PROJECT: TheBrick by ggdh

[ggdh]

OK guys and gals, my turn to start building custom case. A little inspired by work of LittleDevil


15 November 2010

I'll post some SketchUp drawings soon but when designing I stopped on an obstacle (as probably most of people trying to build something from scratches): MOTHERBOARD TRAY.

I was looking on Internet for trays (like LianLi) but it seems to be difficult to find something in stock in EU (I'll not bother getting it from US, so no MountainMods please). I found something looking decent on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Motherboard-tr...item41544f906f but i'm a bit worried geting that from someone with zero feedback.
Any other ideas where to get motherboard tray at reasonably price in EU?

THE BRICK

The idea is nothing innovative: frame will be made of aluminium profiles. Luckily, my brother's buddy owns a company doing constructions made of aluminium and cutting/welding should be done for a 6-pack The case will be rather big: 700mm x 700mm x 260mm. By default without any additional modification it will house: (480mm + 360mm) on the bottom + 360mm (pa120.3 with 25mm spacing) on top. I've already drawn another top for 480mm. Actually, case will be some kind of modular with interchangeable panels (like tops for 360 or 480, side panel with window and without, front panel with 5.25 bays and without ready for 560mm with middle frame part removed etc.)

The side panels will be made of aluminium sheets, most likely 1.5mm thick. Fan grills made of perforated aluminium sheet. Panels/grills will be attached via Allen screws or thumbnails.


As you all can see it's early (very early) stage of design. What I know is that the frame may be ready in the next two weeks if I'll get lucky. I plan to finish the whole thing (with many incoming modification - suggested by you) in middle 2011 when i'll be back in my country For now i'll focus on designing and gathering parts.

This what I have till now (mostly learning SketchUp, I've some experience with AutoCad so it wasn't that difficult)



Few comments:
- probably i'll end up with ATX motherboard tray only,
- HDD cage shown is only to visualize the size of the case,