So i decided to build a case out of wood on my summer holiday... i was just wondering what program would be good for a noob to do 3d-sketches of my case. I need an easy program cause i'm crap at drawing. I've decided to use traditional finish birch-wood in making the case. And i'm trying to limit the use of screws and nails and etc. to the minimum. Just making a nice all wooden case. If you have any comments or things i should know while planning that would be very helpful! thank you!
Welcome to the forums assco! You need SketchUp. Just see what's already been made in my collection, should save you some time.
Measure, measure, measure! Just find the dimentions of everything you are gonna put in it and DONT assume anything and you will be fine.
measure, measure, measure... Yeah i know! i've been reading alot of guides and project logs here and everybody says measure twice and cut once... i think its all the back in my head so that should be clear ) i just have to decide the components i'm gonna put in. But mobos and psu's are pretty much the same size right? its hard to decide what i want inside cause i don't have money for the guts yet
and the purpose of the case is to house a fileserver for me so i guess i can get the components pretty cheap, cause i'm gonna make it run linux... so i need a lot of room for hd's
wow! this sketchup program is great! gonna spend many nights playing with this one Thanks alot jazzle!
Got my first sketch done on sketchup... here are the pics: Front Front from different angle Behind I love this program The fan-placement, etc aren't really thought thru so i'd be glad to get some suggestions and ideas. I'll be working on the outer parts soon... lets see what i come up with i have a pretty clear picture in my head but i still have to get it out...
well it depends on how much money i'm able to spend.. I'm also thinking i could sell it (if it turns out good) to someone... we'll see. But i don't think i need more than 3 hd:s, max 4. probably 200~250gb each. If i keep it it'll be a fileserver and maybe hooked up to the tv so it can be used as a media-pc too. I'm just full of ideas
Thanks MikeK! So am i! I havent done much of anything with wood, except in grade school... and i'm gonna have to make most of it by hand because of the lack of power tools. But im gonna give it my best Oh btw, i was planning on making the hard-drives to be attached to 2 rubber strips hanging from above... anyone does this before wanna give me some tips? *edit* oh! didn't notice you were from across the pond MikeK! Tack så mycket!
If I undersood that right, it sounds like a quiet solution. As a hint I could say, that don't make the rubber thingys too long, but keep them short to have more durability(or something), basically not to make them move much Anyways good luck with the case.
i was thinking of attaching the rubberstrips from both ends so that the hd:s won't just dangle free. They would be placed a bit wider than the drives so they will tighten when hd:s attached, i guess this is an ok arrangement? how about doing the same with a optical drive?
Drew a new sketch tonight. My hdd-rack! \o/ The black straps are the "rubberbands" and they will be stretched to the hdd:s. (didn't konw how to do it in SketchUp) Here are the pics: hdd-rack from an angle hdd-rack from behind rack inside case rack in case *closeup* Hope you like!
Just my 2 cents, I think that the hard drives are packed too tightly to get good airflow between the individual drives, what about spacing them out a couple cm?
i recommend vacuum cleaner belts for the rubber strips. i've used the before for a completely unrelated project, and they have good durability, along with being darn cheap. i also agree with spreading them out if you have the room. 1cm seems alright
I think it'll be just fine. TBH I thought that they'd just hang there, which actually could've been pretty cool in a way. I think it'll work. Just make the front bezel steady enough to be pushed. OR rewire the eject switch.
Yeah i was planning on rewireing the eject to somewhere else (like next to power-button or something) I saw a guide on that somewhere before, but now i've seemed to have lost it somewhere. If anyone has the url handy i would appreciate it if you could post it here.. Isuo, are you finnish or belgian? I'm guessing your finnish because of the flag in your sig *edit* Found it!
