Experiment: Custom Wood Case

[MagicManJmm]

In a related post I mentioned that I was experimenting... Making a new case... pictures I'm providing shows my current progress and the plan for how it will be configured. The point of view of the diagram will have a plexiglass side panel to allow for RGB lighting later on.

 

Thoughts and input welcome.

[mariushm]

You need better ventilation.

 

Put some feet on the bottom to raise the box around 1-2 cm, so that fans would be able to pull air inside. 

If you want to hide the holes, you could simply add some filter foam or something. try drilling very small diameter holes at a slight angle, so if you look directly into the holes, you wouldn't see anything. Could probably 3d print something from plastic and that sandwich that plastic bit between two pieces of wood to hide it. 

 

Absolutely NO on anything having to do with high voltage in an area where you could drop water or liquids. So no AC power connector directly exposed on top of the wood case. Not to mention the power supply would also expect to eject warm air through that side as well, so you'd need ventilator for the psu also.  The PSU takes air inside through the fan side, the air gets heated up from the heatsinks inside the psu, and needs to be pushed out.  Pushing the warm air directly out the case is great idea, not so great idea to have liquids drop directly through that ventilation hole or into the AC power connector, or along the power cable.

Same deal with the fan supposedly pushing air out the case... liquids drop and screw the ram or motherboard.

 

Would make sense if you have double top, with around 1-2 cm of spacing so the air the fan pulls out the case could also guide the airflow towards the back of the case and out through some channel there. Then I suppose you could have a right angle power supply cable and route the power cable towards the back of the PC case and out. 

 

You'd still have to be careful about warm air and how it would make the wood box super dry and potentially a fire hazard. Maybe coat the wood in some varnishes or something.

 

You're also kind of making everything top heavy (cpu with big heavy air cooler at the top, heavy psu at the top maybe water cooler radiator at top ... there's potential for case toppling over 

[Blue4130]

53 minutes ago, MagicManJmm said:

In a related post I mentioned that I was experimenting... Making a new case... pictures I'm providing shows my current progress and the plan for how it will be configured. The point of view of the diagram will have a plexiglass side panel to allow for RGB lighting later on.

 

Thoughts and input welcome.

 

 

Common light switches don't work as power buttons, you need a momentary swtich.

[Blue4130]

22 minutes ago, mariushm said:

You'd still have to be careful about warm air and how it would make the wood box super dry and potentially a fire hazard. Maybe coat the wood in some varnishes or something.

There is really no need to worry about it becoming a fire hazard any moreso than anything else made of wook in a house. Not sure how old you are or when you grew up, but virtually every TV, amplifier, radio, stereo etc was made of wood back in the day.

[mariushm]

Just now, Blue4130 said:

There is really no need to worry about it becoming a fire hazard any moreso than anything else made of wook in a house. Not sure how old you are or when you grew up, but virtually every TV, amplifier, radio, stereo etc was made of wood back in the day.

True, but those devices don't have the potential of consuming 500+ watts of power and generating that much heat. 

The VRM on motherboard goes to 100 degrees Celsius, the CPU may go to 80-90c, the video card will be HOT and use 2-3 fans to move heat away.

 

You're comparing devices that consume 5-50 watts to orders of magnitude bigger power draws and heat producers. 

[MagicManJmm]

13 minutes ago, mariushm said:

You need better ventilation.

 

Put some feet on the bottom to raise the box around 1-2 cm, so that fans would be able to pull air inside. 

If you want to hide the holes, you could simply add some filter foam or something. try drilling very small diameter holes at a slight angle, so if you look directly into the holes, you wouldn't see anything. Could probably 3d print something from plastic and that sandwich that plastic bit between two pieces of wood to hide it. 

 

Absolutely NO on anything having to do with high voltage in an area where you could drop water or liquids. So no AC power connector directly exposed on top of the wood case. Not to mention the power supply would also expect to eject warm air through that side as well, so you'd need ventilator for the psu also.  The PSU takes air inside through the fan side, the air gets heated up from the heatsinks inside the psu, and needs to be pushed out.  Pushing the warm air directly out the case is great idea, not so great idea to have liquids drop directly through that ventilation hole or into the AC power connector, or along the power cable.

Same deal with the fan supposedly pushing air out the case... liquids drop and screw the ram or motherboard.

 

Would make sense if you have double top, with around 1-2 cm of spacing so the air the fan pulls out the case could also guide the airflow towards the back of the case and out through some channel there. Then I suppose you could have a right angle power supply cable and route the power cable towards the back of the PC case and out. 

 

You'd still have to be careful about warm air and how it would make the wood box super dry and potentially a fire hazard. Maybe coat the wood in some varnishes or something.

 

You're also kind of making everything top heavy (cpu with big heavy air cooler at the top, heavy psu at the top maybe water cooler radiator at top ... there's potential for case toppling over 

Points well-received and taken. Bear in mind, as you see it in the actual picture it is still very much in its raw form... As well as the layout plan, hence the question for opinions.

 

Putting feet on the bottom was already on my mind.

 

As for the PSU, I planned to cut out a section of the wood case make the PSU flush with the intake fan pulling air from outside, and the exhaust venting out of the top isolating the PSU's air flow from the rest of the case.

 

I will look into a varnish. I have also researched at what temperature wood will burn... should be safe.

 

As for the top heavy issue... the width of the case is around 11 inches... if it proves to be too heavy on one side, there should be enough room to add some counterweights aside from the plexiglass that will be going on the opposite side.

 

 

 

[MagicManJmm]

16 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Common light switches don't work as power buttons, you need a momentary swtich.

Ah... I already anticipated how to use the light switch for the power button...

 

A momentary switch works in such a way that if you hold it down, the circuit is still connected and thus it will force the computer to shut down. Same thing with having the light switch continuously in the on position... does a quick flick to the on position, immediately flicking it back to the off position would manually emulate the momentary switch.

[MagicManJmm]

Wood starts to burn at 160C/320F. With my factory heatsink and fan... my cpu thermals don't get that hot... at MAX, 90 Celsius. Will also cut out the cpu "window" and put a plate over the hole.

[Blue4130]

1 hour ago, mariushm said:

True, but those devices don't have the potential of consuming 500+ watts of power and generating that much heat. 

The VRM on motherboard goes to 100 degrees Celsius, the CPU may go to 80-90c, the video card will be HOT and use 2-3 fans to move heat away.

 

You're comparing devices that consume 5-50 watts to orders of magnitude bigger power draws and heat producers. 

My Pioneer arm begs to differ. It consumes 300w, has no active fans.

 

As does my DIY server which has been running just fine for over a year. As do many other peoples long term builds. The absurdity of people thinking that a wood computer case is a fire hazard due to temps is nuts.

[PriitM]

Here's my current custom case out of 1/2" baltic birch plywood (5 years old at this point). Minimal internal volume as possible to keep airflow high (less airmass to move, the quicker it recycles)

 

One 200mm fan on the sidepanel to pull air through. No problem with internal temps because the radiant temps never reach above 60C (delta being 30C). I pull through the internal volume worth of air in about 2 seconds so all the components get fresh air all the time.

 

PSU is a 550W Platinum grade from Chieftec. Powers a i7-7700K and R9-390X. 

 

Only problem is the SSD, which sits right in between the CPU and GPU...and has a dead air spot. That sucker reaches to 80C during 30C room temp (delta 50C)

 

The second SSD on top of the PSU is from an old time (I have since upgraded to a 1TB main SSD on motherboard) aswell as the Cooler master Hyper Evo. That was swapped with Noctua NH14

I chose plywood for 2 reasons: its mechanically much more dense and stable than most other wood panels. So its heavier which helps with sound dampening. And its less likely to break after waterjet cutting (tho it warps still).

I have already designed the next case around a new GPU...if i ever get one. Next case will be CNC router cut to avoid waterjet warping. 

The power switch is an automotive momentary non-latching one. On the pic, the white-orange twist pair provides 12V to the LED ring and blue-black act the switch

[TVwazhere]

On 2/10/2022 at 5:28 AM, Blue4130 said:

Common light switches don't work as power buttons, you need a momentary swtich.

Good places to get switches like this:

https://www.mnpctech.com/search?q=switch

https://www.mnpctech.com/products/anti-vandal-push-button-switches

[MagicManJmm]

PROGRESS!! Just about done, just got to plug it all back in.

 

All I need now is:

-A measured and cut piece of plexiglass

-4 small bolts and wing nuts

-A couple RGB strips

-Some reflective tape to place over the direct view of the RGB strips

-Holographic stickers to reflect the light inside.

 

What's left to do in the meantime, is to plug in the one hard drive on the bottom, hook up the power button, and plug everything back in.

 

 

[MagicManJmm]

Just in case anybody is wondering what's inside...

 

-MSI Z-370 motherboard

-i7 8700 (not K)

-Samsung 500Gb M.2 drive

-3 SATA SSD's: 1Tb, 500Gb, 256Gb (from top down in pic)

-1 HDD 1Tb

-MSI RTX 3060 Ti Gaming Z Trio

-PCIE USB C card

-EVGA 850W Bronze Power Supply

-Razer Chroma RGB hub

[PriitM]

Try to play with fan curves, so you dont overburden the pull fans. The two black 200mm should have lower RPMs

 

Also, quite interested if the case will resonate or not...

[MagicManJmm]

Currently, in BIOS, I have all fans maxed. Had it that way when all the componants were in the HAF 932.

 

I think the 230s were at 700 RPM

[thrasher_565]

14 hours ago, MagicManJmm said:

Currently, in BIOS, I have all fans maxed. Had it that way when all the componants were in the HAF 932.

 

I think the 230s were at 700 RPM

rip

 

so why cut it up to put in a wood case?

[MagicManJmm]

1 hour ago, thrasher_565 said:

rip

 

so why cut it up to put in a wood case?

Oh no no... the HAF 932 is still intact. I just got an old "junker" case and hacked it up.

[thrasher_565]

22 minutes ago, MagicManJmm said:

Oh no no... the HAF 932 is still intact. I just got an old "junker" case and hacked it up.

oh ok few haha

[MagicManJmm]

42 minutes ago, thrasher_565 said:

oh ok few haha

BTW... Progress continues... got my RGB hub from Razer. 

[MagicManJmm]

It is DONE! (mostly lol) 

I call it, "The Handyman's Case."

The drill holes in the plexiglass chipped and a couple of them cracked. Not so bad that it's too noticeable, but enough to cause slight concern.

 

My light switch power button works as expected... one quick flick back and forth and the computer is on.

[PriitM]

46 minutes ago, MagicManJmm said:

It is DONE! (mostly lol) 

I call it, "The Handyman's Case."

The drill holes in the plexiglass chipped and a couple of them cracked. Not so bad that it's too noticeable, but enough to cause slight concern.

 

My light switch power button works as expected... one quick flick back and forth and the computer is on.

 

Hows the noise?

 

I would suggest you swap that light switch to something fool proof. One day, someone else may use this PC...and dont know you need to do the "flick"

[MagicManJmm]

The noise seems ok. The only fan that sounds racy at all is the CPU fan. It's only noticeable if I listen for it.

 

As for the light switch... The computer is isolated in my man cave. The only other person who only rarely encounters my computer knows about it.

[tkitch]

A few suggestions for cleanliness:

Your L-Brackets holding on the plexi.  Use Threaded Rivets and some thumbscrews:

 

https://www.harborfreight.com/45-piece-threaded-insert-riveter-kit-1210.html

 

That way you get a better looking install.   

You can get threaded inserts to screw into the wood if you want to use different screws going into the wood as well.

 

Power switches like these look better, and are way less confusing:
https://www.amazon.com/XMSJSIY-Chassis-Switch-Button-Computer/dp/B0986TCG4Z

 

for extra i/o, these exist as well:
https://www.amazon.com/BATIGE-Female-Extension-Motorcycle-Dashboard/dp/B01N66N1JK/

 

[MagicManJmm]

Everything as of 2/23/22:

@tkitch - not sure how the light switch idea is confusing, as shown in the linked vid.

[IPD]

Ventilation is even more important in a wood case--given the thermal conductivity of the material.  Aluminum is fantastic at heat dissipation, which is why you can cook a pizza in the oven on aluminum foil and pull out the foil with your bare hands.

 

Wood...not so much.