Custom Case

[dvogel]

I have been flirting with the idea of designing and building my own case for a while now. The design is partially complete; that is, it is complete in my head and in the form of napkin chicken scratch, all I need to do is sit down with AutoCAD or some such and draw it out. I have a few questions though.

1) I am horrible at construction, soldering, etc. My hands shake and I am very clumsy. I also have very little patience. Is there any *reasonable* alternative to building it myself? Are there any machine shops who will take my AutoCAD blueprints and build it for me at a reasonable price (ie: sub-$200 USD)?

2) Does anyone know of a "quick and dirty" translation of the official ATX form factor specifications?

3) The main idea of the case would be a cube in which the lower portion is an 8 unit drive enclosure. Atop the drive enclosue, the motherboard would be mounted sideways, with the expansion ports coming out the top. Have any of you built anything like this? Is there anything you wish you would have done better or would advise me to stray away from?

--Drew Vogel

 

[Ragnarock]

I haven't got any ideas, but I have to say congrats on your design, I like the mobo idea, you'd be able to get some pretty airflow straight across the HSF that way, even a blowhole right over. Good thinking, man.

 

[DJBOB]

Hmm I don't know any place that would build it for you but try going down to like Hugh M Woods, Home Depot, Lowes and see if they will do it, or if they can give you advice. That's great you're gonna build you're own case. I'm gonna do that too with my new Celeron system. It should look like a PS2 except with brushed aluminum. 1 5.25 driver and room for 2 3.5 with a floppy. Very small, very nice, very neat. Hope it all goes well for ya. Keep us posted.

Bob

 

[Imaginer]

I am not sure what exactly you want but you can look at a case I have built already and get an idea.

Just click here

 

[DJBOB]

The Epsilon ehh. That's pretty tight bro. I have to get me a sheet of aluminum today if Home Depot is open or Lowes. And if they're not I'll just pick up this niffty thing called sleep lol.

Bob

 

[Imaginer]

<< Is there anything you wish you would have done better or would advise me to stray away from? >>



With the Epsilon, my only regret is that the power supply and the hard drives were a pain to change and remove. Though the hard drives more than the power supply as I didn't access changing the ps often. The cabling for the hard drives, esp the data, were quite short and I worked with it. But if I had 24in cables for the drives, then it would be alot better.

The design of the case had its nice features such as side connectors, easy access cards, easy access motherboard. Everything about the panels is modular and easily slides out.

Wood is alot easier to work with than metal because of the special cutting and welding required. If you don't have the tools, you can rent some at a hardware store along with buying the materials. I would however double check your measurements in your design as it would change when you actually build it because of the exact fittings of the materials to the components of the computer case. In the middle of the case, I had to leave some room for change and unexpected effects.

Good luck in your creation!

 

[ChrisADuffy]

dvogel, I was curious how you made out? Check my case in the sig below...