pretty well afterall... would have been better cutting with a circular saw (which i dont have)



more cutting (the system is 100% ghetto-style but effective afterall)



base assembled with 4 M6x120 screws



assembling the 750x44x14mm silver fir back-panel



M3 screws and 20x20 L steel support



preparing the back-panel to be mounted ont the base



back-panel mounted



cutting the 750x180x14mm side-panels out of bigger slats



side panels ready to be assembled



side panels on with no back panel (had to check the exact size first and make minor adjustements)



lateral and back panels installed together



top panel (exactly the same as the bottom one, adapted for an opening door)



closer look to the top



there it is, the main structure complete, this is the rear view



and the front view



with the small door on top



enough for now, more updates very soon!

 

Looks like a nice idea Will be watching.

P.S. You may want to resize your pics a bit, i guarantee people will comment on the size of them

 

​

update 1 - fan holes (list of all updates)

the goal is to create a straight airflow from the bottom of the case to the top, the idea for now is to dust-filter both grills (intake and exhaust) with some foam for different reasons: the intake simply dust-filtering, the exhaust for noise dampening. But i will think more about that in the weeks to come, i'm not even close to that decision now.

the airflow should be something like that:



i will try to balance intake and exhaust cfm in order not to cause a different pressure between the interior of the case and the room ambient.

i bought some random metal sheet 500x200x1mm (sorry for the terribad picture quality, i'll try to fix that too asap)



holes drawning



me cutting the holes with the rotary tool (it's not a dremel but i used dremel cutting wheel)



result after the first edge polish



positioning on the bottom panel (i removed the wood, it was useless)



preparing the top door (the 2x 140mm fans will be mounted on the door itself)



door cut



ready to be screwed



door ready



i had to cut the hinges because they were too big for the fans to fit in



door mounted



global picture with the door open



and with the door closed

 

will do, thanks

 

​

update 2 - the interior top (list of all updates)

with the remaining part of the second 500x200x1mm steel sheet i decided to cover the last part of the interior top of the case, just to give it a more "finished" allure.

so, obviously it's dremel time again! yay



in position



screwed with the door closed, edges are not perfect but i'll fix that later wit the file



final result



thats all for now, more to come soon!

 

Looks good so far, I'll definitely watch how this project goes.

 

​

update 3 - mobo tray (part 1) (list of all updates)

there we are, it's tray time! here is the thing: i needed a clean surface to place the mobo, the hard disks, and all other stuff. it had to be:

• smooth and clean
• white (i want to give the system a white-steel-wood theme overall)
• easy to cut, drill and to work with

so the best choice i could make was perspex of course! plus this gives me some bending-options to use if needed.

there it is, 500x1000x3mm white cast acrylic sheet, 500000 mm² of stunning white beauty
... meh, okay it' not so white with the protective layer on, but i know this will be gorgeous when naked



but first things first, I cant just put the perspex on the wood, i want to make some mechanical-system to hold the sheet in place, then I'll screw it all the way in.

I chose to use the two side wood panels to fit and secure the acrylic on the back of the case, so I had to make a minor design schedule to have the joints to fit in the proper way.

drawing the cuts, you can see autocad open in the background, sorry for the picture quality i have to find a better camera, this one just cant do it





fist hole cutting with the jigsaw, this one will be for the optical drive.

Yes i know i know it's vertical it should be horizontal, but face it, nobody use cds and dvds anymore, i use steam for my games, and when i install an OS i use a pen drive because it's faster. so basically i'm just putting that in if i EVER had to use a cd once in the coming years



and the second one too, this one is for the PSU cable, switch and exhaust grill



the whole panel (the little hole at the top will be for the cables coming out of the MB



detail of the joints



and the joint on the left panel (it's the small cut on the right side of it) it's just 3 mm deep so it's barely visible ok, but it's there trust me... here is a detail



wel now it's seroius perspex time, i drawn the edges and the holes on the sheet like i did with the lateral wood panels, now on place ready to be cut

some clamps will help me have that done with no harm (for me or the acrylic)





first cut



round cut for the 120mm fan pushing air on the back of the mobo



first edge polish with the file, but the jigsaw cut was pretty good itself



and there it is, nice and clean. i could not expect the cut to be better than this, i'm really happy actually



file polish detail



parts ready to be assembled (suspense)



and yes! this worked perfectly! the acrylic is perfectly trapped inbetween the wood structure, no screws were needed to hold it in place!



detail of the joints



view from the back of the case



up to date, the case in all it's glory



that's it, more updates soon (i hope) i'm waiting for some standoffs to come from hong-kong, it's a pretty long trip to Italy but i hope i'll have them in the next week!

 

Looking good so far.

You may want to attach fan on top door and see if you have clearance to open, looks like it might be a little tight

 

cool work man,

shake out my wood project http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=215392

 

ha you caught me

you are perfectly right, but the door is only for plugging cables in the mobo (HDMI, mouse, keyboard and stuff) so actually i dont care if it cant be fully opened, i just need a little room to work in there and then close the door til i have to move the computer or change some peripheral

wood is the way great work in there too congrats!

 

thanks, wood

 

​

update 4 - the front tray (PSU, HD's) (list of all updates)

i'll make the front thay with a piece of perspex, the original idea was to screw it on the side panels, but i watched some videos on youtube of people bending acrylic and decide i definitely had to give it a try.

before the bending, the cutting. before the cutting, the drawning





the cutting (sorry my big head is covering a part of the work, daddy took the pic)





the tray ready and waiting to be bent!



an heatgun bending test, went pretty well and really straightforward: clamp it, heat the external side being careful not to melt it and finally bend it.



now the serious part, the tray in position



removed the protective film



ready, heated, bent! (the little melting you see is only the protective tape dont worry)



pretty good result, i'm really happy with it



and in position, again, no screws were used to hold it in place: i just used the joint with the wood on the right side and slided the left side in place





detail of the joint from the back of the case



from the inside





thats'it, i'm still waiting for the standoffs to come from hong-kong, unfortunately i just realised that i ordered the wrong ones i asked for the 14 mm and should have gone for the 18mm... meh, i just hope the short ones will do the job as planned(more details in the next posts)!

 

looking good but 45x45mm seems quite the overkill too me but thats going to be a sturdy case indeed

i'm myself sketching on a wooden case in a "raven" style with the 90'C tilted mb

 

wooden cases are awsome, and mixing it with white acrylic almost cant fail

Great work so far mate

 

I agree, this will be a very sturdy case, but I don't really care as long as I wont be moving it a lot

I promise I'll try not to fail to keep your statement true, thanks for support!

 

Looks awesome! I've wanted to build a PC case for a while now, but have been put off because I suck at metal working.... I never considered wood as an option. I might do now!

 

​

update 5 - the DVD burner support (list of all updates)

well guys, it's time again for some steel in there, I have to make the support for the DVD burner, and as always I want it to be 100% mechanically assembled; in all the project I want to use glue only if I really HAVE to, there is no comeback from glue

so, the hole in the side panel is ready from previous mods, I just need the support itself, first let's grab some metal



tape + basic drawings and dremel will do the rest



I want to make an U-shape so I'll need to bend the sheet in two places, this is the first bending setup



a good push for the first fold and then some nice hammering



ah, the hammer... what a powerful tool



second fold went very straightforward, here's the result



drilling pilot holes



i want the screws to be on par of the metal sheet so I'll have to push the head in



some good hammering and there it is



final result



then i moved on to the acrylic, drilled some 10mm holes to allow all the screw's head to go all the way in and fix the support flat on the acrylic itself



in place



just a test with some random CD reader I had



and view from behind



the case up to date with the front tray in place again



there we are, I made a big order yesterday from caseking, an other one for a led momentary switch from an ebay dealer in UK. i hope I'll be going on some more before all orders arrive!

 

Nice work L1U, you've got some impressively neat jigsaw and dremel skills

 

You should make sure that your GPU is pushing hot air out, I think some may pull cold air in which might mess up your zen

 

thanks! i hope my work can be inspiring for yours! and good luck wood-cutting

thank you very much, this means a lot coming from you!

actually all air blown to the gpu heatsink from it's own fan will stay in the case, the thing is I will try to keep a good air recycling in all the case at all moment so I hope this wont be a problem