Questions about building a wooden case

Tom Brown · Post by **Tom Brown** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 12:03 pm

I'm entertaining the idea of building a couple of cases out of wood. There have been a lot of beautiful projects posted in here.

Has anyone found parts to make the job easier? Drive cages, etc.? Perhaps a recommendation of the best case to cannibalize? I don't want to have to do any more work than I have to. I have no problem with the carpentry but I'm worried about details like door hardware, front panel details, cages, motherboard standoffs, etc.

By the way, I'm extremely pleased with my Sonatas. They are pretty much silent using mods and components I've learned about in these forums. The idea behind the wood is to match a white oak desk. I've thought about P180s but I worry about the front panel warping problem. Is it still an issue?

I really prefer wood but worry about the work involved.

krille · Post by **krille** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 12:12 pm

The front panel warping is not an issue anymore. It's been fixed by using the triple-layer (alu-plastic-alu) of the side panels for the front panel as well, instead of the original front panel dual-layer (alu-plastic). This gives it a much more solid feel and prevents warping. Also some additional tweaks have been made. So if you get a new case, you shouldn't have to worry about warping. Even if you got one of the old front panels, Antec will ship you a new one for free.

As for a wooden case, I don't think wood protects against EMI so you may have to consider it a little further. It may turn out a health hazard. I'd go with the Antec P180 (perhaps the Black or even the SPCR SE version).

Good luck!

~ Kris

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 12:19 pm

krille wrote:As for a wooden case, I don't think wood protects against EMI so you may have to consider it a little further. It may turn out a health hazard.

I knew it was my caseless computer that made me insane!

justblair · Post by **justblair** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 2:49 pm

krille wrote:As for a wooden case, I don't think wood protects against EMI so you may have to consider it a little further. It may turn out a health hazard. I'd go with the Antec P180 (perhaps the Black or even the SPCR SE version).

Surely your not telling me that you aren't wearing a tin foil hat??!!! An interesting feature of tin foil head attire is that not only does it stop the CIA controlling your thoughts, but it also blocks out 99.8% of EMI waves...

I didn't think that many people were cavalier enough not to wear these life saving devices? Jeesh...

McBanjo · Post by **McBanjo** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 3:13 pm

@ qviri and justblair

I'm currently building a case out of wood. I'll be covering the inside with aluminium foil (2 layers

) to keep those EMI-waves inside the case. According to the info I got then it doesn't really mather how thick the metal is as long as it's there. Thin net works (Â½-1mm thick holes) but foil is easier to work with and is cheaper

I'm customising a lot of the stuff so it takes some time to do it. I'm only going to use the backplate, motherboardtray, on-led, HDD-led and on-button (possibly reboot-button as well).
Liang-Li has a backplate+motherboard for homemade cases to sell but then you need to buy buttons and maby some leds as well. Otherwise just buy the cheaperst possible case and stripp it

Currently me and my dad has been working (ok, I tell him what I want and he does it

) for about maby 14-20 hours and it might need max another 8-10 hours excluding paint and sounddamping (2-3 hours?).
Lots of it has been explaining and discussions tho

Say 2-3 hours in the shops as well.

One option is covering a case with a wooden box. Sides, roof and a door isn't so hard to fix if you just want it to look nice.

My case so far:
http://hem.bredband.net/gabsta/Case.htm

Will try to have enought pics there to maby inspire some other people

TomZ · Post by **TomZ** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 3:14 pm

krille wrote:As for a wooden case, I don't think wood protects against EMI so you may have to consider it a little further. It may turn out a health hazard.

Uh, no - it's called "non-ionizing radiation" - not harmful to humans at all. Human bodies don't react to it whatsoever, i.e., no change in state. The fear-mongers of the world (esp. the news media) like to keep us worried about this, but it's been known for a long time to not be a concern.

The biggest risk is that your AM radio or Bluetooth device may not work nearby. Shielding is desired for these sorts of reasons, not for health reasons.

But if you don't believe any of this, you better start wrapping yourself in tin foil, since radiated fields are all around us all the time. I especially like the tin foil hats the other posters mentioned. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_foil_hat

I think a wood case would be really cool, and if I had some free time, I'd build one myself. If you decide to do this project, please post photos! The thing that is kind of interesting to me is that, if you design your own case, you don't have to be worry about all the production cost constraints that "professional" case manufacturers have to think about. If yours takes 30-40 hours to make - no problem (as long as you can spare that much time, of course).

I have to admit, I would worry a little about fire, in case the PSU faulted. But the PSU is already enclosed, and I think the odds of having a problem are pretty slim.

BillyBuerger · Post by **BillyBuerger** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 4:46 pm

McBanjo wrote:Liang-Li has a backplate+motherboard for homemade cases to sell but then you need to buy buttons and maby some leds as well. Otherwise just buy the cheaperst possible case and stripp it

Really? Where can I find that? I've stripped a couple of old cases for parts. But it might be easier if it's all ready to go.

It's fun building a wood case as you can do whatever you want with it. But it does take time. I'm making a very simple wood case for an old Pentium 133 on an AT motherboard and it's taking plenty of time. I'm currently trying to figure out the drive cage. That's one of the more difficult things to figure out.

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:17 pm

BillyBuerger wrote:I'm currently trying to figure out the drive cage. That's one of the more difficult things to figure out.

Is your difficulty figuring out where to put it or actually making the thing? Custom case or not, I never use a stock drive cage in any case. I prefer "suspending" drives on the flat floor of a case.

At some point I've got to post pictures of my file server's "drive cage". It's really just a set of four stock 3.5"->5.25" adapter rails. The drives are screwed in to them perpendicular to how they were supposed to go--so the drives are like bed matresses and the rails are like vertical bed-posts. The result is a 4 legged "table" which sits on top of an upside-down mousepad.

justblair · Post by **justblair** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:12 pm

In my wooden pc case I stole the 5 1/4' drive bays from an old atx mini tower. It was riveted to the front of the tower. Conveniently when the rivets were drilled out, I was left with two mounting holes.

I then suspended the drive as normal (well normal in current company)

I also jigsawed out the mobo mount and backplate from the same case. Got all the mounts I needed.

My in desk pc

Here is the thread with more detail.

McBanjo · Post by **McBanjo** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 11:53 pm

BillyBuerger wrote:Really? Where can I find that? I've stripped a couple of old cases for parts. But it might be easier if it's all ready to go.

It's fun building a wood case as you can do whatever you want with it. But it does take time. I'm making a very simple wood case for an old Pentium 133 on an AT motherboard and it's taking plenty of time. I'm currently trying to figure out the drive cage. That's one of the more difficult things to figure out.

No idea where you can find it in USA but here is the Swedish url:
http://www.overclockers.se/ItemInfo?itemId=57507906

I didn't find it on Lian-Lis site so it might be a local offer. A sparepart or so

I'm probibly done with the "drivecage" area tomorrow so you can check my site for updates then and see my solutions.
If it's good or not I don't know tho

krille · Post by **krille** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 4:14 am

Whatever..

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 5:50 am

Uh, no - it's called "non-ionizing radiation" - not harmful to humans at all. Human bodies don't react to it whatsoever, i.e., no change in state. The fear-mongers of the world (esp. the news media) like to keep us worried about this, but it's been known for a long time to not be a concern.

OK, I'm as against fearmongering as anyone else (see my post re: Singing the WiFi Blues in the Silent Front) but this is not exactly the truth either. Non-ionising radiation can harm humans in several ways which are firmly established from experimental and practical experience:

1) Microwaves of sufficient strength can cause dielectric heating in human tissue (mostly because of the high water content of the human body). This is why microwave ovens are shielded.

2) Staring directly at the sun for long periods can cause blindness.

3) RF energy at high intensities can cause cataracts:

wiki

Premature cataracts is known as an occupational disease of engineers who work on high power radio transmitters at similar frequencies.

Also:

In December 2004 a pan-European study showed compelling evidence of DNA damage of cells when exposed between 0.3 to 2 watts/kg. This overlaps with the level of radiation typically emitted by digital cell phones of around 0.2 to 1 watt/kg. There were indications, but not rigorous evidence of other cell changes, including damage to chromosomes, alterations in the activity of certain genes and a boosted rate of cell division.

4) Industrial-strength lasers can cut flesh and metal.

The simple fact is that there has not been enough research into the effects of non-ionising radiation to say conclusively that there are no ill-effects (besides the ones listed above). Certain types of non-ionising radiation (such as sunlight below the UVA/B wave band) is known to represent minimal health risks, but we really know very little about how the human body reacts to long-term exposure to RF energy.

McBanjo · Post by **McBanjo** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 6:37 am

jaganath: Do you have a microwave and an industrial laser in your case? Cool, got pics?

Consider what this site and forum is about then I belive everyone assumes that anyone is refering to radio-wave-thingy then it's about what a computer puts out.
Your probibly right that some types do harm but those examples isn't really intresting here.
I doubt the radio-waves a computer transmits is very bad for people consider we probibly get more shit from the surrounding area but consider how easy it is to glue foil then it's bether to do that to be on the safe side.
I seriusly doubt those radiations to be good for people and probibly not 100% harmless but nothing to worry about anyway.

From a woodcase to lasers...this is a weird forum *lol*

krille · Post by **krille** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 6:51 am

McBanjo wrote:jaganath: Do you have a microwave and an industrial laser in your case? Cool, got pics?

Consider what this site and forum is about then I belive everyone assumes that anyone is refering to radio-wave-thingy then it's about what a computer puts out.
Your probibly right that some types do harm but those examples isn't really intresting here.
I doubt the radio-waves a computer transmits is very bad for people consider we probibly get more shit from the surrounding area but consider how easy it is to glue foil then it's bether to do that to be on the safe side.
I seriusly doubt those radiations to be good for people and probibly not 100% harmless but nothing to worry about anyway.

From a woodcase to lasers...this is a weird forum *lol*

Microwaves are 2.4 Ghz. Modern CPUs are 2.4 Ghz+. Effect differs of course, but myself I'm going by the old school better safe than sorry and I listen carefully to Jaganath's points. Considering a microwave can hurt you in a very short amount of time, I don't fancy the thought of the long-term exposure of sitting by your leaking computer for long amounts of time. One must always factor in time as well.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:36 am

Microwaves are 2.4 Ghz. Modern CPUs are 2.4 Ghz+.

Of course, the main difference between the two sources is power: the typical microwave oven is emitting ~1000W of RF energy, whereas I suspect unintentional radiations from computer components would be less than 100W, maybe a lot less. Also, component manufacturers have to comply with various regulations which set a limit on the amount of EMI that a product is allowed to emit, and motherboard designers etc often go to great lengths to eliminate the possibility of unwanted EMI radiation:

PCB layout guidelines

In more complex PCBs, two or more of the layers are dedicated to providing ground and power. These ground planes and power planes distribute power well. They also prevent [emission of] radio waves from antennas unintentionally formed by tracks.

Some designs cut the ground plane or the entire PCB in strategic locations to control the return paths of currents. The usual desire is to keep high voltages or frequencies away from sensitive portions of a circuit. The actual properties of the design are critical, because in some cases, cutting the ground plane makes the PCB into an antenna that radiates radio noise into nearby equipment.

inputs and outputs should be far apart, so that RF energy will not leak back from output to input. stages should line up, rather than snake around.
decouple the RF parts of the circuit from the DC parts of the circuit.
shield AF and IF components from RF components.

However, as both Krille and McBanjo have noted, EMI shielding is relatively easy to do (although inevitably some EMI will leak out of fan grilles and suchlike) so if you have any doubts at all there's no reason not to implement it.

ToasterIQ2000 · Post by **ToasterIQ2000** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:58 am

The one wooden case that I've done features the motherboard tray from a discaded case. Your local repair shop probably disposes of obsolete things on a regular basis. I chopped out the motherboard tray with a largish band saw -- the case was old and sturdily welded together.

While three sides are covered in woven cane (tan hexagonal patterned furniture material, goes nice with red oak and lots of exposed brass) one side is all water filled radiator -- regular distilled water, not heavy water, alas!

Say the human brain consumes 10 - 20 watts. Erekinska, M. and Silver, A. I. (1994) Ions and Energy in the Mammalian Brain, Prog. Neurobiol. 43: 37-71. The only normal way this energy gets in and out is through the blood. Ballpark, that's 5 - 10 watts / kilo, or again roughly and off the cuff .002 - .004 watts / cc. Individual covalent bonds in protiens change shape in response to significantly less than ... zepto joules of energy. Any spurios energy absorbed by this tissue must alter function and structure in some manner. Actual experiments to detect the effect of stray zepto joules -- effects far more ephemeral and miniscule than genetic dammage -- in such a complex system have to my knowledge not been done.

My Gramma said not to sit too close to the TV.

I don't know any of you well enough to invite you over to see my collection of hats.

Gorsnak · Post by **Gorsnak** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 12:27 pm

If you've looked through the DIY articles here, you've no doubt read mine (Doug's Quiet Wooden PC Case, too lazy to make a link). As seen in the article, I cannibalized the optical drive cage and the mobo tray/expansion card lockdowns from my old case. Just drilled out the rivets, and it all came apart nice and clean. Those two particular parts are imho the most useful to take, since they're the only places where very precise fitting is required, and hence doing so saves a bunch of work. Any old beige-box ATX case will do. I'd recommend finding a discard somewhere.

Door hardware: visit your local hardware. Or Home Depot, though Home Depot in my experience overcharges on small stuff like cabinet hardware. Anyways, you're looking for small hinges and door catches, and there are a myriad of types and styles available for every conceivable application.

Front panel details, like power/reset switches and power/drive leds: The switches are simple momentary contact switches (normally open). You can buy such at Radio Shack, or for a better range to choose from, an industrial electronics supply shop (you know, the kind audio/visual contractors use to stock up on install wire and audio jacks and.....switches). These are connected to pins on the mobo - the manual should say which pins are what, though I think actually the pinout of that particular bit might be part of the ATX standard. LEDs are available in the same stores that sell switches. LEDs normally need a resistor wired in series with them - that resistor might be wired into the mobo, but to be totally honest I haven't any idea if it is, as I stole the leds out of my old case.

As for RFI shielding, an unshielded wooden case is functionally equivalent to a metal one with the side door open. I know lots of people who run rigs with the doors off. If this is a concern, you can line your case with mesh or foil. Make sure the mesh/foil is connected to ground, and that the parts on seperate pieces like the side door makes connection to the rest of the lining for the shielding to actually work. I didn't bother with shielding, though, and haven't noticed any detrimental effects on neighbouring electronic devices.

justblair · Post by **justblair** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 2:09 pm

One find that Gorsnack just reminded me of.

Power buttons.

I got hold of three stainless steel push fit momentary power buttons from an electrical supplier. They are described as "flush fit vandal resistant door entry buzzer switches". They are way cool and quality wise about as good as you get. They took a bit of finding, but if you do a search on the terms in quote marks you can find them. I got mine from Farnell. For the other end, I just snipped the wires off the atx case I was butchering. Got the correct terminations then for the mobo.

They did cost me about 7GBP each inc delivery (Farnell are wholesalers so there was a minimum order) so not the cheapest option. But compared to the cheapo plastic offerings that places like maplins offer worth the extra spend. I replaced the one on the in desk pc I linked to and am very much happier with the result.

As for the EMI issue, sorry to krille if it sounded like I was poking fun... Ok I was, but I didn't mean to sound disrespectful. Tongue was in cheek.

On a more serious note Tom, dont let these folks put you off wearing the tin foil hat... They are clearly under the control of the CIA already.

ronrem · Post by **ronrem** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:37 am

Many towns have some sort of local recycle center,or just a town dump,and they likely have a lot of old cases being scrapped. A local repair shop is another option. I worked awhile at a recycle facility,have several cases I scavange and one big old server unit I've considered mounting 2 full systems in....if I don't do a wood or partially wood unit.

On another temp gig I got some leftover stainless steel,a roll of it. This stuff is rigid,unlike foil but thin enough that it cuts with heavy scissors.
Wood-Foam SS Steel sandwich construction? Perhaps.

BillyBuerger · Post by **BillyBuerger** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:04 am

Back on topic a bit....

IsaacKuo wrote: Is your difficulty figuring out where to put it or actually making the thing? Custom case or not, I never use a stock drive cage in any case. I prefer "suspending" drives on the flat floor of a case.

My problem has been figuring out how to makes something that doesn't make it too difficult to swap the drives around yet still holds everything in place. Usually, in order to mount something secure enough, it requires screwing it in on both sides. That means both sides of the drive cage have to be accessible. I've been mounting the motherboard try directly to the back of the case. Meaning that the back is not removable. So I'm trying to figure out how can I screw in the back side of the drive cage.

Using a drive rail system is also an option. Although most cases that do this also have a removable front panel in order to cover up the openings around the drive for the rails to fit. Also not something I want to try to do with a wooden case.

I did come up with something that seems to work for my current little project. I'm almost done so I'll post an article on the whole process at that time.

Click here for what I've got so far.

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:16 am

How pretty is the underside of your case? Because I've occasionally thought of a scratchbuilt AT case and one thing I'd do is flip the traditional layout upside-down. Why? Because the usual CPU location is at the bottom front, where it interferes with my favored hard drive location (the bottom of the case).

With an unobstructed bottom surface to work with, the drive cage can be trivially removeable--that makes inserting/removing drives pretty easy. My preference is a sort of drive cage resting on top of an upside-down mousepad, providing a suspension.

Note that the typical location of AT mobo IDE headers is at the "top", so if it's upside-down the headers are at the "bottom"--a convenient location for hard drives resting over the case floor.

BillyBuerger · Post by **BillyBuerger** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:41 am

IsaacKuo wrote:With an unobstructed bottom surface to work with, the drive cage can be trivially removeable--that makes inserting/removing drives pretty easy. My preference is a sort of drive cage resting on top of an upside-down mousepad, providing a suspension.

I'm sorry, I'm not understanding how moving the hard drive to the bottom makes mounting the CD/Floppy any easier.

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:05 am

Well, I usually "mount" a CD drive just by resting it on the floor of the case. The slight lip on the drive's bezel keeps it from falling into the case when you press on the button (the drive needs to be inserted/removed through the front of the case). The upper surface of the optical drive can be used to rest a mousepad/hard drive cage, or the hard drive can be mounted behind it.

I'm not really big on putting the optical drive in the traditional location, since the traditional location bathes the drive in hot stagnant air.

The floppy? Well, you've already got a floppy mount and I don't imagine you'll be swapping it in/out very often, right?

BillyBuerger · Post by **BillyBuerger** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 8:01 am

Oh, I gotcha. Well, I'm looking for a more sturdy location. Plus I'm always taking things apart and swaping parts. So I do need to be able to remove the drives whithout ripping the case apart.

For instance I started the PC up just last night and for some reason, I didn't get any response. No video or nothing. Turned out to be the floppy drive. I don't know what it was doing. But plugging a different one in fixed it. Had I mounted the floppy more permenatly, I would have been in trouble.

BillyBuerger · Post by **BillyBuerger** » Mon May 01, 2006 4:59 pm

I posted my Wood case for an AT Pentium 133.