I finished my custom case

[kirby0027]

hey guys, im kirby and im new here. this is my story

well, last semester i got the clear case bug, i always loved clearpc.ca's stuff but i didnt feel up to prices. i thought about making a case on my own and what it would take. what resulted is a long month long project involving the use of a ton of planning, measuring, funds and time, time, time.

the result is a unique case layout built from scratch from 1/4 inch GE Lexan and Aluminum trim. i put around 60 hours into it and an insane amount of mental energy. heres some pictures and feel free to comment and ask anything you want.

http://freestructure.net/kirby/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/computercase/DSCN0230.jpg
http://freestructure.net/kirby/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/computercase/DSCN0225.jpg
http://freestructure.net/kirby/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/computercase/DSCN0220.jpg

If youd wanna see more, check out my photo gallery @ kirby's pictures (http://freestructure.net/kirby/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=6)
feel free to browse my other albums and leave comments
thanks,
kirby

[Mojo JoJo]

nice craftsmanship.

[mrharhar]

where are the power buttons?

[strid3r]

Originally posted by mrharhar
where are the power buttons?

Looks like its below the front intake fan. Great job man.

[Wampa]

It looks like he has a vandal button there above the CD-ROM drive.

Overall I'd say the case looks very nice and clean, and if you are looking for something else to do to it I'd buy rounded cables and sleeve your PSU cables. Maybe if you had a lot of time you could create custom Lexan shells for your power supply and CD-ROM drive...just a thought.

[kirby0027]

You are correct. That is the power button under the fan in the front. Its the only button/switch aside from the powers suply. I just kept it clean and simple as you can see...just the one drive takes care of dvd and cd writing. I figured by being this simple so far, i had no need for a restart button. Props goes to www.apem.com for actually donating that switch to my project. They deal with mass ordering (1000 parts or more per order, i didnt quite want 1000 of em) That switch is a pushbutton metal antivandalism switch that is usually used on atm machines. i couldnt find an equivalent switch for my application available to the public anywhere. I talked with a rep from Apem and she was happy to comply with my request.
The button is perfect and tough enough to mount with the bullet-proof lexan (advertised as being able to withstand impact from a .45, i have yet to test it).
So as far as being ATM worthy in quality (also feels awesome) APEM is awesome and extremely friendly to the case modding community.

I had thought about a cover for my power supply. to think about "forging" it myself just makes my head hurt. lol
of course a visible cd in the writer would be awesome, i admit i didnt think about that. Ive always wanted visible hard drive platters as well, i just dont think i have the guts/initiative to do it.
This project took so much time that i started to loose interest...i was afraid this would happen and i finished it in an 8 hour sprint that went till 6 am when i had class the next day lol

thanks for you comments guys

[Spleeze]

Awesome case man... I would have used 120mm fans, but still. WOW! Really nice job.

[jamestime88]

awesome job. so clean and fresh. but it seems like it would look alot cleaner with rounded ata cables.

and those hard drives look so cool, like they are floating.

[pHatalbOom]

Nice - I bought my acrylic case... :(

Looks like you made your plenty large... how big is it? how thick is the plexi?.... nm Very nice.

[zeezz]

very, very nice. i wish i had the time and patience to do something like this.

are the hard drives mounted on one side only?

[zombiebeat]

That a great case, just to echo previous comments you gotta sleeve your cable to finish it off.

Great job man! :)

[kirby0027]

actually the case is a bit smaller than a normal tower. its about 15 inches high, 14 inches long, and only 6 inches wide (approx). if you visit the pictures on my site, youll see its just wide enough for my power supply to fit in. yes the hard drives are only mounted on the front glass, the strength of the lexan makes this possible. those suckers are torqued down. lexan is quarter inch.
If i get rounded cables, they need to be extra long because when i remove the front panel, i need to be able to pull the hard drives out a bit with it, at least enough to get my hand in to unplug em.
Thanks for the commnets and suggestions...
kirby

[ST|FFY]

it looks very nice for a custom made :D :D
well done

[Morphes]

i like it but to help cooling u could install a small fan to blow out air near the cpu, or even get like an alpha sorta HS and have a fan blow down onto the HS! the thing looks really slick and nice, me= likes, maybe hide ur cables a lil more and you can always add a fan to that top front, looks a lil plain right there... love ur case thou. You got a worklog?

[heyheyhey]

Are the harddrives mounted on only one side?!?

Otherwise, it looks nice

[bored-sarcasm]

do yourself a favor and sleeve/round those ide cables.

[Benny Blanco]

Looks awesome! I love it.

That is my new favorite clear pc :cool:

[jwill]

i dig it. :cool:

[Cyclone187]

Hmm, when I think about it having the powersupply mounted at the bottom of the case is the most optimal place to have it.

[kirby0027]

Why thank you!

when i started the project, i played with the design layout for a long time. putting the power supply and cdrom at the very bottom of a tower seemed like uncharted territory, but it was the best way to bring clarity and openess to the top. I was concerned about the "heat rises" issue, but i figured the top exhaust would vent enough.
lol its not a cool case by any means, the stock athlon 1800 temp is high 40's/low 50's. Theres also not much metal to dissipate the heat either, but hey, i wasnt aiming for an overclocked system, just really a design piece.

i figure the next time i upgrade it will be an entire system and case. Ill keep this one around for my future house (im in college now) to serve up some media in the family room or something.

Despite the fact that i did all the work myself, the case ended up costing more than i expected, thus the reason i put off the rounded cables...with all the suggestions, i will think about it.

im really suprised that with the high visibility of my cpu nobody suggested upgrading from the stock heatsink/fan. What do you guys think? if i was to upgrade one thing, would you choose rounded cables or killer heatsink?

[Benny Blanco]

By the looks of that motherboard I'd probably start saving up for a new one before anything else :p

I'm sure everyone noticed the heatsink as well as the flat cables... But technically, a stock heatsink works, just as flat cables do. Since your temps are not bad, I would say just save up for a nforce2 motherboard and then maybe start looking at other stuff after that :D

On second thought, I'd probably just leave it all as is... as they say, form follows function ;)

[eldiet]

I really like how the hadrdrives look to be suspended in midair...

nice job.

[Wrench00]

Lexan = big bucks

[kirby0027]

you just gotta look on ebay for lexan, thats where i got mine.
i got 2 15x32 sheets of clear quarter inch MR-10 shipped for 40 bucks
thats cheaper than the acrilic garbage they sell at Lowes.
i cannt say enough great things about lexan. it cut drilled and sanded just like wood with superior strength.
i didnt get lucky either, if you wait a bit and check out the auctions, youll find something similar. companys use huge expensive sheets and ebay the scraps.

[Little Grabbi]

*nods*

You're the man now dawg!

No really, full-view cases with a bit of metal are badass. Kudos!

[jamezzz122]

Looks great...I like that one better than the all clear ones...

[Grimlakin]

A highly clean and smooth case man. I look forward to seeing more excellent work done.

[Ravenrex]

Are the handles attached to the lexan on top? I'd be worried about cracking it or ripping them through when carrying it around if so. I know you said the stuff is strong, but it can't handle the same stresses as metal I would think.

Looks sweet though.

[kill_emma]

four letters for you

d
a
m
n

that is one fine case, keep up the awsome work.

[BiGWooDy]

Wow. A+ for creativity.

[bioallen]

Damn thats one nice case, I love how you have the PSU On the bottem thats nice

Chris

[NickTheNut]

very nice case. your design is nearly identicle to the design I have in mind for the acrylic case I'm going to build soon.

One question for you though. This is something I've yet to figure out / decide on. How do you open up the case to change out parts? Without having the side piece of acyrlic on the outside of the metal beams? Hope that makes sense.

[jeece]

That's a friggin awesome and nice job! I was actually thinking of building something like this, but much smaller as a case for my future server/shuttle.

[Adisharr]

Nice job Kirby :) I like it.. :cool: :cool:

[GSRwBOOST]

very nice!

[kirby0027]

thanks guys...
heres the deal, this case is not very fun to open/work on. the whole left side pulls off, with each piece of trim still on it. i have to unscrew the top 3 screws on the top trim and the bottom 3 screws on the bottom trim. everything is so solid screws arent needed for the sides pieces. then the whole side pulls off and i slip my hand inside to undo the hd cables. easy eh?

:-)

[NickTheNut]

Originally posted by kirby0027
thanks guys...
heres the deal, this case is not very fun to open/work on. the whole left side pulls off, with each piece of trim still on it. i have to unscrew the top 3 screws on the top trim and the bottom 3 screws on the bottom trim. everything is so solid screws arent needed for the sides pieces. then the whole side pulls off and i slip my hand inside to undo the hd cables. easy eh?

:-)

sounds like a real PITA. but how you've done it is giving me some idea's on how to do it for mine. i'm hoping i can start, or at least buy the parts for it, next week.

As long as i don't have to use my machine as a test bed, i should be fine for the infrequent, far apart, part swap.

As it sounds as your case is as well.

good job again, you've got a real solid case there. You've definitly given a good example of well done function over form, and still have it look great in the process.

/ thumbs up! /

[ATi_Loyalist]

nice work man, it looks a little empty on the top front area, you need watercooling, with a nice big res. in the front area.

[darktiger]

Pretty nice.

[jwill]

some chrome color sleeving and ide cables would compliment the rig rather nicely i think.

[icoris]

:eek: sweet!

where did you get those handles from, i want ones just like those only black!

[PCTweaker5]

Did you say it was bullet-proof? So I could come at it a UMP45 and spray the heck out of the side? lol I would love to.

[bmartin]

Real slick work on that case man, but I have to ask.

The locations of your fans, although common, look like the air is heavily restricted. Is the cooling pretty nice in it? I mean, since it is a smaller size, do a lot of the devices create a tendency to have a higer input than exhaust?

Once again, kick a$$ workmanship on this one Kirby.

[Killermac]

That is pretty sweet great job.

Killermac

[OdinsDream]

How's the sideways strength of the case? I can't tell if you joined the metal together, or just rely on the strength of the lexan in between corners. Does it wobble, is what I mean... ?

[s-other]

Nice work! :D

[Mijae]

I am about to build my own custom case and I liked yours, altho I dont want to copy :P

What I do want to know is how does the case hold together?

[waddles]

Very nicely done :cool:

My only suggestion, as some other have said, would be to sleeve/loom the PSU wires and get rounded IDE cables. It's kinda hard to hide wires in a clear case, but I think that would make it look a bit nicer.

One of the nicest home-grown acrylic cases I've seen.

[Heath]

looks pretty sweet.

[DeViLdUdE]

Where did he get those sweet looking corner moldind/backbone/frame???

[twyztyr]

After I build a new box for my brother, I was going to build a clear case, and that's almost exactly the design I had in mind...I guess now I have to figure out how to make mine better ;)

[GlobalFear]

Thread is only two months old..... :confused:

None the less. nice case.

[awdark]

:eek: Wow I really like how simple and clean it looks.
I think I would want more optical drives though.. well I like optical drives so yeah...

Oh yeah.. isnt it hard to get into that case? seems like its all screwed together.

[Grim Incarnation]

My first expression: :eek:

[bobsaget]

Great case man! A couple questions...

How does it open?
How did you cut the angle irons (molding, keeping case together)?



thanks...

[1337m0dd3r]

awesome job man :D

[wayne]

if i didnt look closely at the first pic, i wudda sworn that the harddrives were floating in midair


nice case... good job

[HiDDeN sTaSh]

ive seen one like that before but it was small and poorly crafted
but great job! :)

[superd00k]

how much did it end up costing you in the end? I really like the case, im trying to figure out if i have the time and patience to so something similar

[wayne]

where did you get those handles from, i want ones just like those only black!
yea, i m interested too

[sandman78]

That is one awesome clear case. Great job!

[superd00k]

how much $$ did you spend on the case alone?

[kuyaglen]

WOW is what comes to my mind...can you post a clearer pic of the daughter card brackets? :cool: