Scratch Build – In Progress Junior - Wood ITX Media Center - COMPLETE!

I agree. Staining dark can reduce the beauty of the grain. I suppose that might be good in some projects with oak, for example, where the grain can be a distraction to the project. Don't worry. I used a "natural" colored danish oil. The hardware is in the case and it was fired it up for the first time last night. One last step and I'll snap some pictures and post them.

BTW, for most of the projects I've built (especially smaller ones such as this), I look for quarter-sawn boards that produce the straightest grain. Proper grain selection can turn a mediocre project into an exceptional one.

 

wow this is amazing. I especially like the accents and the inlay.
can't wait to see the end result!!!!

 

Hardware Installed

There’s nothing too terribly exciting going on with the hardware. But there are some items to mention.


Because the motherboard has only one case fan header, I had to combine both fans to one connector.


I used a 150W Pico PSU for this build.


During the design of the project, the computer rendering were a little deceiving. I thought there was going to be more space inside once the hardware was installed. As you can see here, it’s already cramped (and the drive cage is not even in yet).
I painted the CPU and case fan header as well as the slimline SATA cable black. Black shrink-wrap was used for the fan and power switch cables (I didn’t have to shrink it as the fit was snug). All of this was in effort to reduce the clutter seen behind the mica panels when lit. Lastly, the CPU fan was rotated 90 degrees for better cable routing.

This case is complete, I'll post the final pictures this evening.

 

Junior is Complete.

After four months, Junior is complete. Enjoy the final pictures.






















Here’s Junior next to Senior, which was built 5 years ago. It has been my media center system up until now.


Press the ebony peg to power up the system.


To eject the disc, press the left most dentil tooth.












Here’s where the system will live. It will be used for my media center. I built the mantel and cabinets/bookshelves several years back. The left cabinet contains the amplifier and sub.

I had a lot of fun designing and building this system. It was certainly a challenge. Thanks for following my project log.

 

Beautiful! I've enjoyed watching this build. You seemed to have fulfilled your aim of making a case that doesn't look like a case.

 

It's beautiful! Didn't know about the bigger brother =) The stealth buttons and the mica looks great. I would ditch the fan grills though.

+1 r

 

Congratulations on completing a beautiful piece of woodwork. Great job on the living room furniture as well although I do think Junior looks a little lost over on the left here (also doesn't fit in with the great symmetry - which I am a sucker for).

Only downside is that it makes my attempts at woodwork look like a chimp has been bashing a tree with a rock for a few hours.

Very well done!

 

What happens to senior now?

 

Thanks quizz_kid. Yes, there was some discussion on this a while back. I've got something that will look real nice. There are some other things I may tweak as well.

 

Thanks Boorach. My previous media center system lived inside the left cabinet, so putting Junior outside does look a little strange. I will probably move it inside as the Blu-ray drive is quite distracting. I also like the minimalist approach.

 

Senior will end up in my wife's computer hutch. This makes two of three PCs made from wood. The third one will definitely be a different design.

 

O.... Now I see why its called junior... I never even thought about that name lol. Both look really good

 

Thanks Charger. I liked the design so much so I built a smaller version. They look similar on the outside, but are vastly different on the inside.