wooden pc case feedback and ideas

[masterKORRA]

hello 

Since im new on this forum please forgive me if im posting this in the wrong forum section.

This case design was made as part of my "wood designer" school project for which i have to came up with design of an object from mostly wood, that can be then reproduced in most mid/high equipped workshops.

For starters the case would be made from any type of hard wood (teak, walnut, mahogany, beech, oak...) with full tempered glass panels on the sides, most of the parts in the case would be secured with black alu thumbscrews, the front i/o would have standard audio in/out and 2/4 usb 3.0 connectors, power and reset button, case would support 1x 120mm fan on the back, 3x 120/140mm fan on top, 2x 120/140mm fan on the front, 1x 120mm fan on the bottom and have a ventilation mesh on the bottom for the psu. Case outer dimensions would be (LxHxW) 540x560x250mm.

 

Case would look something like this if made from teak:

note: that there is no fan mesh and i/o drawn yet

 

now i need following suggestions/feedback/ideas:

where to put front i/o ( reference pic below)

-on the bottom?

-on the top?

...

 

where to put power and reset button

-also same spots

 

 

 

is there enough fan slots?

are cable management holes well placed?

is case to big?

should glass panel be fogged around the edges?

is case visually appealing?

...

 

and here is a side view of the case if u need it

 

  Any feedback or idea is appreciated 

  

 

 

 

 

 

[UMxMarky94]

looks great, how about you make a basement for it as well

 

edit: also the topic of I/O how see it ? On your desk ? On floor ? 

as you could hind them on the right hand side panel

[MrPants_]

Looks great! You might want to make a PSU basement, but that's just an idea. You might want to make some cable management slots above the motherboard for the CPU power connectors and such. You might also want to make space for a third fan in the front for an option for neutral air pressure. Where do you plan on putting storage? You could remove the bottom fan and cover it with the aforementioned PSU basement, and maybe remove support for a third fan on top, and put frontal I/O and power button on the top. 

 

Btw, i'm super excited for this! My friend is going to make himself a wooden PC case soon too, so this will definitely help him ^^

 

Edit: Looks a lot like the NZXT S340 Elite, maybe you should make a cover for the cable management holes for the 24-pin motherboard cable and such like in the S340 to seperate the back, front and main compartement better? 

 

Edit: I'm just going to keep editing this comment before you notice it. How are you going to deal with airflow to the front? Seems like a bit too little headroom for air, so maybe SP fans? I'm just going to summon @WoodenMarker 'cause i bet he knows this shit

Edited February 28, 2017 by MrAwesomepants

[Ashiella]

5 minutes ago, UMxMarky94 said:

looks great, how about you make a basement for it as well

I would say make it slightly thiccer and allow some fans on the side of the case as well, on one of the side panels. But that's just me.

[Paula_The_Butter_Fairy]

look at the Phanteks Eclipse P400 and put the io in the same place

 

[MrPants_]

1 minute ago, Ashiella said:

I would say make it slightly thiccer and allow some fans on the side of the case as well, on one of the side panels. But that's just me.

I doubt that would be visually appealing + the sides will be tempered glass so that'd be a bit wierd.

[Ashiella]

Just now, MrAwesomepants said:

I doubt that would be visually appealing + the sides will be tempered glass so that'd be a bit wierd.

I like my LED fans and radiators, and maybe option wood side panel, the bit with the mobo on it, and under the psu shroud or whatever it's called.

[goodtofufriday]

IMO if you NEED front IO then ducked under the bottom of the front. otherwise keep it clean

[masterKORRA]

8 hours ago, UMxMarky94 said:

 

looks great, how about you make a basement for it as well

 

 

8 hours ago, MrAwesomepants said:

You might want to make a PSU basement, but that's just an idea

will try adding a basement

8 hours ago, MrAwesomepants said:

8 hours ago, Ashiella said:

I would say make it slightly thiccer and allow some fans on the side of the case as well, on one of the side panels. But that's just me.

I doubt that would be visually appealing + the sides will be tempered glass so that'd be a bit wierd.

as MrAwsomepants said

8 hours ago, MrAwesomepants said:

How are you going to deal with airflow to the front? Seems like a bit too little headroom for air, so maybe SP fans?

The headroom gap could be made up to 10mm ish. Imo bigger gap would then look weird. Originally its 5mm and i think its enough...would have to test it tho

[masterKORRA]

52 minutes ago, Ashiella said:

I like my LED fans and radiators, and maybe option wood side panel,

wood side panel would be an option

[Ashiella]

12 minutes ago, masterKORRA said:

wood side panel would be an option

Should also include more room behind the motherboard for fans and cable management I case your not very good at it. Lol make it more user friendly for putting the side panel back on.

[CostcoSamples]

Very cool!!!  I want to build this when you are done designing it.  Please share final plans!

 

Lot's of good suggestions on here.  

 

Question:  Do you think warping could be an issue?  The inside of the case will be warmer than outside, which is likely to cause drying from the inside (causing a moisture gradient in the wood).  Do you think it would be better to make it from thin plywood with a hardwood veneer?  Or will solid hardwood such as Walnut be stable enough to resist warping?

[masterKORRA]

1 hour ago, Ashiella said:

1 hour ago, masterKORRA said:

wood side panel would be an option

Should also include more room behind the motherboard for fans and cable management I case your not very good at it. Lol make it more user friendly for putting the side panel back on.

there is 35mm behind for cable management 

1 hour ago, CostcoSamples said:

Very cool!!!  I want to build this when you are done designing it.  Please share final plans!

 

about sharing plans i dont know yet since this case might go in production in my school workshop as a unique but if i do end up sharing the plans it will be hard to make it precisely without fully equipped workshop thats specialized in solid wood manufacturing (like 5 acis cnc, contact grinding machine,...) tho i cant say its imposible.

1 hour ago, CostcoSamples said:

Question:  Do you think warping could be an issue?  The inside of the case will be warmer than outside, which is likely to cause drying from the inside (causing a moisture gradient in the wood).  Do you think it would be better to make it from thin plywood with a hardwood veneer?  Or will solid hardwood such as Walnut be stable enough to resist warping?

case wont be made directly from solid wood but from wide laminated solid wood preferably from hard wood (mahogany,teak,walnut,...) which is a lot more dimensionally stable but other options are also viable only that are not as premium as solid wood

 

[CostcoSamples]

4 minutes ago, masterKORRA said:

 

about sharing plans i dont know yet since this case might go in production in my school workshop as a unique but if i do end up sharing the plans it will be hard to make it precisely without fully equipped workshop thats specialized in solid wood manufacturing (like 5 acis cnc, contact grinding machine,...) tho i cant say its imposible.

case wont be made directly from solid wood but from wide laminated wood preferably from hard wood (mahogany,teak,walnut,...) which is a lot more dimensionally stable but other options are also viable only that are not so premium as solid wood

 

You might be surprised what us poorly equipped hobbyists can accomplish with a few basic power tools =)

 

I wonder if grounding is an issue with wooden cases.  Do motherboards use metal case for grounding purposes? if so, that could be a problem.

 

 

[masterKORRA]

14 minutes ago, CostcoSamples said:

22 minutes ago, masterKORRA said:

 

about sharing plans i dont know yet since this case might go in production in my school workshop as a unique but if i do end up sharing the plans it will be hard to make it precisely without fully equipped workshop thats specialized in solid wood manufacturing (like 5 acis cnc, contact grinding machine,...) tho i cant say its imposible.

case wont be made directly from solid wood but from wide laminated wood preferably from hard wood (mahogany,teak,walnut,...) which is a lot more dimensionally stable but other options are also viable only that are not so premium as solid wood

 

You might be surprised what us poorly equipped hobbyists can accomplish with a few basic power tools =)

 

I wonder if grounding is an issue with wooden cases.  Do motherboards use metal case for grounding purposes? if so, that could be a problem.

i know what are poorly equipped hobbyists capable of to accomplish as i saw a lot of amazing stuff some people made with little tools.

regarding ground issue u mentioned wood does not conduct electricity under normal conditions and if varnished even less what is ideal for electronics

 

[CostcoSamples]

Just now, masterKORRA said:

i know what are poorly equipped hobbyists capable to accomplish as i saw a lot of amazing stuff some people made with little tools.

regarding ground issue u mentioned wood does not conduct electricity under normal conditions and if varnished even less what is ideal for electronics

 

I know a lot of people make cases out of wood, so it's probably not an issue.  Just something to think about.

[masterKORRA]

I know a lot of people make cases out of wood, so it's probably not an issue.  Just something to think about.

with wooden cases the most important thing is airflow so if made right they are even better than metal cases.

the only thing imo metal cases are popular these days is because they are cheaper to consumer and also cheaper and quicker to make by manufactures since there is a lot less tools/machines needed to bend metal than to cut,sand,... wood as well designing a metal case is a lot easier than a wooden where u have to take in account natural aspects of the wood while metal is metal

[masterKORRA]

 update: added basement, front i/o, power and reset buutons and tried smoking the edges of glass pannel

which glass panel version is more visually appealing and is power/reset and front i/o well placed? 

[WoodenMarker]

28 minutes ago, masterKORRA said:

 update: added basement, front i/o, power and reset buutons and tried smoking the edges of glass pannelwhich glass panel version is more visually appealing and is power/reset and front i/o well placed? 

The different button sizes at the front don't look nice. Having one on top of the other or having them the same size would help.

I'm not sure what program you're using but the perspective looks off and the back looks like it's higher than the front.

The case should be less deep unless you need the empty space at the right of the motherboard for something.

When tinting the border, make sure a bit of transparency stays unless you plan to fully black it out. The rounded window also seems to not match the rest of the case. It would work if the wood had a rounded edge but it'd be better keep it consistent with the sharp corners already in the frame.

I think a tinted border would look better if it wasn't solid black.

It might be going overboard but a tempered window looking into the basement would be a sweet way to reveal any storage drives. If not, ventilation holes in wood would be practical.

Having another cutout near the back above the psu would be good for the front audio cable.

I don't see how there will be enough airflow at the front without a gap like in the S340. Moving the front feet back to allow for a gap underneath would greatly help.

You might also want to consider a channels in the wood for led strips to be hidden and dust filters.

The bottom fan doesn't make sense as an exhaust btw.

Spoiler

 

 

[masterKORRA]

48 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

The different button sizes at the front don't look nice. Having one on top of the other or having them the same size would help.

-buttons can be changed or tweaked

48 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

I'm not sure what program you're using but the perspective looks off and the back looks like it's higher than the front.

-thats because i forgot to change from parallel to perspective

48 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

The case should be less deep unless you need the empty space at the right of the motherboard for something.

-depth can be tweaked

48 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

When tinting the border, make sure a bit of transparency stays unless you plan to fully black it out. The rounded window also seems to not match the rest of the case. It would work if the wood had a rounded edge but it'd be better keep it consistent with the sharp corners already in the frame.

I think a tinted border would look better if it wasn't solid black.

-glass border will be black smoked and not completely black also rounded window can be changed to straight lines

48 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

It might be going overboard but a tempered window looking into the basement would be a sweet way to reveal any storage drives. If not, ventilation holes in wood would be practical.

-i was thinking about adding vent holes and also tempered window is not a bad idea

48 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Having another cutout near the back above the psu would be good for the front audio cable.

- totally forgot about audio cutout as well as cpu power cutout

48 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

I don't see how there will be enough airflow at the front without a gap like in the S340. Moving the front feet back to allow for a gap underneath would greatly help.

-as i said in the first post intake gap can be tweaked

48 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

You might also want to consider a channels in the wood for led strips to be hidden and dust filters.

- intake holes would have thick mesh mounted by default but if u were talking about quick swap filters im still trying to find a way how to mount them and

regarding led cutouts my design is still not solid enough to think about extras but i was planning to put them in

48 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

The bottom fan doesn't make sense as an exhaust btw.

- fan was already removed as i added basement 

 

and thanks for the feedback

[_Rapid]

@masterKORRA

Will you be actually building this or is it just designing it?

[masterKORRA]

erKORRA

Will you be actually building this or is it just designing it?

ill be building it

 

[_Rapid]

1 hour ago, masterKORRA said:

ill be building it

 

 

Would you consider building and selling a second one?

[masterKORRA]

6 minutes ago, _Rapid said:

Would you consider building and selling a second one?

if this idea gets approved by my mentor at school ill be building like 10 ish more cases. Will put it on kikstarter in like 6 months if everything goes as planned

[Goldensapling]

If this turns out well I'd buy one, but here's a few suggestions :

- More cable management holes, like another below mobo next to other hole (for audio and usb on some mobos)

- Cable management holes above mobo for fan and cpu cables

- Cable management above basement like on S340 for GPU cables

- A small strip around the edge of the case to hide LEDs and help case integrity

- Shorten the front or add water cooling support area (reservoir/pump mounts)