Tokara IV - Compact Wooden Case build... In 1 month.

[DarkCow]

Well, my Current case is just too big... Its more than 2 feet high and 2 1/2 feet long... I'm going off to college mid-August and I've decided I need a smaller case, with more power. Any suggestions are welcome.

Here's the specs.

24 in x 20 in x 7 in (L x H x W)

Hardware:
EVGA 780i - P08
Q6600 G0 L747A [ 445x9:4.0Ghz @ 1.55v ] I hope...
xFx GTX260 216 Black Edition [ GPU:740Mhz Shader:1515 Ram:1215Mhz ]
6 GB OCZ Reaper DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 [ 990Mhz ]
750watt Silverstone Modular Strider
3x HDD [ 2 TB ]
1x DVD-RW
1x Sunbeam Rheobus

Cooling:
Dual MCR320 w/ 6 High Speed Yate Loons
MCP655 (Have room for 2)
MCW-60r2
Apogee GT (may upgrade)
Ek-250 Reservoir
2x 80mm with air ducts to Mosfets and NB
1x 120mm to cool HDD


Current Build Stage : Design



A few problems include

1. Its going to be heavier because of 1/2" wooden planks all over the place. Not perfect for lans.
2. The front doesn't have any designs. Just a flat face. Any ideas?
3. The Window is sort of boring. But maybe simple is best?

[DarkCow]

Reserved

[millertime359]

Dark Cow, looking good, but there is a worklog section. I would PM a mod and ask them to move you over

[3Z3VH]

I am hoping you are watercooling everything (including chipset and mosfets), otherwise that motherboard compartment will trap a lot of heat.

You may also want to check the depth of your DVD drive with the SATA cable plugged in, because most of them will be longer than that front compartment can hold... unless you build the case so the 5-1/4" drives so they are a part of the motherboard "chamber."

Where will the hard drives be mounted ?

How will you hold the cards into the motherboard ?

Any plan to hide the cables ? Because right now there is nowhere to hide them.

[DarkCow]

Good points there... I would love to water cool the motherboard. Its just the expense for the blocks is ridiculous. I could buy a new x58 mobo for the price... I'm constantly looking at the classifieds and I'm hoping to pick up some old stuff.

I'm thinking a EK-780i cooler. Then air cooling the mosfets (Can't see myself watercooling those).

What do you recommend the South Bridge. Is it worth water cooling?

The hard-drives will be mounted in the bottom right corner of the motherboard compartment. I will probably build a false back with holes in it to hide cables. While I will probably sleeve other cables and "hide" them in plain sight. As for mounting everything, I usually make it up as I go along.


I'm going to the store either today or tomorrow and picking up some Spanish Cedar for the frame. Its a nice reddish color and it smells great. I love working with it. The benefit is that its light. For the siding I plan on using some white oak plywood then staining it.


If a mod wants to move this feel free.

[kinghong1970]

you should go get google sketchup... it's a lot of fun... and easy to learn...

[voigts]

So you are finally at it again?

I also really recommend using Sketchup. For instance, I am wondering in a 7" wide case how you are going to fit your PSU and triple radiator next to each other. Even using a thin rad like an MCR, the rad and 25mm fans take up about 2 1/4".

On the current project I've been working on (and plan on resuming next week when I get back home), spending a lot of time in Sketchup to plan exactly how I want everything to go has saved me a tremendous amount of headache.

Sketchup does take some learning, but its nothing that is really too complicated.

[DarkCow]

you betcha. Here is a quick model. There is about 1" of space between the PSU and the Radiator





PS... There will be a peice of wood here. I just deleted it to show you the gap... Its pretty big and I don't think there will be a problem.

Any suggestions? I think I'm going to use a smaller reservoir and stick it on top of the HDD.

[Capt Proton]

I don't see any cooling for your Motherboard or hard drives. No fans, not even any holes. I don't think you will like the result without some.

[DarkCow]

O lol. Forgot about that. This model does leave a lot to the imagination, its not very good. But its basic.

I had to increase the width of the case by .5" to fit the extra fan in there. Thank god you guys made me draw it up in sketch.





And of course there's going to be a huge hole for the graphics cards etc... So there should be plenty of airflow.

[Laine]

I would've flipped the front rad 90 degrees vertically, that way you'll have a more compact build, and maybe some airflow left over for HDDs and motherboard.
As you wrote, put a res on the HDDs and the optical drive sticking out above.

That'll make it somewhat more compact.

Good luck!

[DarkCow]

Well, bought some wood but turns out 6 ft isn't enough lol.

Well, here's a few pics, Work will start tommorow building the bottom, back and the splitters.


Here's the joint, quite simple, and it will allow me to get that cool long sweeping Lian-Li curve.


and of course the work place... Its a dump I know.

[dengyong]

Just to give you something to think about, fans don't have to be mounted on the rads.

You can mount the fans anywhere on a box as an exhaust and the air will come in through the rads (if they are the only opening) with no dead space from the fan motor.

It's easier to control the air flow that way.

[DarkCow]

That's an interesting idea... But I don't think I want to do that because I won't be able to fit all 6 fans on the other side, and I'm not sure how good of a seal I can get.

[DarkCow]

Just a quick update, cut out a few pieces today, but mostly just planned out the motherboard tray and mounting mechanisms

[PatRaceTin]

wow interesting project log

[DarkCow]

thx guys.

More updates, the thickness planer didn't do me wonders, had to do some repairs


This router jig took forever to set up, had to really thin out the back for motherboard.


The joints coming together quite nicely... To be honest, masking tape is really underrated.


And of course uni-sleeving. First try

[WaterFlex]

Wow! The best WCidea i have ever seen! Good luck! Crazy man!

[voigts]

I had to increase the width of the case by .5" to fit the extra fan in there. Thank god you guys made me draw it up in sketch

Now you know first hand why it is a good idea to work up the a model in Sketchup first. You end up with a much better end result this way with a lot less gotchas while building.

[Hidetaka]

You could get rid of 2 fans cooling your HDDs and mobo by cutting a hole in the vertical wall dividing mobo compartment and front rad and redirecting airflow from this rad [or both if you want more flow]. The air from rads is cool enough and you'd get some serious positive case pressure [6 fans blowing air in, 8 if you keep the ones on HDD O.o]

[DarkCow]

Good idea, I think there is enough room to shove a 120mm in the splitter. There is going to be a serious amount of positive pressure. Everything that's not bolted to the ground is going to be sucked into it

A good nights work... I'm sore, my back is killing me... But hey, the corners are actually at 90 degree angles whoo whoo! my last case was no where near square...

[DarkCow]

Gotta glue something to mont the side panels on... Nothing fancy, just flat face. over 20 strips in total...

[voigts]

A good nights work... I'm sore, my back is killing me... But hey, the corners are actually at 90 degree angles whoo whoo! my last case was no where near square...

I too have had a few of those days working on the build I'm on. I know the feeling! And I too got my corners square to within less than 1/16" which is a first!

Keep it coming.

[Manicdan]

looking really good

just kinda funny you call this the "smaller" one

and i love the google sketchup, im gonna try it out tonight after i get off work and see if can put some of my old builds into it

[DarkCow]

lol, I know, its not much smaller at all, it just looks smaller. My last case looks cavernous, this case has all the space put to good use.

Now onto what in my opinion was the hardest job. The side panels, took all day cutting, sanding, plaining, cutting again, sanding again, repair jobs, plaining again, then sanding, then glueing back on corners etc... etc... etc... Why can't it just be easy?!

Me at work


One of 4 side panels, it looks like it may just fit.


So close, but yet so far!


With a little bit of patience, and a lot of elbow grease. the finished (well almost) result.


and of course the most fattening pizza I can buy