Part 1 of Case No.1 Full details first: The Name? It's my first case. The Date? It was actually started on 30 April or thereabouts. Why? I built my first computer about the same time last year, and soon discovered that if I was to keep pace with technology, it'd cost cost a fair bit of dough, and create a surplus of parts. I soon decided the former was inevitable, and the latter was acceptable... My first upgrade was from an AGP 5500FX and Mobo, to a PCI-E 7300GT and accompanying Mobo. Then I spotted an AMD 3000 going cheap at Scan, and it was next the turn of my AMD 2800. So, I gathered together the other bits and pieces, and started to build a case to put them in(I'm on a strict budget). It had to be wooden, and the finished product would probably either end up as a home server, or smoothwall-running Linux box. The Shed: It's thankfully not mine! The Plans: I plan (half-heartedly) to eat the competition! The Materials: Cheap pine wood, and wire mesh out of a fire-screen. In the background you can see two floppy-disc bags. Insert Remarkable Lack of Documentation Here: I had already cut all the pieces out before thinking about photography, so the next pictures are a test fit. I used the router on the edges of the I/O port slot. I cut a little ledge for the PCI cards here: But it was both fragile and short-lived, so it got replaced by a bit of the same mesh. Then I started assembling the case: Once assembled, I started using filler where needed. (It wasn't till after I'd used it I found it was for cement.) Then I got some new equipment: A 250watt(I think) PSU, primer, and flush hinges. I soon decided that I could do without the fan cover. The case immediately got primed: More following today, if imageshack doesn't drive me crazy first. H.B.
Part 2 of Case No.1 Part 2 of Case No.1 It gets worse I promise. ...Next, I glossed over all the minor details, and tried to hide what a good sanding would have done better. And a bit later, primed and glossed inside and out again: 'Nother coat of gloss on the exterior: But I wasn't satisfied, I had rested the wet box on newspaper, and it rather spoilt it: there was BUMPS! Ah well... never mind for now, I need to cut out a slot for the PSU: And a support for the PSU: PSU in Situ: I hadn't done the lid yet, and made two false attempts in the process. A chunk of thick plywood that was wet: And thin plywood that would have worked, if it wasn't for that I thought it looked like a garden trug: The Third and final attempt, the drive is slung under the lid: One of the wires poking out before being cut and tapped: So I cut off the ends, tapped 'em made nut outta a piece of delrin, and filled them in place. The tap draw: Tapping in process: that's why it's so blurry. The lid fits! You're thinking why shouldn't it aren't you? The Torys' have their eyes on Rose's republic,(don't ask me who she is) and my hinges: The lid is on: Lid primed: Glossed lid: Second coat of gloss on lid: In all, the lid and exterior got one coat primer, three gloss, the interior only suffered one coat primer and gloss. Get an idea of how it'll work: The lid is raised slightly during operation both for access to the CD drive, and to ventilate it. Operate with lid down at your peril! More to come, possibly tonight. H.B.
Nice job mate, but no offence but i don't think you should paint that with gloss, might look a little tacky. Good work anyways.
its good work .. the paint you have to sand the wood very well and put plaste in the crap places then paint it with good paint and it will look slick :thumbsup: .. Good luck brother
Part 3 of Case No.1 About the paint...I wanted something that would hide the terrible woodwork (for instance: using butt joints instead of mitre or dovetail joints that I am capable of, but overall I think it just needed a far better sanding than I gave it. There is also a limit to the tolerance of paint smells and occupied bench-space in the util. room... It was wearing thin and that was why the painting stopped at the stage it did. Anyway, here are the plans for an unfinished part of the box; The supports to hold the lid up at the right height: Believe me, you cannot undertake such things without a cup of tea! I hadn't got a powerswitch, so I just Jump started the machine (pun intended): Then plonked a Xubuntu live CD in because I hadn't a hard drive: At this stage progress was interfered with by one of the hives swarming: They decided to go to the summershed (Summerhouse+shed)which was next to the shed I was working in... However, some pictures of the tight fit inside the box: The Cables are better arranged in this pic: I'm putting a 120mm fan on the left in front of the PSU, as it gets roasting there, and the HDD will likely be another Maxtor Diamondmax 80Gb on the front right side as you face it. At this stage I'm finishing the Control Panel to go under the lid at the front: But I'm rather stuck as I have no suitable switches to go in it yet: The switch you can see is from a torch... At the other end of the cable I chopped a lump off an HDD cable and stuck the wires in it: And now I'll simply put all the other pictures up here: My camera thinks the gloss is green: Now that I have built the box, I'll tear it to shreds: I didn't give it a proper sanding, and it shows. I should have sanded between coats of paint. I placed the PSU slot on the wrong side through working late: it's supposed to be on the other side. Now I cannot place my half-height wireless card in, because of the PSU fan protruding. One of the most interesting mistakes I made(late at night) was forgetting to raise the router before setting it down...it was still rotating at several thousand RPM aargh The lid isn't on perfectly square: The paint on the hinges needs to come off. I have learnt a lot from this case, the next'll more complex, and as someone suggested, I'll just use varnish next time, and sand it properly! H.B.
Well, I think you've done a good job, as it looks more artistic the way the paint and wood are. Any chance of seeing he front of the case?
What do you mean by new photos? I just posted three. EDIT: By the way, I've had an idea since it was started,to paint the mod name on the front wire mesh in black... What do you think? H.B.
I'm sorry I haven't a clue... Does anyone else have this problem? They still work for me, but then I use Firefox: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070515 Firefox/2.0.0.4 So I'm afraid I have no alternative other than to suggest you try Firefox. H.B.
same crap I use this Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.3) Gecko/20070309 Firefox/2.0.0.3
Tell you what, I like it as it is, but if you sanded off all the paint and then made the wood look nice, the case would look really cool. Then if you painted the front mesh black instead and then put the name on (which is a good idea) in white. Happy modding. Pics are fine in FF for me aswell.
ComputerKing, sorry to hear you're still having problems, I'll upload the last three pictures with a different image host. And also some of what I've done this evening. EDIT: None of the other image hosting sites are responding fast enough for them to be uploaded this evening at a reasonable time, so I'll just do two this evening: They're with www.xs.to H.B.
Just before it becomes all the rage, my next case will be wooden, modelled on a 1950's radio, and have no paint. H.B.
