No Case Required

[Shez]

Hey all.

So I've narrowed down the parts that I want for my new rig but I've recently decided that it might be fun to assemble the whole system w/o a case. I'm thinking of building it into a desk. I love woodworking and putting together systems but haven't ever combined the two.

The plan is to take a desk with one or two doors and converting (what would have been a cabinet of filing or shelves) into the case of the computer. I'll try to hide the rig as much as I can and keep the entire build as clean and tidy as humanly possible.

My biggest hang up is that without a case, I haven't a clue where to find the hard drive and optical mounts that I'll need. I know that I can simply mount the motherboard to the inside of the cabinet area and that all the wiring can stretch to fit whatever dimensions. But without prefabbed mounts, I don't have the means to create something to attach the opticals and HD.

So does anyone know of a good site that sells what I'm looking for? Newegg doesn't carry anything close, and I'm sure what I'll need is considered specialty parts.

Thanks for any ideas or insights.

 

[alcattle]

There are removable drive bays, Kangaroo? but there again pricey

 

[biohazard420420]

I would have to agree getting a cheap case and stripping it would be your best bet if nothing else for a pattern to go from as far as mounting holes etc. I actually had though about something like this before but I have neither the skill nor the desk to ruin trying it out, but if you have wood working skills go for it. There was another guy on here who built his whole case out of wood he may be able to give you some advice in your effort. What I would find interesting is your solution to mounting a cd or floppy drive. Are you planning on hiding the entire system behind a door? An interesting thought would be to mount the cd drive coming out the top of the desk maybe coming out at a slight angle just enough to access the front panel of the drive or an even cooler solution would be to get a slot load cd drive ala Apple, and mount it either on the door (probally more trouble than its worth) or if you have the room and depending on the design of the desk itself mounting it just below the desktop on the front of the desk where the doors/drawers are located if there is space. So that way you could just have a slot cut into the wood so you dont have to open the door/drawer the computer is going to be hidden in.

Also what about flush mounting connections for say the keyboard, mouse and monitor on the desktop? Dust might be a problem but would look pretty cool when you have your monitor mouse and keyboard just plugged into the desktop and not running into a hole or something. That I idea is probally a bit far fetched since I am sure dust, dirt and whatever else would be able to easily get into the port but still sounds cool to me. That was you could disguise the entire system in a cabinet and just have needed connections built into the desktop/desk front itself. Either way you have one heck of an idea good luck, post lots of pictures and check this thread out I bet he could help you out.

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=217098&highlight=wooden+case

 

[Shez]

Thanks for the insights. Now that I think about it, it does make more sense to just buy and gut a crappy tower for its mounts. If this whole things goes through I'll be sure to post pics and pry ask for more advice along the way I also dig your ideas biohazard. I'm hoping to keep the thing as flush with the desk and as hidden from plain sight as possible. Now its just a matter of doing it all.

 

[Ninjaz7]

Check out your local second hand store for a cabinet,unless you got big bucks to build 1 yourself....spare parts from a cluncker sounds good...gl