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Designing a case

Z

Zallek

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 12, 2004
Messages
449
Well, I've been thinking of designing my own case, but I've come to a halt. I'm not sure if I want to stick with my original idea of making it 20"x20"x8" (HTPC type idea(LxWxH)) or go with a standard tower. If its a tower, it would probably be 20" tall, and probably a little wider than standard cases.

The material of choice will either be wood, full plexi, (Im not sure on the type of wood yet, I havent been able to get into town and check for a thin yet sturdy wood) or the frame being wood and the rest plexi. When I get home I'll try and whip of a drawing of what Im dealing with. Please post your comments. This will be my first attempt at a mod (I've never done anything like this before... Oh wait, I've added some CCFL's to my premod! lol)

My reason for doing this is I've been trying to get out of the Pre-Mod case crap that I've had for such a long time now.. I want something new, and I want to do it my self.

-EDIT-
My main inspiration was posted a few days ago.. I'm not sure who posted it anymore, and I cant seem to find the thread, but he drew it in paint.. and it seemed like a fun thing to do, designing a case lol
 
Ok so I couldnt wait to get home.. So I decided to whip something up quickly at school.
Now obviously, these arent to scale, yet, but its just a basic idea of what Im probably going to do.
I was just going to post the pictures.. But I'm not sure if the resolution is to large or not.. To me it isnt, but Im strange.. So heres just some links.

http://danjurassicpark.sphosting.com/Back.jpg
http://danjurassicpark.sphosting.com/Front.jpg
http://danjurassicpark.sphosting.com/Inside.jpg
http://danjurassicpark.sphosting.com/Top1.jpg
http://danjurassicpark.sphosting.com/Top2.jpg
The little.. Rounded box thinger on the window concepts, is the handle.
I plan on designing a window, but for not its just going to be a large square with a fan (or 2 depending on which one I decide to take)
If I decide to take the first window revision, I'll probably take 2 80mm's.. Depending on the design I come up with that is.
Tell me what you think so far.
 
Looks like a plan, just remember that when a manufacturer designs and creates a case they have scientific thought process. They place things and put fans in certain places to allow for the most efficient air flow and cooling, of course this doesnt matter if your going to pimp it out with a water cooling system or something of that effect.
 
20"x20"x8" is a very big case. With the 120mm fan between the MB and the PSU on the back, i can see the necessity for the width, but the length won't need to be anywhere near what you're looking at. The height is also more than you'll need by a fair amount. It seems to me that with the setup you're planning, you could go with a case just tall enough for the 120mm fans an the PCI/AGP cards. Man, with that much space, you could fit TWO watercooling systems in there!
 
They are rough measurements, I'll check it over again tonight now that Im home. All I did was measure my current case (its the mini raidmax scorpia thingy..), the reason I had the length at 20" was because, I dont know if its my motherboard thats so huge.. Or if its the case, but I see people that have huge gaps between the board and the opticals and stuff, I just felt that I didnt have enough room there. I'll probably end up making it 15" long.. Or a little bit longer than that.

The reason I had the fans where they were, was like I said about where I got my inspiration from, he had a fan setup, and people said he should change it to "so and so" to allow for better cooling (He had a fan blowing the last PCI card, so it wasnt do very much) and they had come up with something like what I have now, seems like it would be good. And any comments on the window design? I may come up with a 3rd revision of the window because after thinking a bit.. An exhaust over the cpu, and the videocard would allow for better overclocking cooling rather than the second fan just kinda sitting up over another fan.. (Now that I think about it, that was just a lame idea, and I should be hit or something...) But anyhow, I'll whip up some more drawings, and get your guys' comments on the new revisions.
Comments make people perfect!.. Kinda..

-Zallek
 
Movray. It uses Povray to render stuff only its a lot easier to draw with than povray, not saying that it's easy. If you want to a easier time drawing and don't care what it looks like get a copy of solid edge or other cad software.
 
Well, it seems that my plan of action has changed. So far people have told me I should go for an industrial look (aluminum frame, with aluminum fans, but i rather like the wood finish.. Im not sure anymore) over my original wood finish. I'll be posting new revisions with dimensions (gasp!) that should be realistic now, from feedback from you guys, as well as friends and my computer teacher at school. So far I've changed wood to aluminum.. In the descriptions, and the design has changed, slightly.
I'll keep everyone up to date if the project is a go, lets hope it is, Im in for some dremelling fun!

-Zallek

-EDIT-
I changed my mind, rather quickly. Screw the industrial look lol, I want it to match the rest of my room.. And wood is so good looking sometimes.
 
Wood can look really good, and is very easy to work with. Are you planning on staining and varnishing as well?
 
Yeah, thats why Im really leaning towards wood. I'd rather have a nice wood finish than painted metal. And since I dont really overclock or anything (and even if I did, I think the 4-5 120mm fans could keep it nice and cool) so it wont be absorbing the heat. Correct me if Im wrong about that, if wood absorbs heat well.. I'm wrong about a lot of things.

-Zallek
 
Build a cardboard mock-up first and see if it all fits and you like the look, size, etc
 
looking at the pictures it seems as thought this case will be laying horizontally on the floor. What if you put small speakers (and or subwoofer) in those holes for fans, and position the fans on the side and top of the case. just a thought
-micah
 
I was thinking about that too, but I dont have any speakers small enough to fit the 120mm holes. And the cardboard mock, that seems like a good idea...
 
You don't have any speakers smaller than 5"? Wow.

You could just pick up some el-cheapo speakers and mod them into the case. Just make sure you use shielding.
 
Now that I think of it.. I could rip apart an old Altec Lansing speaker 'system' I got awhile ago.. Its the shitty 4.1 gaming thingy.. My headphones produce better sound quality than they do lol. Im not sure if I would like having speakers built into it though, we'll see hehe.
 
Im still stumped on what material I should use. I want to use wood because I've delt with wood before, and its much easier to use than metal.. But with metal I could do a lot of things with it. Anyone have a theme I could think about to make the design more creative than a wooden box?
 
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