Project: Media Box - WOODEN SHELL COMPLETED 24th March!

PROJECT: Media Box

Updates:
20th March 2005 (CD-RW Mounting)
24th March 2005 (Wooden Case Completion)

============================

OK I haven't thought of a decent name for this project yet but I'm determined to before too long. For now it's just "Media Box", however. Suggestions for names are welcome!

The aim of this project is to ultimately give me the opportunity to keep my computer case on the floor out of the way. All parts that need to be accessed (for example, the CD-RW, the power/reset buttons, USB ports and Memory Stick reader) will be mounted in an external box, and that is exactly what I'm building in this project.

Anyway I'm sure nobody actually reads these bits so without further ado, let's get building. I'm not a big planner so haven't got anything worth posting here. You'll just have to wait patiently and see where this goes

I got my old DT teacher to cut me some wood. I would have done it myself if it weren't for the fact that I couldn't find any of this stuff anywhere. It's similar to the stuff Eddie the Dane used on his VesperDeco HTPC (which incidentally is a big influence for this project - hope he doesn't mind too much!)


The dimensions for this, by the way, are as follows:
80x264x240mm (widthxheightxdepth).

The first thing I got to work on was the CD-RW drive which I picked up on eBay. I took off the front panel, and the drawer, and gave them a few coats of Vinyl Dye which I picked up off USAuto.



I also set about cutting and painting a small strip of plastic:



Sorry this isn't the best pic in the world. I painted the back of it to get a nice mirror finish. This is going to be stuck to the front of the CD-RW's drawer - more will be revealed later

While I had the plexiglass and the jigsaw out I cut a small rectangle out.



As you can see from what I'd written on the protective covering, it's a mounting plate for the CD-RW. While the cuts might look rough actually they were just about perfect - something I was quite impressed with as this is my first time using plexi and I cut it freehand

I drilled 4 holes in it using this piece of pine as a guide. The trick is to use a twist bit and have it going at full speed *before* it even touches the plexi. The wood allowed me to line it up and get it to full speed.



The next thing to do was to mount it to the bottom of the drive:



It took a couple of attempts to work out which way I had it when I marked it out but eventually got the holes to line up and used standard CD-Rom mounting screws to attach it.

After reassembling the drive and connecting it to my computer...it worked!! I was worried I'd have messed up somewhere and broken the drive but I had no problem writing a CD with it and subsequently reading data from it.



NOTE: Anybody who comments on my very nice wallpaper will be subjected to public ridicule Actually I haven't been living in this house long and haven't had the chance to do this room up. It will happen!

I've got to pop to the hardware shop tomorrow to pick up a few bits so you can expect an update on Sunday hopefully

 

Looking good...

Are you just going to trail the cables needed (IDE and power) out of the back of the box and down to the computer? (if you've already said it...then I'm going blind)

Also...nice wallpaper!

 

Actually I forgot to explain about that.

I'm using a USB CD-RW caddy that I've gutted for its parts (you can see it in one of the pictures above) which will be connected to a USB hub mounted inside the box. The USB ports/card reader will also be connected to this.

As for power, I'm going to use a length of Cat5 cable which will supply power for the CD-RW, the power and reset buttons, and the power LED (8 wires in all, perfect eh?) I plan to fabricate a PCB to place inside the computer itself to connect to the power connectors etc on the motherboard.

Thanks for the wallpaper comments as well

 

Ah right, I'm with you now.

Might have to make one of these myself.

 

Wow, it's not every day that you give someone else an idea like this

 

You've lived in that house ages :wtf:.

Looking good, can a cat5e take 12v?

Need any tools/cables msn me!

 

Only lived here 2 years

My "tests" have revealed that 12v through a cat5 cable is fine...I hope

 

Hope...what a fun word

Anyways, good luck. I like this idea more than a huge box sitting next to the TV...much less intrusive this way.

 

Cheers. It was going to be for an HTPC project originally but when I realised how little money I had I thought I'd scale it down a notch or five, hence it only being for my main PC now - which has the added bonus of actually existing

 

UPDATE

I've done quite a bit of work on this today. I cleaned out the garage and got rid of all the boxes I had lying around and took a load of stuff to the dump with my mum's boyfriend, then on the way back popped into Wickes where I bought a few bits

My first goal was to get the CD-RW mounted onto the baseplate. I drilled some more holes in the plastic mounting plate and then some smaller holes in the wooden base which lined up with them. I used tap washers that I bought this morning to raise the plate off the base slightly, and to aid in sound dampening.



Hopefully this picture will also give you an idea of the scale of the box.

And here's the obligatory closeup:



You can see the washers sitting on either side of the plastic. They were nice and cheap at only 65p for a pack of 4. I'm not sure how effective they will be in sound dampening but it's worth a try, and it also helps protect the plexi.

I also had a go at getting one of the sidepanels 'working'. The idea was to attach a small piece of pine (I length of which I found in my handy offcuts box) to the panel itself using wood glue and then screws.



The small groove in the pine was there already and doesn't serve any purpose here.

I countersunk the holes quite deeply so I could use wood filler to cover up the screw heads.

Next on the list is to get my sidepanels completed, mount the parts for the CD-RW's USB connection, and reroute the eject button on the CD-RW drive.

 

Nobody interested in this?

I'm hoping to get the wooden shell to this case completed tomorrow, rerouted the CD-RW eject button yesterday as well. Watch this space for another update!

 

cool idea to have the pc in a drawer

 

it's not going to be in a drawer

 

Well it's the end of term at last, got home at 12 today and decided I didn't want to waste the afternoon sitting at the computer, so out into the garage I went, with the intention of completing the case.



A couple of hours later this is what I have A couple of the edges need planing but other than that it's not a bad fit if I may say so myself

Something I forgot to add when I was doing the last update was that I also decided to change the measurements slightly, the case now measures 240x240x104mm (widthxdepthxheight) this was purely to give me a bit of extra room inside.



As you can see even with additional room it's still quite cramped inside!

The power/reset/eject buttons will sit in a row above the CD-RW. The card reader will be to the right of these. The front panel itself will be made of plexi.

I probably won't paint or stain the wood as I like its current colour, but I may wax it to protect the surfaces from staining.

So what do people think?

 

is that a scratch on your cd drive?

 

The white bit at the bottom? Yes It's ok, the drive itself won't be visible when the case is finished and I could always paint over it if I needed to.

 

I like the idea. Progress is coming along quite quickly.
Is that a stain-grade plywood? Or were you just planning on painting it also?

 

Thanks for the comments

Regarding painting the wood:

 

Oops, I missed that. So you plan on using a clear coat?
Do you plan on using any neon or plexi windows?
I don't think i read anything about that.

I think this is post #69 for me!

 

I'll wax or varnish it when I'm done.

This is just going to be a simple, clean effort - no windows or anything. The front panel will be made of plexi but will have its back painted black or tinted, depending on what I decide.

Congrats on 69 posts