Building a wooden computer case, good idea or crazy?

Dutch Guy

Dutch Guy

Dutch Guy

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Amsterdam,The Netherlands
I am thinking about building a computer case myself from wood, but is this idea crazy and shouldn’t I do it or will it be fun and work well?

Reasons why to do it:
- Fun
- Allows me to put stuff where I want it (inverted mobo, PSU/HDD’s separate)
- Wood is good for stopping noise?

Reasons not to:
- Might be too difficult (for me)
- Wood resonates?
- Will wood be bad for the components re: earthing?

This is what I thought about so far:
woodcaseva2.jpg


The PSU will be resting on foam, the harddisk will be suspended by rubberbands and the rack will be on foam also.
What is the best way to mount the fans to stop resonance?
The northbridge fan will be changed to a Zalman ZM-NB47J and will be modded to fit.
Any tips on things I can change like less fans or different positions?
 
I think its a good idea mate go for it :) . It wont cost much if you use faced plywood and will look as good as using timber. I'm currently designing an Ash timber front for my case that will match my speakers. The timber will cost me £30 for a piece of American Ash 260mm x 660mm x 25mm so a full case could cost quite a lot.

Regarding grounding you could always use a metal mobo tray from an old case and then use metal drive bays, link them together with a piece of copper wire and link that to the PSU.

Mark
 
MDF might be OK for internal panels - good acoustical damping
(...need a mask while cutting)

some other wooden cases here :
http://www.plasmic.dk/cocoon/en/main.php

as wood is an insulator, the "case is a heatsink!!!" idea is void,
so you could use sound insulation as well.

having panels at odd angles could dissipate internal noise too
(like hi-fi speakers do I guess)

.
 
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make sure you use wood with a low moisture content or it will just bend and twist, if you need any advice let me know im a joiner by trade
 
chesterstu said:
What about heat, i htought cases were made of metal to help them disperse (sp?) heat.
Click to expand...
hold your hand against your (metal) case, if it's no warmer than the desk then it's not dissipating any heat.
At most it's sinking few degrees. (I have to say that, or eveyone will flame me :p )
 
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Wood to build a case will very much work, and I have seen some great examples. IMO you want to use a wood as dense as possible, as it will warp less, be more solid and resonate less. In terms of earthing, you could simply run a wire from a motherboard mounting screw to the casing of the power supply. I'd say go for it. I don't know what your woodworking skills are like, but if your anything like me you will learn as you go along, and the more challenging it is , the more fun it is. :)
 
chesterstu said:
What about heat, i htought cases were made of metal to help them disperse (sp?) heat. Wouldn't a wood one and hold it and make the computer even hotter?
Click to expand...


If the airflow is half decent then the cooling effect of the case will be negliable... So small you wont be able to measure it.

Sam C
 
umm, just wondering where is the exit hole for the hard drive section ? (...assuming they are isolated chambers)

+ possibilty for slow airflow at tail of lower hard drive where it meets the PSU ?

... maybe rotating the hard drives 90deg, mounting the fan underneath and ducting the air flow to the leading edge of the drives might reduce the reflected blade noise to the front ?

|............................
|..../----------------
|../.......######......
|./........##HD##...... =>
||.........######......
||xxxx/============

....^
 
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The PSU needs to have a metal contact to the motherboard.

Run a wire from a mounting screw and solder it onto the mouse I/O port then your earthing rubbish is complete.

Looking good, shame I am not skilled enough with my hands to attempt such a project. :(
 
Sorry for the lack of replies (work sucks)

My woodworking skills are not that good, my experience is mostly wwith laying laminate flooring so that is the only thing I am a little worried about.
I know excactly how I want it to look, but getting it to look that way will be the difficult part and that has stopped me doing it in the past.

@bitslice, that is a very good idea, I think I will do that, I will change it in the plan tomorrow.

As for the possible lower cooling properties I thought about that as well and after reading some articles there is little to no difference between a steel case and aluminium case so I doubt a wooden one will matter, it is all about ambient temp and airflow.
 
I look forward to seeing how you get on :) ..

I must admit I have thought about building a case out of nice veneered mr grade MDF ,but everytime I decide to sit down and start to work it out I get way layed by something else !
 
If you need any help just give me a shout as I'm also a joiner/ cabinet maker by trade. If you use a board material like MDF or plywood you wont get splits or warping associated with timber. If you really want to use timber then id suggest leaving the timber for a few weeks in the room it will be placed to get the moisture content to the right level.

When i was contemplating making a full wooden case i was going to make the case box out of marine grade ply and then veneer the outside surface with a nice book matched walnut veneer :cool: . I was going to make the front out of solid walnut and make it so that it can be removed. Hinges on the door for easy access and also a nice brass 5 lever drawer lock. It would have looked great but the price of the walnut was £60 the veneer was £20 and the ply and bit would have come to around £20 which made it a bit too dear as i don't even have a rig to put in it lol. I'm now just going to make an Ash front for my Eclipse62 and stain it black :cool: , I'll make a thread about it when i get the timber.

Good luck with it and i cant wait to see what you come up with, i miss making furniture so its nice to see a bit of woodwork going on lol.

Mark
 
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