Building a Case!

[Bryants97240sx]

Well this is my first mod. What a way to do it building the whole case from scratch!!

First off im building a new computer and i was looking and looking for a case, and I just could not find one i really liked so why not build my own?

I started off with a some 3/4" angle alum and built the frame. It ended up being 18" high, 12inches wide, and 14" deep. After looking at it for a while i had another idea i was gonna add a seperate compartment to the bottom to house the PSU and HDD Cage and split those off from each other also. So the final height ended up being 24"

My idea by doing this it that the heat from each main componets wont be affeting my MOBO and CPU tmeps. So heres the frame.



Then i moved on and started constructin a HDD cage. It only hold three but i prolly wont be using more than three hardrives anyways. But if i do i can always build another one.

It demesions ended up being 6" 1/4 deep, 4" 1/4 wide and 4" 1/2 high.




Heres a picture of just the cage.^^^




Another angle.^^^

So after all that I put an old mobo in and HDD cage, to figure out how im gonna lay every thing out.





Thats about as far as i am now as far as construction the sides will be acrylic, possibly either tinted black execpt the side that you can see the mobo. I would just use alum. for the sides and one acrylic side for a window, but alum. sheets are farily expensive so acrylic will do.

Here are some more random shots.







This side will be the front.^^^^




Backside.^^^^

Thats all i got for now, i need to cut the acrylic for the mobo side, so i can drill holes for the mobo mounts then go from there.

Ill try and update tomorrow. Thanks for looking.

[Navig]

Looks awesome. Building cases from scratch, so that they are exactly how I want'em, is a also a passion of mine!

My drive cage is just one step ahead, bad in black!


navig

[Bryants97240sx]

Yeah that looks a lot better than mine ha. oh well im satisfied with it since it was my first one. It was a pain b.c you were constly having to measure and remeasure to make it square and line everything up.

[Navig]

My friend, paint it black. Everything looks sexier in black! I used duplicolor high heat engine enamel + baked@200F for 30 min + lots of ventilation for the kitchen = instant hardened chip resistant black.

[JPeitzman]

Nice, I will like to see how this turns out. I love seeing what others build to house their systems, nice car too.

@Navig nice bench station too, I might have to make me one of those.

[SoF]

some good ideas already, I wanna know as well how it comes out

[RAFH]

Fabulous work folks, keep it up, you are inspirations.

[Sparky]

nice

Where are the optical drives going or do you not know yet?

[tcG]

Very nice- can't wait to see it finished!

[Bryants97240sx]

OK so its been a few days, but i had time to work on it tonight and got a little more done.



I made the support bar for the optical drives.



Then i made the optical drive cage. No holes have been drilled for the drives, yet.



Another angle.



I then mounted the cage to the main case using pop rivets( like everything else).



Drive sitting in the cage.



Sky shot!!


I then proceded to make the top part for the compartment that will house the HDD's and PSU. Pictured below.




Now i removed the support bars that i had mounted in the earlier pictures, b.c I thought of a better way. I plan on buying threaded rod, and it will take place of the alum. angle bar i had mounted in the earlier stages.



Mocking everything up.



Another shot.



Last one.

Thats all I have for now guys ill try and update soon.

[Maviryk]

Are you going to have any cross bracing at all? That looks like it's going to twist and flex a lot.

[Bryants97240sx]

no theres no need for it, its quite strong.

[Maviryk]

How many feet of 3/4" angle is that?

[Bryants97240sx]

lol enough, ill have to get back to you on how much ive bought.

[Maviryk]

Hehe reason I ask is I'm building a similar sized frame. Just wondering how many 8foot sections you had to buy.

[Bryants97240sx]

Where i bought the alum. from they only sold it in 3 foot sections. the dimensions are in my first post to give you a rough est. to begin with anyways.

[Maviryk]

How did you line up the holes for the rivets?

[Bryants97240sx]

Held the bars in places and marked with a perment marker. Drilled one hole then marked through the hole with a perment marker on to the second piece.

then put a pop rivet in that hole and proceded to mark and drill the other hole the same way this was the most accurate way to drill the holes.

My whole main case ended up being 1/32 " outta square. So it was pretty acurate way of doing it.

[Maviryk]

Hey that's pretty good for a permanent marker. Thanks, I was planning on doing the same thing.. no center punch?

[Bryants97240sx]

i have one but didnt use it, couldnt find it at the time, alum. is pretty soft so its not hard to start the hole with a good drill bit.

[RAFH]

It would probably be a good investment to get a variety of clamps, both the larger ones that fit on a generic stick and the smaller ones. Some of those big heavy duty clips would be helpful as well. I am sure any good welding supply shop would have a great selection to choose from. Then you could just clamp and clip the parts together and drill all parts at one shot. Once you get one rivet done for each joint, you can adjust as necessary and then add the second (and thirds as needed) rivets to lock it in.

If there is any wiggle, even a very small cross-section piece will help immensely, remember, triangles are inherently stable. A bit of panel is also very effective if placed strategically. Even paper can be used if you are careful to avoid stress concentrations.

[Bryants97240sx]

Well im not really that worried about strength, it's already very strong and after I get done adding the acrylic pannels it will be even stronger.

And the only thing about the clamps is that the bar doesnt really have a convient place to put clamps as you drill the holes. The only way i found that i could use a clamp was if i clamped it to my workbench, but then i would drill holes in the bench. You can not hang it off the edge very much since its alum. it bends fairly easy even with a small amount of pressure while drilling. Just depends on what you have to clamp it to, i suppose.

Everyone has their own ways of doing things whatever works best for you.

[Navig]

Angle aluminum is quite sturdy, because the angle prevents bending quite effectively. You can get stress at the joints, but bryants97240sx double rivets every joint.

Other useful tools: I splurged when building my cage and bought a center punch. Its actually spring-loaded so you can punch one-handed without a mallet. Its probably cheesy but it works great.

Right angling tools are crucial to make sure your joints are square.

[Bryants97240sx]

Also a file is handy to smooth out the edges that you cut, depending on what you use to cut the alum.I just used a dremel, it was fairly quick, it was better that trying to use a hacksaw or jigsaw.

[Maviryk]

Also a file is handy to smooth out the edges that you cut, depending on what you use to cut the alum.I just used a dremel, it was fairly quick, it was better that trying to use a hacksaw or jigsaw.

Oh sheesh... you used a dremel?? What cutting wheel did you use? I found cutting angle with a dremel very tedious. Nowadays I clamp the angle down and use a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade.