Home made cases

[Mitchyboi]

Right well firstly i was wondering if anyone has made their own case before? From scratch or heavily modified their brought cases?
If possible post some pics im curious as to what people have achieved
Im planning on making my own case in the summer break from university. I'm thinking about designing a lan case like the micro atx cases you can buy but larger to fit full sized mobos. Possibly a two layored case that can accomadate a compact yet effective water cooling system.
Anyone with their own custom made cases that accomdate watercooling id really like to see some pics.

 

[Silverion77]

I dont have pics (not built) but ive thought of a case sort of like a cabinet... One side stores the PSU, hard drives and with WCing....the pump, res. and xtra stuff..
Then theres a center sort of division to hide cables going across and a stack of fans in the back, and it would have a sort of name plate (LED lit) with my gamer name.
The base would have my drives, readers controllers etc. built in.
Right side would be just the mobo LED lit. and the doors would be molded tinted acrylic plastic with magnetic locks

 

[grieve]

Funny as of late I have been putting a lot of thought into doing this to my machine I have now…

The main thing that has me stumped is what material to use. I have been trying to find out if fiberglass is an option but I am not sure of the thermal properties. (Used on cars, it must resist heat/fire)

I thought about wood but wood will hold the heat in too much…
Ceramic / Plastics I was thinking would be a difficult material to work with as your mistakes will be VERY noticeable.

Building your own case you could easily separate components like HDD’s / Power Supply / Pumps and Rads.. I was thinking you could build a spot for the HDDS that is @ the top of machine, closed in and have a 120mm drawing air in and have vents at the top for its particular box. The Power supply would be the same, only have a hole for the cables coming out of its little box…. Rads could be mounted externally against the case but still be ¾ enclosed, just exposing the 120mm’s.

Another thing is grounding the MB will take a little thought if not using metal of some sort.

 

[Mitchyboi]

Very good points.
My main ideas were to keep it simple and as light as possible using an Aluminium or steel chassis possibly welded together or in some way riveted. Then using 1 or 1.5 mm thick sheets of aluminium which would be cut, bent and fitted to the sides. Possibly using one sheet which could be slid over the top and both sides and attached at the bottom with standard small screws or thumb screws for an incredibly easy dismantle.

HD cages can be brought but making them shouldnt be to hard again by perhaps using the same L shaped steel or aluminium strips that were used to construct the chassis in a smaller type to form a box with struts to screw the HDs in possibly using anti vibration materials incase.

Mounting the mobo possibly a thin sheet of perspex with the raisers screwed into with could be quite easily set on the chassis with screws again. Or just using the motherboard mounting tray from a previous case or brought especially.

My main reason for wanting to make my own case is to optimise air flow as well as personalising it and as a project to keep me busy. As for aesthetics well ill leave it to the imagination. Windows, UVs, Lights and themes etc can all be designed to specification.

 

[grieve]

for sure if you can do Aluminum thats the way to go... Tools is what would stand in my way

 

[Shez]

Hey guys.

I'm slowly working my way through a mini-ITX mod. Being a huge fan of SlipperySkip's work, I decided that an old wooden enclosure would be beautiful and fun to work with. Enjoy!

The case is a gutted Farnsworth ET-069 radio from the 40s. All the exterior wood has been refinished with a natural stain and layers of polyurethane.

The radio tuner glass plate is original. The front opening originally was speaker mesh so I cut out a new wooden replacement and added the 'Farnsworth' lettering by using masking tape, a scalpel, spray paint and lots of free time.

I've also created a new backplate and have crafted a mounting system in preparation of the mini-ITX mobo, picoPSU and HDD. The top 'shelf' of the backplate is removable, so that I can seat the mobo and then stack components above it.

Once everything is attached to the backplate, the entire system will be able to slide out of the decorative radio case, making it easier to troubleshoot and modify.

Future modifications: Once I have all the parts and have created a mounting interface, I'll be spray painting the backplate and interior black. Hopefully, I'll be able to use the original knobs from the radio to act as on/off switches (or something functional). I'll obviously also need a hole to pass wires through, from the back, to the mobo but again, I'm waiting for the parts to figure out exactly where to place them.

 

[sarahwingler]

http://www.neatorama.com/case-mod/

There are some really interesting ones here.....

I personally made my PC in my aquarium ...... It's a pain in the arse to get out to fix though.......

 

[grieve]

nice Shez!

sarahwingl er i thought long and hard about doing an aquarium and decided it be just too much work. and i would probubly cook the fish

 

[scooter7975]

Is anybody sick and tired of these played-out case designs 99% of the industry keeps pumping out. I get the fact that temperature control and sound reduction has come A long way, but the asthetics get more and more boring....sigh.... These are the reasons I constantly scheme up case mods and mods from scratch. I think the industry is wide open for something fresh.

 

[grieve]

I agree Scooter, This might be a great time for some "new" manufacturer to step in and make true custom cases that aren’t 1000's of dollars.

With that said..
I want to build one so I can have everything I want in the case and nothing extra AND not pay $1000 for it..Also just to know I built it and lastly something to do instead of gaming with free time (not that I have a lot of free time)

Building a case is something that would likely take me months to achieve… which means lots of time in the garage with beer and TV and I can smoke in there! AKA no wife in garage!