Well, here is the first installment of my first delve into case creation. I first came across bit-tech back at Christmas time and decided I wanted to build my own case. However school got in the way (I graduated salutatorian), and it has taken time to come up with the parts I need for my case. As it's getting close to college time and I need a case to take with me to the dorms I decided I had better get to it, so here goes. Whew! If anyone would like to make a suggestion for a better name I'd be glad to hear it. Thx Computer Specs(In sig): -I'll get pictures of the parts soon- Materials: 6 - 14" x 14" .25" Transparent Blue Acrylic sheets - I had 4 cut down to 9" x 14" when i realized how massive the case would be as a cube... 16 - 7/8" x 7/8" glass binning connectors 2 - glass binning hinges 2 - glass binning clasps various screws, standoffs, etc. First things first, when planning a case - you need to do some planning for parts fitment etc. and what better program to do this with than sketchup so here are to renders of what my project is planned to look like. Front: Side: Top Down: Secondly, I decided to do a mockup with posterboard just so i could get a better real life Idea of what i was doing. After getting an idea of what it will be like in real life, I moved on to working with the parts, measuring out the acrylic, and working on the binning connectors. I began to mark on the sheets of acrylic where i wanted to place the connectors, as well as marking them to size. This one is marked to become the front 14" x 9" piece. I laid out the acrylic so i could measure how each piece fit to the others next to it. After I measured and marked the 6 pieces of acrylic, I moved on to deburring and filing the connectors so they would fit on the quarter inch acrylic. And heres the test fitting with the acrylic cut to size and the connectors all fitted in the right places. And another view... Next post brings mobo tray manufacturing goodness...
Whoa, sexy . This is looking great so far..I love the chrome bits, but think that see-through/frosted plexi would've suited it better. Oh well, I havent even seen the plexi yet! ..update already!
Mobo Tray Because .25" brass standoffs under the motherboard wouldn't hold it high enough to keep bottom of the pci card metal bracket from contacting the bottom of the case, I decided to go ahead and make a 12" by 9 5/8" mobo mounting with .25" acrylic to glue onto the bottom of the case. I'm going for a recessed look, with all the wires going into the case and no connections visible from the outside. I taped paper down onto the cheap acrylic because it was covered in plastic and I needed something easy to draw on. (A bit blurry sorry...) Then I laid the mobo down on the acrylic and marked where i wanted to place the first standoff. I then used my Dremel Advatage with the router attachment and a 1/8" drill bit as a drill press to drill the hole in the spot I wanted it. Then I used my 6/32" tap to allow the standoff to screw into the hole. Then I screwed the mobo into the one hole I had just drilled, and aligned it and marked the second hole where i wanted it. I Went back and drilled it and tapped it again. Then I screwed the mobo back onto the acrylic, marked the other 7 holes and then I drilled and tapped those. By doing it that way, u basically triangulate the alignment so it stays straight and true to where you want it. Here is the mount with the standoffs in place. A side view, no mobo. And a side view with the motherboard mounted. There we go... Waiting for parts to come in the mail and motivation to get off my duff and do some modding! Thanks
dude, it works ^.^! Everything is looking good so far, but you've still got me on the edge of my seat. You'll have to pull off a shuttle jobby here - no slacking with the cable management or we'll perform all 1001 uses of duct tape on you!
You should call this project 'Project oblong' just for sheer entertainment value (ah what a ridiculous word). Alright, I'm done. Happy modding!
Nice start to the project and good job with the pics and planning. The posterboard mockup is a great idea to do. Keep up the good work.
I agree. The posterboard mock-up will prove to be invaluable later on when you have already figured out problems that come up. Just an idea, I think it would look cool if maybe you frosted the bottom piece of plexi, to give it a little defintion, as well as to mask any scratches. (Which will be sure to come ) Curious to see more! I know you wont disapoint. -Brad
Very nice. It would look excellent with bits of the plexi frosted and bits not. One thing I love is the Chrome L brackets you are using to hold the plexi together. The plans are very good and I've always found that cardboard mockups help with visualising and motivating to finish Keep up the excelllent work
