Project: New Case

[W.Feather]

Well i'm making a custom case for my folding boxen, and hopefully i can get the first bit going..

If you guys who have more experience in this than me have any ideas/way to do it better let me know, the goal is to do it on the cheap and be effective for folding and lanning

Goals:
-Maximize airflow
-Relatively small footprint, but ability to house 3 GFX if possible, atleast 2, with airflow
-Good cable routing/management
-Quick access for maintenance/swap out of parts

Todo:
-Salvage a motherboard tray/expansion slot part from old OEM Case
-Get Mesh, and L-Brackets for sides
-Torex Screws to put it together(takign to lans on occasion, figured this is good ideas )

Anyhow, to start i've been doing simple CAD work on it, trying to nail out a air flow and basic design....i'm leaning towards just a simple box like case made from salvaged parts and on the cheap....

Can I get some input on where i am at in the design now?(Planning on cutting the tray out tonight).

Link to CAD file if you have AutoCAD 2011- https://cid-11d373542d981296.office...CAD Files/2D LookDown with fan driections.dwg

Image of the above with the airflow i'm leaning towards(I have 2, CAD file has both)-

Been trying to nail this out before i get work going, but well i just want to cut some metal with our roto zip

 

[cj3waker]

I want to to the same thing for my build, I currently have the 692 and love it but a custom case would be tits. what material are you going to be using? I will definitely follow this so I can see how it goes and then give it a try myself

 

[kuyaglen]

Image of the above with the airflow i'm leaning towards(I have 2, CAD file has both)-

I'm not gonna want to login to see that pic.

 

[Jesse B]

Wanna post screencaps instead of .dwg's?

 

[W.Feather]

i did

anyhow, didnt get to what i needed to this past weekend, too much studying.....and a bit of a change.

Rather than a LAN case i've decided to offer the build up to my dad as a family server(8 SATA ports makes it hard to not use it as one to start ), so i need to rework my idea a bit to hold more drives....main concept is the same, ill get new screen caps up tomorrow afternoon.....and get some actual build pics this weekend (doesnt help that i cant find my dam safety glasses.....remember saftey first )

 

[Jesse B]

i did

Says the directory is private and redirects me to my own skydrive.

 

[W.Feather]

whaa? i un did private on all of them......off to change that

edit: does this work?:

if it doesnt, link to it: http://cid-11d373542d981296.photos....res/2D LookDown with fan driections image.bmp

 

[Jesse B]

Works now

 

[W.Feather]

good

 

[W.Feather]

Well here is the update

Got out side, took a long ass time for me to get the rotozip wheel changed to the metal one, got it and work started.

Few pictures of the case before cutting happened. Up until i got to cutting i drilled the rivets i didn't need out(kept 3 so i had the back plate attached to the tray part).

So today i got the tray done....hopefully it will work out. Found out that it truly was OEM, no holes to put standoff's, guess i know what i'm doing sometime this week ...Have to figure out a way to setup using a 120mm fan on the expansion slot area for exhaust....Thinking of just cutting the I/O plate area and the fan part there out and just affix it there....Not sure what i'm doing with the PSU holder part yet, thinking of maybe putting the drives along the top there where there is not going to be anything up there

Imagine my surprise when I found out that the front half of the case was mainly just slid together....the 5.25" bay just popped out....the other part had 4 rivets (of the 12 i un-did i lost 2 bits by pushing too hard when i was drilling...)...

Here I have the top bent so i can cut it easier (Rotozip chewed through it like butter)

Top off-

Bottom banged to hell with a hammer to flatten it for cutting(still didnt get it flat)

All done -

 

[W.Feather]

What drill bit size is needed for drilling holes for standoff's??? I cant seem to find a definitive answer on this....the stand offs ihave are generic ones from a mix of Asus mobo's...

 

[W.Feather]

Scope of the project has changed........Its now going to be a file server case, trying to figure out good thigns to add...

-2 120's per 5 drives, possibly 4, for push/pull on drives for airflow
-Good wire managment opportunities