Project Woodbox

[Feronix]

Awesome, thanks mate

I have indeed taken the wires out the plastic black motherboard connector and plugged them straight into the motherboard pins. We'll see if it all works properly!

 

[TPC]

you can use the bigger black boxes from usb wires too. I did so for example.

 

[ShaunB-91]

This dude is keeping himself busy!

Nice work mate, looking forward to seeing more.

 

[Feronix]

*Blows dust off thread*

I have decided to start working on this again! Ran into a small problem immediately... asked my dad to move it for me when I still had trouble lifting heavy things... big mistake! He somehow managed to snap the Sata data part off the HDD, but the connector still clips in so fingers crossed that it works.

In other news I have taken measurements for the wood to be cut. I will hopefully be working on this over the weekend (though it might have to be afterwards as I need to help my sister move out (after all these years :'))). Internet cookie to the first to work out the Dutch words without help from the internet!

 

[Bullmecha]

Waits patiently for updates......

MOAR !

I am gonna start a similar project myself soon, I hope.

 

[Feronix]

Waits patiently for updates......

MOAR !

I am gonna start a similar project myself soon, I hope.

Thanks mate, I am buying wood tomorrow so hopefully I'll have a nice update for you lot in the evening

You should! It doesn't have to cost the world (especially hardware wise) and I'm hoping to show a cool trick to get your wood to look nice without breaking the bank. Be sure to do a build log

 

[Feronix]

So today, after all these years, I went out to buy me some wood!

... but then I realized that wood IS REALLY F****ING EXPENSIVE soIwenttoausedstuffstoreandbought5convenientlysizedplanksfor€1,25each.

These planks do have the perfect width that I measure out so on the bright side, besides a LOT of money it also saves me some sawing work. On the less bright side, the wood is slightly thicker than I had calculated for, but I have thought of a way to fix this and it will hopefully still look good, if not better!

As they were probably used in some sort of closet or drawers, they came with metal frames on them which I needed to remove. I probably do not have a use for these later on.

(I cheated a little after taking a picture with a screwdriver of the first screw I took the rest out with a drill).

Metal frames all removed

The wood as good as it's going to get

Measuring and drawing, always fun isn't it

Tomorrow I will cut the wood and start working on it

 

[Thelosouvlakia]

I'll leave this here http://imgur.com/a/vXIOT

 

[Feronix]

Started the panel cutting and design this afternoon! Spent nearly three hours just sawing, sanding, milling and more sanding I am now satisfied with most of them.

But first, measuring! OoooOooOoOOoOooohhhhhh

Then, more drawing! Yaaaaayyy

And THEN sawing. This is an unfinished panel, it still needs quite a lot of sanding. Like a lot a lot.

There was also a lot of milling involved, for instance to give the side panels a more shapely design with 45 degree angles like on those bulging case panels you sometimes see. Except here it looks good cause it's wood :

There was also a lot of milling done in the top panel. Mainly to give it nice round edges

But also to make sure it fits snug between the front- and side panels, rather than being just laid on top

A little preview of the back of the case:

This is where I'm leaving it for today fellas. Tomorrow will consist of mainly more sanding and I need to treat the wood. After all that I will start assembly! Thanks for watching so far!

 

[Wraith]

Nice work there dude, which treatment are you using for the wood finish?

 

[Feronix]

Nice work there dude, which treatment are you using for the wood finish?

I don't want to give too much away but it will involve shoe polish and high gloss clearcoat spraypaint

 

[TPC]

Would have went with some tung oil, but thats alright too.

 

[Wraith]

Would have went with some tung oil, but thats alright too.

Or some nice Briwax maybe a deep cherry.

 

[Bullmecha]

Hope it's going well on your end. Started thinking of my own wood box now, still deciding if its a classic desktop or maybe a caselabs(ish) cube. Will start a thread for it soon I think.

Let my modding noobness shine !!!!

 

[Feronix]

Would have went with some tung oil, but thats alright too.

Or some nice Briwax maybe a deep cherry.

I decided to go with a simple mahogany pickle coat in the end

Hope it's going well on your end. Started thinking of my own wood box now, still deciding if its a classic desktop or maybe a caselabs(ish) cube. Will start a thread for it soon I think.

Let my modding noobness shine !!!!

Thanks mate, yeah the build is just taking its time like woodwork always does, but it's a fun and cheap little project that keeps me busy!

As proven by this build log it doesn't have to cost a fortune so I'd definitely say go for it


Update

Done some more sanding (as you do) and it's as smooth as it's ever going to be right now with nice rounded edges.

Done a test fit with some hardware as well. You'd nearly think this is a well planned-out build.... it's not :lol:

Ooooh look, what a nice finish

All panels left out to dry, I'll do another layer, the insides, and a high gloss clearcoat probably tomorrow when IT'S NOT A WARM AS TODAY

This picture was slightly over-exposed so it looks as if part of the wood didn't get treated, but it looks all good in real life, not sure how that happened (except there being so much sun that even with an ISO of 100 my phone still thought a shutter speed of 1/110th second was enough).

 

[Feronix]

Progress has been made today! First of all I put the casefeet on the bottom of the... bottom panel, then I glued the metal case to said panel with industrial glue which is currently drying. I also found a method to do cable management in this case.

The tools and screws to install the casefeet:

One thing that I hadn't noticed before is that these casefeet had a little plastic thing on them, presumably so they'd fit in the steel case only one way around as there'd be an extra hole in there to prevent from from spinning.

This doesn't matter to me because they look the same from every angle and I got them in so tight that they can't even be moved by hand, so I decided to not bother poking extra holes in the wood and just break them off.

I then measured where they all should go. 1 cm from the start of the curve on the side of the panel.

Poked a hole so the screw could only go straight down and screwed them in.

Whoo, we have casefeet, now it might start to look like an actual case!

A quick crappy picture to show the guys in the Whatsapp group what the lay-out of the inside will be like

And lastly the new, super deluxe Feronix™ cable management system.

I didn't get the put these in yet though, as I'm waiting for that glue to dry. More updates probably tomorrow!

 

[Feronix]

Okay I lied, I got bored and did a bit more work

I apologize for the poor quality photos in this update as I used my phone camera without anything to act as a tripod so eh, don't bother enlarging the pictures

First of all, the cable management 'system' in place!

Did some quick zip tying to see if it works

Like a charm

Then my dad decided it'd be a good idea to move the unfinished case while I wasn't around and drop the side panel...

Luckily the entire corner chipped off in one piece that I was able to glue back on. It was just cosmetic damage, but I seem to have saved it quite well. You probably wouldn't be able to tell if you didn't know.

I then screwed the fans into the front panel using wood screws.

I realized at this point that I accidentally gave the Woodbox radiator suport!

I actually genuinely think this case layout would make for an efficient, small µATX case design. Some manufacturer should try it.

 

[TPC]

It's getting somewhere. I like!

 

[Feronix]

It's getting somewhere. I like!

About time wasn't it? Thanks


Update

The side panels are on as well now, but before I could do that I needed to drill two holes in either side of the steel 'backbone' of the case. Because this is a steel case cut in half, it has lost a lot of rigidity and therefore the panels move inwards a bit.

Drilling in a steel case is a bad time when it's already filled with hardware, so I used a rag and some duct tape to make sure no steel bits would end up on the components.

I then glued the panel on and tried to get rid of the residue as much as I could. Couldn't get everything off but that's okay, nothing I can't fix

Use the holes I just drilled to screw the metal panels to the wood and pull them straight.

I then went on to find an old PC for some sacrificial slaughtering in the attic. By that I mean I needed some extra front I/O cable as single ones were too short to reach across the case and through the panel to the start button.

I found an interesting graphics card in it:

Also some spare cables. Unfortunately not a green and black one like the cables already in the system, but this doesn't matter as the only use the colours have is colour coding and the wires on the insides are all the same for those who didn't know (before anyone comments on it )

Cut the connectors off

Stripped the wires

Soldered them, taped one end to the table as you're always a hand short when soldering.

And the other cable for pwr_on

Then the two cables for pwr_led, that change colour halfway through now.

Then put some tape over them and I have lovely extended front I/O cables that'll reach all the way through the case.


Oh, and have a little teaser
Kambo, you're officially the only person that has seen this picture without the blurriness!

 

[Wraith]

Whut! You can't stop there... I wanna see the money shot. :lol: