DIY PC Case

[blarferz]

I was given the opportunity to make any kind of "furniture" for my prototyping class in school. Well, I guess a PC Case is close enough  Does anyone know of somewhere I could find information on dimensions for parts of such a case? I am hoping to build a mATX case. I don't currently plan on putting a computer inside, so that's not an immediate restriction. For context, we are supposed to CNC mill this case out of wood. Thank you!

[emosun]

the dimensions depend on your design , have you designed the case yet?

[blarferz]

2 hours ago, emosun said:

the dimensions depend on your design , have you designed the case yet?

I have started working on it, but I haven't gotten very far. I'm open to design ideas! I'm just hoping on building an mATX form-factor. 

[emosun]

1 minute ago, blarferz said:

I have started working on it, but I haven't gotten very far. I'm open to design ideas!

well your question asks us what the dimensions are

there is no such dimension restriction on a 100% unique design so you need to design the case for the dimensions to be known

this would be the same as me asking what dimensions a house is

[kenguil]

Wood is a conductive material and can burn so, while it absolutely can (and has) been done, I'd be very careful. If you just need dimensions, start with the size of an mATX motherboard you like (for AMD, I like the looks of the ASRock Taichi X399M - which is the only threadripper mATX - and it comes in at 9.6" by 9.6" - or about 244mm square -  according to newegg.com). Then, you have to have space for fans - at least two, minimum, I would think put on opposite sides of the board. Fans are typically 30mm thick so the minimum width would be 276mm (giving 2mm for clearance though you'd likely want more) by 244mm. Height - well, you'll need a minimum height for an air cooler which is probably going to be taller than your video card. You are also going to need to fit a power supply in there and those sizes are variable.

 

I suggest getting dimensions from newegg.com, amazon.com or whatever parts outlet du jour you prefer and then use a CAD program to get it all to fit, leaving enough room for wire channeling and what not.

 

Oh...and don't forget the holes in the case for air to flow through...

[blarferz]

On 2/23/2019 at 4:30 PM, emosun said:

well your question asks us what the dimensions are

there is no such dimension restriction on a 100% unique design so you need to design the case for the dimensions to be known

this would be the same as me asking what dimensions a house is

I understand that. I'm more hoping that there's a database for the sizing of fan screws, the distance between those screws, the standoff distances on an mATX motherboard, power supply dimensions, and such for a case. I've had some luck finding dimensions for these individually but I would love if there was some sort of database. Thanks!

 

On 2/23/2019 at 4:32 PM, kenguil said:

Wood is a conductive material and can burn so, while it absolutely can (and has) been done, I'd be very careful. If you just need dimensions, start with the size of an mATX motherboard you like (for AMD, I like the looks of the ASRock Taichi X399M - which is the only threadripper mATX - and it comes in at 9.6" by 9.6" - or about 244mm square -  according to newegg.com). Then, you have to have space for fans - at least two, minimum, I would think put on opposite sides of the board. Fans are typically 30mm thick so the minimum width would be 276mm (giving 2mm for clearance though you'd likely want more) by 244mm. Height - well, you'll need a minimum height for an air cooler which is probably going to be taller than your video card. You are also going to need to fit a power supply in there and those sizes are variable.

 

I suggest getting dimensions from newegg.com, amazon.com or whatever parts outlet du jour you prefer and then use a CAD program to get it all to fit, leaving enough room for wire channeling and what not.

 

Oh...and don't forget the holes in the case for air to flow through...

Awesome! I'm not planning on building a computer in it at the moment, but if I ever do, I'll make sure to keep it safe! Thanks for the reminders and details!

[emosun]

you can also just pull a free atx case out of the garbage and measure it or even better....

just build your furniture around it's chassis which is what most people will do as you really should be using a metal case anyway for grounding purposes

[kenguil]

40 minutes ago, blarferz said:

Awesome! I'm not planning on building a computer in it at the moment, but if I ever do, I'll make sure to keep it safe! Thanks for the reminders and details!

So, I evidently can't add on the fly like that anymore. Length you'd need a MINIMUM of  Fan[30mm] + space[5mm] + mATX[244mm] + space[5mm] + Fan[30mm] = 314mm in width. Then, assuming you put the power supply on the side away from the I/O panel, you would potentially need mATX[244mm] + space[10mm] + PSU[150mm] = 404mm (NOTE: this is assuming the PSU is stored WIDTH-wise along the board; according to (https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/psu-dimensions.217826/) and my own measurements of a spare PSU I had lying around, the width of a PSU - which I think should be fairly standard - is 6 inches or 150mm; also, I chose 10mm arbitrarily for cable management - YMMV).

 

This actually is useful for me as well; I've been thinking of building a custom case out of a model - like, maybe, a model of Star Trek's USS Enterprise where I put the MB into the saucer section, PSU into the engineering section and the radiators of a water build into the nacelles. It's good to know about how big I'd need to make it - especially to realize I probably don't have the skills to pull it off... LOL

[blarferz]

3 hours ago, kenguil said:

So, I evidently can't add on the fly like that anymore. Length you'd need a MINIMUM of  Fan[30mm] + space[5mm] + mATX[244mm] + space[5mm] + Fan[30mm] = 314mm in width. Then, assuming you put the power supply on the side away from the I/O panel, you would potentially need mATX[244mm] + space[10mm] + PSU[150mm] = 404mm (NOTE: this is assuming the PSU is stored WIDTH-wise along the board; according to (https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/psu-dimensions.217826/) and my own measurements of a spare PSU I had lying around, the width of a PSU - which I think should be fairly standard - is 6 inches or 150mm; also, I chose 10mm arbitrarily for cable management - YMMV).

 

This actually is useful for me as well; I've been thinking of building a custom case out of a model - like, maybe, a model of Star Trek's USS Enterprise where I put the MB into the saucer section, PSU into the engineering section and the radiators of a water build into the nacelles. It's good to know about how big I'd need to make it - especially to realize I probably don't have the skills to pull it off... LOL

Awesome! Thanks for the dimensions! Good luck on your design! It sounds really cool.

[blarferz]

I have been working on designing my own computer case (mATX) out of wood to be CNC milled for a school class. I know that wood isn't the best material for making a case, but I figure it would be a fun experience anyway and I don't plan on actually building a computing inside. I have attached a couple pictures of what I have modeled so far, but I have hit a few snags. I'm having a hard time finding dimensions for mounting brackets for hard drives (SSD or HDD) and the dimensions for the rear pcie bracket. For the pcie bracket, I'm hoping to simply screw in a bracket into the back panel (what is currently there is just placeholder). If you know where to find any of these dimensions or have any other suggestions, please let me know! Thanks!

 

P.S. I know a lot of stuff is still missing in the current design (and the motherboard in the model is ITX), but feel free to let me know if you notice anything!

 

Edit: As seen in a comment below, I would love to build the case in a fun shape and size once I figure out all the dimensions for parts. If you have any ideas in this regard, please let me know!

[Firewrath9]

shroud? front io?

[SolarNova]

Well one thing i ill say is this.

 

If your designing and making your own case, no matter the matierial, thats the perfect oppotunity to break away from the traditional layout and design, and is infact one of the prime reasons people make their own cases.

 

You could flip the MB to the oposite side so the GPU faces up, you could design in a GPU mount to have it facing forward (u woudl need a PCI-e riser to connect it to the MB), u could create a cube case and other sizes and shapes.

 

Theres no need to stick to the usual tower design, in most casses it holds alot of wasted space.

[blarferz]

On 3/9/2019 at 12:30 PM, SolarNova said:

Well one thing i ill say is this.

 

If your designing and making your own case, no matter the matierial, thats the perfect oppotunity to break away from the traditional layout and design, and is infact one of the prime reasons people make their own cases.

 

You could flip the MB to the oposite side so the GPU faces up, you could design in a GPU mount to have it facing forward (u woudl need a PCI-e riser to connect it to the MB), u could create a cube case and other sizes and shapes.

 

Theres no need to stick to the usual tower design, in most casses it holds alot of wasted space.

You're totally right! I'm hoping to get all the dimensions down for now, but if I have enough time, I'd love to make a fun shape and size! Thanks for letting me know.

 

On 3/9/2019 at 12:29 PM, Firewrath9 said:

shroud? front io?

Yup! They're not there yet XD

[SolarNova]

Also , dont add in unnecesery holes for dust to get in without a filter ,like the rear slots, if ur using 1 card thats double slot, put in 2 slots and thats it. Same for the front, have only enough hoels for the fans , no more. Idealy u want any air that can get in to go through a dust filter.

 

EDIT

Put in a vent/hole for the PSU and have it suck in fresh air from outside the case, if u end up placing the PSu at the bottom, add some feet to the case, either via design, i.e make the sides and/or front and rear of the case extend down below the bottom of the case to hold it up, or just add rubber feet.

 

Oh and your rear panel is infact the motherboard tray, so u need to inset that and add a proper rear to the case otherwise the rear of the case will be full of dangling wires.

[blarferz]

3 hours ago, SolarNova said:

Also , dont add in unnecesery holes for dust to get in without a filter ,like the rear slots, if ur using 1 card thats double slot, put in 2 slots and thats it. Same for the front, have only enough hoels for the fans , no more. Idealy u want any air that can get in to go through a dust filter.

That's true! I'm hoping that the PSU fan should keep the rear slots from taking in dust, but I will be sure to make that revision.

[blarferz]

I've been working on building my own mATX PC case out of wood, and I'm currently finding dimensions for parts and assembling it in a tower format. I'd love to change this design once I get the dimensions to a unique/personal design (small form factor?). Do you have any ideas of fun designs I could make? Also, if you know of pcie bracket dimensions, please let me know!!

 

Note: this case has to be CNC milled out of a flat sheet of wood.

[Firewrath9]

https://www.overclock.net/forum/18082-builds-logs-case-mods/1589018-guide-drawing-pci-e-atx-mitx-rear-io-bracket-custom-case.html

you might want to do this out of metal, as the thickness of the wood might not be strong enough. How accurate is the CNC mill?

[Shreyas1]

 

 

 

this is probably one of my favorite looking builds. Maybe something in this style?

[blarferz]

On 3/10/2019 at 11:50 AM, Firewrath9 said:

https://www.overclock.net/forum/18082-builds-logs-case-mods/1589018-guide-drawing-pci-e-atx-mitx-rear-io-bracket-custom-case.html

you might want to do this out of metal, as the thickness of the wood might not be strong enough. How accurate is the CNC mill?

Thanks so much for the dimensions! Also, I wish I could make it out of metal, but this is for a school project that requires wood. I'm not planning on building a computer in it now, but I just want to go through the design process. I don't know the exact accuracy of the CNC mill, but from what I've seen, its probably about a thousandth of an inch. Thanks!

 

On 3/10/2019 at 11:52 AM, Shreyas1 said:

this is probably one of my favorite looking builds. Maybe something in this style?

Oh wow! I'll definitely look into that!

[Shreyas1]

1 minute ago, blarferz said:

Oh wow! I'll definitely look into that!

Yeah it's pretty neat. Only issue is that it requires a graphics card mod, not sure if you're into that as well.

[blarferz]

2 hours ago, Shreyas1 said:

Yeah it's pretty neat. Only issue is that it requires a graphics card mod, not sure if you're into that as well.

I wouldn't mind modding components, but I'm not looking to build a computer in it just yet.

[W-L]

On 2/23/2019 at 5:13 PM, blarferz said:

I was given the opportunity to make any kind of "furniture" for my prototyping class in school. Well, I guess a PC Case is close enough  Does anyone know of somewhere I could find information on dimensions for parts of such a case? I am hoping to build a mATX case. I don't currently plan on putting a computer inside, so that's not an immediate restriction. For context, we are supposed to CNC mill this case out of wood. Thank you!

For dimensions and specifics protocase here has details on that, as for your current configuration it looks like a good start, for the PCI-E sections depending on the material you are using you may want to consider getting a premade PCI-E slot to make things easier than having to slot it out of wood and to design a mounting system. 

https://www.protocase.com/resources/how-to-design-for-motherboards/

[averagebilly]

On 2/23/2019 at 5:13 PM, blarferz said:

I was given the opportunity to make any kind of "furniture" for my prototyping class in school. Well, I guess a PC Case is close enough  Does anyone know of somewhere I could find information on dimensions for parts of such a case? I am hoping to build a mATX case. I don't currently plan on putting a computer inside, so that's not an immediate restriction. For context, we are supposed to CNC mill this case out of wood. Thank you!

I’ve always wanted to try something like this, and have come up with some ideas to help ensure safe running, easy assembling, and good looks.

 

The most important is that hardware is safe while running. The solution that I believe is the best is non-conductive paint  covering the case interior (multiple coats), and plastic screws.

 

Easy assembly requires a few things:

1. Carved pathways for power cables behind the motherboard.

2. Lots of space for water cooling part (especially radiators) or fans. If there is space for fans to be doubled-up, low-rpm fans could be used with more efficient cooling.

3. Parts that can be removed, especially the top and sides of the cases, maybe even a power supply shroud.

 

Looks are subjective, but a completely DIY case should, in my opinion, be rugged-looking with very defined features. This style is similar to older pc cases, especially the larger workstations.

 

Anyway, I hope that this input will help your project, and I’d like to see what it turns out as. Good luck.

[blarferz]

To recap, I've chosen to make a wooden (now ITX) PC case for a school project. I'm starting to near the end of my time frame for this project, so I need to wrap up edits before CNC milling. Again, I don't intend to build a computer in this case and this case does not need to be the most efficient. This is more of an exercise in going through the steps of building my own computer case. I know I should use a SFX power supply and I can orient the graphics card and power supply in a more compact manner, but I'm going to just accept what I have. However, I'm not sure how I will deal with the PCIE mounting bracket. I was thinking of simply screwing in a metal pcie bracket, but I'm having a hard time finding such a bracket and especially its dimensions. If you have any ideas for mounting the GPU or other advice/ideas, please let me know! 

 

Note: The GPU and motherboard are lower than they should be because I did not include motherboard standoffs in the design

 

[Firewrath9]

looks good, although I think you should make the wood thinner at the fan + psu mounts.