Scratch Build – In Progress Halion Design [FINISHED] final product photos

[EDIT: Final product photos on the last page]


Hello. This is my first post on bit-tech so please stay with me. I've done a few mods in the past, the most prominent of which being a G5 mod and another scratch build - a plexiglass computer case to fit Micro ATX.
This is again a Micro ATX build with the use of aluminium from an XPS 710, acrylic, pine wood, and MDF. It sounds like a massive variation of materials but I'm hoping that the differences will make it stand out (obviously in a positive way).
I'll be editing and adding stuff to this project throughout the next few weeks and I'm hoping to keep it as updated as possible. Unfortunately I only have an old Canon point and shoot camera with a battery that lasts up to an hour; however I'm hoping that it won't let me down.
Anyway, I just received some components through the door; as well as my baby Dremel, the 300-30, recommended by bit-tech. My friend just got a bit annoyed at me because I'm using butt joints instead of mitre joints; I would happily turn back and do all the corners using butt joints however I've cut most of the wood so its a little late to turn back...
Some Sketchup generated designs:

 

The front fan will be a Gently Typhoon fan, run at about 7v. The radiator from the corsair H50 water cooling will be attached to this fan and the pipes will go over the top of the 4850 graphics card with passive cooling.

 

I keep editing the sketchup design so its a little difficult to stay on top of things. The latest obstacle being, that there is an indent in the aluminium so the wood has to be moved inwards by 21mm.

Now for the hardware:
i7 860, for socket 1156 @ 2.8Ghz (no over clocking just yet).
Asus Maximus III Gene motherboard, socket 1156
Corsair Hydro h50 (Don't really have the money for a custom water cooling loop)
Corsair XMS3 DDR3 RAM
32GB Silicon Power SSD (borrowing)
500GB Seagate Barraccuda hard drive
Some modular power supply 850w

(below) The hardware on a silverstone full ATX motherboard tray. I won't be using it in the actual case, because its WAY too big for what I'm making.



I have loads more photos I want to show but I need to go for now. hang on for the next update!

 

I'm trying to make sure that this thread will be in chronological order, so here are some photos of the XPS 710 case by dell. I won it, bidding on ebay. I have removed the plastic fronts as well as both of the side panels.
The plan is to remove the top and bottom pieces of aluminium. These will then be cut to size using my dremel (or a metal hacksaw, depending on which will make the cleanest cut).





As you can see, the side panels, made of aluminium, are way too shiny. Once I have cut and fitted all the aluminium I will proceed to sanding the aluminium.



Hello baby Dremel! (300-30). I bought this one because it was quite cheap (only £37 from Amazon); it was corded, unlike my last dremel which was battery powered and died after the first 10 minutes of use, and its small, making it easy to handle.

 

After travelling to my local B&Q to stock up on wood for the project I came back with three, 2400mm x 21mm x 18mm poles. I will use these to make the frame for the computer case. The wood will not be visible from the outside of the case however I may still spray paint it once I have finished most of the project. I chose wood instead of metal to make the framework, mainly because I much prefer working with wood. Its also much easier to cut and its fairly cheap. On occasions during the project I've taken my work outside so beware of the sudden scene changes.







MWHAHAHAHA!!!







(above) wood saw of some description. I'm going to buy an all in one thingy because its a pain to work with. At the moment I have to press the wood to one side in order for it to make a cut at 90 degrees.
Anyway, here is the MDF I'm going to use for the motherboard tray and probably to cover up some other stuff. It looks as if it will be really easy to spray paint as it is already smooth. It's 607mm x 1220mm x 6mm. I had to run when carrying out of B&Q as it was about to pour down with rain and I was afraid the MDF was going to (metaphorically) melt.

 

Most of the wood for the structure has finally been cut. The Dremel sanding drum is awesome, the only down side is that the drums wear out after a bit of use. But it's much quicker than using normal sand paper. All the measurements are based on my google Sketchup model, I'm very reliant on it at the moment so if any of the measurements are completely incorrect, its most probably down to my model.







Guess what's just come through the post? Yep, its an OCZ Vertex 2, 2.5" solid state drive, 50GB. I was a bit concerned about the size at first, not because it's tiny, it's only going to hold the operating system and the applications, but because its 50GB rather than 32GB or 64GB. It reminds me a bit of the Intel Core Solo, where they would get the core duos with a broken core and disable that core.



That's all for now. I need to get on with doing the gardening.

 

Looks great!

Wood work.. i like it! Subscribed!

 

Thanks robi09! comments greatly appreciated.

As I'm using all the pieces of aluminium from the XPS case (I will be cutting them to size at a later point), the frame needs to be as wide as the curved pieces because I can't really change the size (width ways) of them. For once Dell, thank you very much for applying the aluminium to the rest of the case using DOUBLE SIDED STICKY TAPE, making it easy to take off. So it should be a bit like this:



Anyway, I messed up the first frame I did so I won't bother showing photos of that one. So here is the first one I did. I was really pleased with these because I got the corners exactly 90 degrees, and both the frames were the same size (to about 1mm).





Now that I have two of those I can continue making the sides. The main problem was getting them exactly straight. I tried this by strapping it in place, this didn't work as well as I would have expected.



This is the saw I picked up from B&Q, not bad, only £20.





Instead of using screws or nails to hold the butt joint in place, what I'm doing is drilling a hole, putting a dowel in, and sanding it until it's smooth with the rest of the wood.





The dremel is excellent for this as its possible to sand it down in mere seconds rather than the traditional sand paper.
Measuring...with my trusty tri-square.



So that's the front two done. I've put the fan on the front (not secured) to show how it should look like. The acrylic will be applied to the front and the back. Hopefully I will be able to use a CNC mill to make the acrylic fan grill.

 

Now onto the rear. I'm not sure if having a 12cm fan at the front but only a 9cm fan at the back will impede the air flow. It shouldn't do because the front one has a fairly low rpm.







You may be wondering why the pieces of wood next to the fans are not on the edge of the bottom frame. This is because the XPS case has a bump in the aluminium that runs all the way along. A slight problem was that the power supply would not fit; so the wooden frame on the back has to extend outwards again. This may not be very clear but you can see from the pics.







Now I just need to glue the top frame on. This is the tricky part because I need to make sure everything is aligned properly.





Dremel rules!

 

Another quick post, this is what will be holding the hard drives in place. As you can see, the bottom caddy is missing, but as only 3 can fit into the case in the first place, this isn't a problem. I will be securing the hard drive caddy at a later point in time, once all the aluminium has been put in place.

 

640x480 please!

 

Okay, will do. I need to re-upload and overwrite all the photos so it might take a few minutes.

 

Another one of those Dells appears! Why has one never dropped into my lap?
-Sorry... That was envy.
Any chance of keeping the indents in the side panels on your version? It seems a waste to remove such a nice design feature. -Might even be able to turn the panels inside-out, incorporate a handle into the bulge...

 

I managed to pick up the Dell case for about £50 on ebay with a few components. I am keeping the indents. There is no real way of avoiding them. As you can see on the wooden structure, the pieces which are upright are 20mm in. This will give space for the indents, and the 20mm should also give clearance for the motherboard cables.

 

I've made 4 these:





These will go on the top and the bottom of the wooden frame. The aluminium will screw onto of these little "Pi" style bridges.





That's it for now, I need to wait for the glue to dry before I can start to drill the holes for the dowels.

 

Time to bring out the MDF. So far in this project I've only been concentrating on the pine frame. MDF will be used for the top (underneath the aluminium), to secure the motherboard IO panel which I de-riveted from an old HP computer.



My faithful Bosche saw. Does anyone know if you can swap the blades for ones that can cut metal?



It should fit in-between the two Pi brackets...



Like so...



Ta-da! The annoying thing with MDF is that it becomes fluffy all around the edges. The MDF won't be visible so this shouldn't be a problem.



Now for those who are confused about where the aluminium will sit, take a look below. The aluminium still needs to be cut to size but you get the general idea.





I think Silverstone used this idea in one of their new range of cases. The idea is to orientate the motherboard 90 degrees so that it is facing upwards. I'm doing that in this project so that I can fit the computer in a smaller space. Unfortunately the only problem with this idea is that space has to be left for the cables to escape out the back. The cables will be channelled between the aluminium at the top and the IO panel mounted on the MDF below. This leaves about 5cm of space which should be plenty.





Now for another piece of MDF to go in. This is going to form the motherboard tray. we're getting closer to installing the components every minute.
Here goes:

 

It's been a while since I did an update, mainly because I've been away on holiday, and because I've been quite busy. Anyway, the computer case seems to be starting to take shape and hopefully you can sort of see where everything will go.
Here are the motherboard stand offs I will be using, they originated from a broken Apple G5 case but they do the job perfectly holding my Maximus Gene motherboard in place.






As I mentioned in an earlier post, the motherboard will be rotated 90 degrees so there is more room at the back of the case. I think I have seen this done in a silverstone case. I ripped a Micro ATX IO panel from an ancient HP computer; at the moment it is lurid grey but it will be spray painted black later on. After a bit of precise cutting it fits in and is screwed into place.





Moving the motherboard in place. I hope I'm not damaging it by moving it around, I should probably use my not-as-expensive Asus mobo, ah well, too late to do anything about it now. I'll just hope that the next time I wire it all up that it posts.





Doesn't look too bad. Can anyone give me some tips on how to spray paint the wood black? My friend told me to go over it in pva first, I don't know if thats a good idea though.

 

That looks pretty cool so far. Great idea though with a wooden case.

 

None of the images are working for me ;/.

 

That's odd. It seems to be working for me. They are hosted on an American server, so that shouldn't be the problem. Maybe try again?