Best way to diagram/blueprint a custom wooden case

[mrbannon]

Hello all,

 

I'm thinking about creating my own case out of wood. OK, I know nothing about wood working, but I plan on taking some classes. And, yeah, classes probably aren't gonna make me good enough to make my own case and it will be expensive and I'll mess up a bunch of times, but forget about all of that.

 

What I'd like to do at the moment is design the thing. I have a general idea of what I want to do, but I'd like to make blueprints/model/whatever. For those of you that have done this before, what tools would you recommend? Will any 3D modelling software work? Are there any suggested best practices I should follow (e.g. how to define the scale of the model, or anything like that)?

 

Tx,

 

Ryan

[R3ep3r]

2 minutes ago, mrbannon said:

...

Do you want a closed case? I saw some nice builds with a wooden board, some plexiglass. All in all it was some sort of wall mounted PC but it was great.

One of the best cases I've seen on youtube is this one: 

 

 

[mrbannon]

Just now, R3ep3r said:

Do you want a closed case? I saw some nice builds with a wooden board, some plexiglass. All in all it was some sort of wall mounted PC but it was great.

One of the best cases I've seen on youtube is this one: 

 

 

Yeah, I saw this one. It's nice, but I'd like to make one of my own design.

[mrbannon]

1 minute ago, mrbannon said:

Yeah, I saw this one. It's nice, but I'd like to make one of my own design.

Also that one only supports microATX if I'm not mistaken.

[R3ep3r]

1 minute ago, mrbannon said:

Yeah, I saw this one. It's nice, but I'd like to make one of my own design.

If you want to do some 3D moddeling, I would recommend you to pick between these two AutoCAD or 3D Studio max(Since both are great). Both are very easy to be used and bla blah.

[mrbannon]

Just now, R3ep3r said:

If you want to do some 3D moddeling, I would recommend you to pick between these two AutoCAD or 3D Studio max(Since both are great). Both are very easy to be used and bla blah.

Aren't they expensive?

[Not_Sean]

1 minute ago, R3ep3r said:

If you want to do some 3D moddeling, I would recommend you to pick between these two AutoCAD or 3D Studio max(Since both are great). Both are very easy to be used and bla blah.

Why? those are such pro software. 

 

hands down for @mrbannon is to go with Sketckup, you can download all PC parts from the warehouse and than design the case around them to scale, Its super easy to use and its completely FREE. 

 

 

[R3ep3r]

1 minute ago, mrbannon said:

Aren't they expensive?

I guess AutoCAD has some trial license. Not sure about that, but yes. Both are expensive.(If you are student you'll get AutoCAD for free, for three years)

[Marshnt]

On 7/11/2017 at 5:25 PM, mrbannon said:

Hello all,

 

I'm thinking about creating my own case out of wood. OK, I know nothing about wood working, but I plan on taking some classes. And, yeah, classes probably aren't gonna make me good enough to make my own case and it will be expensive and I'll mess up a bunch of times, but forget about all of that.

 

What I'd like to do at the moment is design the thing. I have a general idea of what I want to do, but I'd like to make blueprints/model/whatever. For those of you that have done this before, what tools would you recommend? Will any 3D modelling software work? Are there any suggested best practices I should follow (e.g. how to define the scale of the model, or anything like that)?

 

Tx,

 

Ryan

Graph paper is where i always start. Wood is a very easy and forgiving product to work with so just go for it

[mrbannon]

Update: currently using Blender to get an idea of what I want. Once that's done I might actually go backwards and redo on graph paper per @Marshnt suggestion (it's easier for me to write the specs and such on the paper). Sounds weird to go backwards, I know, but I just don't trust my skills with Blender. The paper will make me double-check things.

[MeDownYou]

On 7/11/2017 at 5:29 PM, R3ep3r said:

Do you want a closed case? I saw some nice builds with a wooden board, some plexiglass. All in all it was some sort of wall mounted PC but it was great.

One of the best cases I've seen on youtube is this one: 

 

 

You should have seen the traditional Japanese inspired case then complete with sliding paper doors

 

[MeDownYou]

On 7/16/2017 at 9:38 PM, mrbannon said:

Update: currently using Blender to get an idea of what I want. Once that's done I might actually go backwards and redo on graph paper per @Marshnt suggestion (it's easier for me to write the specs and such on the paper). Sounds weird to go backwards, I know, but I just don't trust my skills with Blender. The paper will make me double-check things.

AutoCAD, Autodesk, solidworks, or free Google sketch are my suggestions that or grab a few peices of drafting paper and get to it