Wooden Case

[pc-gamer-dude]

ok, as many of you may know, im building a custom case for my computer out of wood. and ive ran into a problem. how am i going to mount the cd-roms to the case, and how will i mount the PSU to the case, i cant figure out anything for it. anyone with a diagram... or something to help?

thanks for your help, and any questions you have please ask!

[abu_has_the_power]

frozencpu.com sells these. maybe u can get some ideas

[bigdawgfoxx]

Well to mount CDROMs and such, you will need to put the metal brackets into the case, and cut out the front of it, then do it just like a normal case...for the PSU I would figure just screw it in like normal, and give it some support

[Mad Cat]

Getting a normal case then shoving wood around it might be better. Watch your heat though, wood would insulate more than metal.

[pc-gamer-dude]

no cuz then i cant make it the way i want it. there isnt a single case in the world that offers half the stuff im doing, and heat will be no issue what-so-ever. this thing is gonna have 11 fans altogether. 2 front 92mm, 2 rear 80mm, 2 top 80mm, 1 left side 120mm, 2 right side 80mm, 1 bottom 80mm, 1 bottom 120mm. also theres isnt any case near the size this one is gonna be. this case is gonna be huge.
height: 19"
length (front to back): 21"
width (side to side): 10"

yeah i know, way to big... but im crazy about room, and have some crazy ideas that will help lower the temp to crazy amounts, and it will need quite alot of room.

[atiVidia]

actually... (http://xoxide.com/ufo.html)


:lol: u could just buy that :lol:

[kaiweiler]

Originally posted by pc-gamer-dude@5 March 2004 - 20:36
no cuz then i cant make it the way i want it. there isnt a single case in the world that offers half the stuff im doing, and heat will be no issue what-so-ever. this thing is gonna have 11 fans altogether. 2 front 92mm, 2 rear 80mm, 2 top 80mm, 1 left side 120mm, 2 right side 80mm, 1 bottom 80mm, 1 bottom 120mm. also theres isnt any case near the size this one is gonna be. this case is gonna be huge.
height: 19"
length (front to back): 21"
width (side to side): 10"

yeah i know, way to big... but im crazy about room, and have some crazy ideas that will help lower the temp to crazy amounts, and it will need quite alot of room.
What is your case going to be sitting on?? If you have fans on the bottom, isn't that pointless, unless there is empty space underneath your case??
If your case is just sitting on your desk or something, it's a waste of fans
How are you planning on setting this up?

[Mad Cat]

Put some exhaust fans on the top. Whats the point having them on the bottom, as stated above.

[pc-gamer-dude]

the case is going to be sitting on 6 1" poles holding it 1" off the floor (its gonna be to big for my desk). and that xiode case is fricken ugly!!! the bottom back fan (the 120mm) is going to be blowing up at my gfx card, and the bottom front fan (80mm) is going to be sucking downwards. my hard drive is going to be mounted in the bottom of the case hooked up to a hard drive heatpipe cooler with about 1/4" space between the hard drive and the case floor (where the 80mm fan is gonna be sucking from), in front of the hard drive is going to be a vantec 92mm stealth case fan pushing just enough air to keep airflow over the hard drive. ill explain some of my other cooling ideas that im putting in this case later.

[clocker]

Gamer,
You might be able to cobble these (http://www.dansdata.com/lldrivemounts.htm)into suitable bay mounts.
I don't really understand the problem you are having with the optical drive mounting anyway.
Seems like there would be almost any number of good ways to do this...

The PSU is an interesting problem.
One I have struggled with myself.
Ultimately I decided that the best place for it was in my upper two drive bays.
This solves several problems in one fell swoop.
The space above the mobo and HSF is completely open which makes it very easy to move air in and out of the area.
All the wiring is basically right where it needs to go so there is less need to hide it or otherwise disguise it's inherent ugliness.
With a roof vent directly above, any heat from the PSU doesn't contaminate the rest of the case.

You can either remove the PSU's plug port and on/off switch and relocate them to the caseback ( with appropriately extended wires back to the circuit board) or leave the case intact and just run a power cord out the back.

[pc-gamer-dude]

id perfer keeping the psu in the back top of case. there will still be plenty of room between the cpu hsf and the psu (about 4-5 inches). and it will make it so i dont have to worry about runing a wire out of the back of my case, or extending the psu wires. im thinking im gonna have to rig up something using wood for the psu.

[Mad Cat]

You need to help natural convection to get the best airflow. An exhaust fan on the bottom is a little pointless really. Put all the exhaust fans on the top, and intakes on the bottom. Air will then flow through your case.

[Livy]

yeah, its best to vent at the top at lest as warm ait will rise, so tahts the best ideas. as for bringing in air, bottom areas maybe, but then thers also if you bring in coola ir at the top, it will sink down the case cooling the rest of the air???? :huh:

in the theory anyway. :blink:

[Mad Cat]

Originally posted by Livy@6 March 2004 - 03:10
yeah, its best to vent at the top at lest as warm ait will rise, so tahts the best ideas. as for bringing in air, bottom areas maybe, but then thers also if you bring in coola ir at the top, it will sink down the case cooling the rest of the air???? :huh:

in the theory anyway. :blink:
Well you really want to help natural airflow, so thats hot air rises. If you tried to force air out the bottom you're trying to fight nature then really, so just keep intake lower down and exhaust on top.

[pc-gamer-dude]

well when i get that far in my case ill find out what one will work better, but im putting my money on my way. but ill admit that im probably wrong.

[clocker]

Originally posted by pc-gamer-dude@6 March 2004 - 05:22
well when i get that far in my case ill find out what one will work better, but im putting my money on my way. but ill admit that im probably wrong.
Although I admire your pioneering spirit, I'm confused as to why you would continue with a design that you admit is "probably wrong".

Why not make a quick and dirty prototype out of plywood or MDF and test out the configuration before building the final piece?

[johnboy27]

You better put a dust filter on that 120mm that you are putting in the bottom of the case if you plan on putting it on the floor.I don't even have a lower case fan and when my case sat on the floor with just the side panel fan it sucked in tons of dust.I moved it up on my desk and now I have hardly any.
And another thing,all the lower 80mm exhaust fan is going to do is suck out the cool air that the 120mm is pumping in.

[bigdawgfoxx]

I got 2 intakes and 2 exhaust and its on the floor...gotta clean it like at least one a month....vacum it out.

[johnboy27]

Originally posted by bigdawgfoxx@6 March 2004 - 16:29
I got 2 intakes and 2 exhaust and its on the floor...gotta clean it like at least one a month....vacum it out.
I have had mine up on my desk for about 5 months and have not had to clean it once.I used to have to clean it every odd week.

[ricochet]

Originally posted by pc-gamer-dude@5 March 2004 - 23:38
ok, as many of you may know, im building a custom case for my computer out of wood. and ive ran into a problem. how am i going to mount the cd-roms to the case, and how will i mount the PSU to the case, i cant figure out anything for it. anyone with a diagram... or something to help?

thanks for your help, and any questions you have please ask!
Hey man I worked with wood a lot like 6 years in school and have built gun cabinets, dressers, and even built a coffen. LOL

I think there right on the air flow and the fan setup but you could make the case out of wood. first what kind of wood are you thinking of using and what thinkness do you want to use ???

I reccommend using something like oak or walnut because it is a hard wood and making the thinkness about 3/4 in. so you can use small screws to help hold your brackets and fans into the sides and top and bottom...

Dont forget that the wood sides should be doweled into the front, back, top and bottom. One thing for sure this thing is goine to be heavy but should look good...

[pc-gamer-dude]

well im using pine, it is actually quite strong wood when its cut right and everything. the wood is going to be 3/4" thick. ive already cut out the basics (the 2 side panels, top & bottom, and front & back). all i need to do now is plain them down to size, sand them smooth, and start cutting out the holes for the fans, the mobo i/o panel, and the psu spot. im going to be using door hinges for the right side panel so i can get into it easily.

@ clocker: its just a theory im going to be testing out, if it doesnt work i can easily just change the fan around so its blowing in again. so thats why im trying it out. and i plan on using filters for the front 2 fans, the botton 2 fans, and the big 120mm fan in the right side panel behind the processor socket.

suggestions / comments welcome.

[ck-uk]

That'll take off mate with 11 fans :P

you'll have post img's when its done. :)

[pc-gamer-dude]

its gonna be way to heavy to take off. but hell yeah im gonna post pics! im have to show off my rig!

[kaiweiler]

I bet it's gonna be pretty noisy though, don't you think?!

[pc-gamer-dude]

noise is not an issue at all. my current case runs at 50dba from 2 ft away. and i cant hear it (im always listening to music, even when i sleep. i wouldnt ever be able to handle a quiet case, itd scare me). so noise is not an issue. im even going to be using a vantecn 80mm tornadoe for an intake fan running at max speed. and also wood is a great sound absorber. im thinking about using 2 92mm tornadoe fans for the front intakes just so that the airflow from them will travel the whole case, but im not sure yet. ill figure out what all im going to use for fans later, for now the best i can do is mess around with this case that i have now, do tests on it (im getting awsome results right now btw), and use the stuff that wokrs in the new case (im still gonna test other ways when i finish the wooden case). idk, but noise is not an issue at all.

[kaiweiler]

Originally posted by pc-gamer-dude@6 March 2004 - 17:21
noise is not an issue at all. my current case runs at 50dba from 2 ft away. and i cant hear it (im always listening to music, even when i sleep. i wouldnt ever be able to handle a quiet case, itd scare me). so noise is not an issue. im even going to be using a vantecn 80mm tornadoe for an intake fan running at max speed. and also wood is a great sound absorber. im thinking about using 2 92mm tornadoe fans for the front intakes just so that the airflow from them will travel the whole case, but im not sure yet. ill figure out what all im going to use for fans later, for now the best i can do is mess around with this case that i have now, do tests on it (im getting awsome results right now btw), and use the stuff that wokrs in the new case (im still gonna test other ways when i finish the wooden case). idk, but noise is not an issue at all.
I see, well then Good Luck mate!
I'm lookin forward to when you get it done and get some pics up! I'd like to see it!

[tesco]

Originally posted by pc-gamer-dude@6 March 2004 - 16:21
noise is not an issue at all. my current case runs at 50dba from 2 ft away. and i cant hear it (im always listening to music, even when i sleep. i wouldnt ever be able to handle a quiet case, itd scare me). so noise is not an issue. im even going to be using a vantecn 80mm tornadoe for an intake fan running at max speed. and also wood is a great sound absorber. im thinking about using 2 92mm tornadoe fans for the front intakes just so that the airflow from them will travel the whole case, but im not sure yet. ill figure out what all im going to use for fans later, for now the best i can do is mess around with this case that i have now, do tests on it (im getting awsome results right now btw), and use the stuff that wokrs in the new case (im still gonna test other ways when i finish the wooden case). idk, but noise is not an issue at all.
sounds like youve got most of it under control but i have a couple suggestions:

first off, i would make the wood 1/2 inch becuase 3/4 inch seems a little big to me.

another one is that you should make the i/o port cover thingy on teh back of the computer removable and also make it really thin otherwise you wont be able to connect the wires that need to be connected. It should be removable incase you get a new motherboard in the future and need a different cover.

and buy a few speed control knobs from a radioshack or other store like that and build them into teh front of the case to control the fans speed, incase noise becomes an issue in the future.

and build a reset cmos button like clockers.

[pc-gamer-dude]

well my teacher wont let my waste anymore wood, and i dont think pine would be strong at 1/2". altho it seems to be doing fine now at 3/4". idk, if i could convince my teacher to let my plain my wood down to 1/2" i would. but 3/4" isnt really all that think, it just means i need longer screws for the fan mounts and everything. im going to be using a metal i/o panel that my current motherboard uses, so when i upgrade i can just switch the panel with the new one. im not going to worry about buying a fan speed control yet, ill cross that bridge when the time comes. im not to worried about a reset cmos button, altho the idea is sounds really cool. im not really a heavy overclocked anyway, and my ram wont go any higher then it is now (running a 166mhz ddr chip at 200mhz) at any latency settings. so i just run it at 2.5-3-3-11. oh and also... im using my current motherboard tray and just making it removable for when the new form factor comes up. kinda cheating but i dont want to have to build a new back panel for it when i end up upgrading to the new form factor.

but thanks for the suggestions, and keep them coming everyone!


btw... does anybody have a guide on making your on fan controller? cuz i want to make one that supports 8 fans without using up 2 drive bay spots.

[tesco]

Originally posted by pc-gamer-dude@6 March 2004 - 17:20
well my teacher wont let my waste anymore wood, and i dont think pine would be strong at 1/2". altho it seems to be doing fine now at 3/4". idk, if i could convince my teacher to let my plain my wood down to 1/2" i would. but 3/4" isnt really all that think, it just means i need longer screws for the fan mounts and everything. im going to be using a metal i/o panel that my current motherboard uses, so when i upgrade i can just switch the panel with the new one. im not going to worry about buying a fan speed control yet, ill cross that bridge when the time comes. im not to worried about a reset cmos button, altho the idea is sounds really cool. im not really a heavy overclocked anyway, and my ram wont go any higher then it is now (running a 166mhz ddr chip at 200mhz) at any latency settings. so i just run it at 2.5-3-3-11. oh and also... im using my current motherboard tray and just making it removable for when the new form factor comes up. kinda cheating but i dont want to have to build a new back panel for it when i end up upgrading to the new form factor.

but thanks for the suggestions, and keep them coming everyone!


btw... does anybody have a guide on making your on fan controller? cuz i want to make one that supports 8 fans without using up 2 drive bay spots.
I made one, it isnt too fancy but it gets teh job done...

i have one switch that switches between 7volts and 12volts and one switch that switches it on and off. The 12v line on the molex connects directly to the fan. The 7v and ground on the molex go into the 3 way switch and the output on the switch goes into the on\off switch which finally goes into the other wire of the fan. It works and is good for now until i get a dimmer switch or something and use that instead.

oh and btw, the wires for the fan (one from on\off switch, one is the 12v on molex) is split to connect all of my case fans (3) and my graphics card fan.

here is a diagram of the three way switch:

Image Resized
[img]http://filesharingtalk.com/sigs/threewayswitch.JPG' width='200' height='120' border='0' alt='click for full size view'> ('http://filesharingtalk.com/sigs/threewayswitch.JPG')

the five volts when combined with the 12v makes 7v.

and here is a diagram of a speed controller with a dimmer switch:

Image Resized
[img]http://filesharingtalk.com/sigs/dimmer.JPG' width='200' height='120' border='0' alt='click for full size view'> ('http://filesharingtalk.com/sigs/dimmer.JPG')

oh the simplicity!

[pc-gamer-dude]

ill have to mess around with that sometime. i really like the dimmer switch idea... sounds pretty cool. maybe my grandpa can rig up something similar to that for me.