custom case All Wood Custom Computer Case Design Feed Back

[Ether_VS]

These are some renderings of a case I am designing it is almost out of cad. I have been doing some fabrication test runs for critical features.
It is modern, minimalist and made almost entirely of wood (probably going with Bamboo lumber).

I simulated a 4090 and the hottest CPU I could find and it just barely can handle it, in an 80F room. (Not that i'd put those in it, I'v just got a Ryzen 3600 & RTX 3070). I'll have to run an actual flow sim not just do the ideal heat transfer but i'm really trying to keep the fans just to the bottom and the back to keep the minimalist and simple aesthetic.
I also want to redesign the fan greats. They are being made on a CNC router anyways so anything that can be cut out with say a 1/8 inch radius ball end mill is possible (Input welcome).
I think it will be pretty easy to add Hard drive and SSD mounts, but they are hardly required these days with m.2 storage so cheep

OH.

I still need to figure out if i'll be doing a glass or solid wood side panel. The side panel will be magnetically attached, no hinges and a curved 2 inch handle hole on the front seam to get into it. or a simple small fabric tab if I go for the glass. Not sure which I will go for. I think the manufacturing cost will be about $400 ($300 material, $100 labor) maybe more if I do the glass (I haven't found a glass manufacturer or vendor yet. But i'v talked with a local wood craftsman about making it sounds like the labor will be about $100 (Still way cheeper than buying all the required tools myself)

 

I also need to figure out what the heck I am doing with the rear panel IO shield. It is kinda a tough situation, they are built to clip into sheet metal and the thick wood does not lend itself to that. I could machine down a thin lip to emulate the sheet metal but not 100% sure it will work. I can't seem to find a blank IO shield online to test this idea out on. Any help on the IO shield would be great!
I think I have the PCIE slots figured out even though they are not modeled here yet.

For the cable management I am planning to make a few stand off poles with 1/8inch bamboo plate on them to hide and route the cables under. 

 

So, 
tell me what you think? Please read the above thoroughly before asking (what about this feature) any additions or solutions to existing problems come to mind?

 

Alot of time has gone into this and I really want it to be a beautiful professional product (honestly 1/2 thought about commercializing it but its kinda expensive af lol). Thanks for your help!

Bamboo Lumber Texture Reference:

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

At first look I quite like the concept, though if you are planning bottom intake I wonder why you wouldn't have any vents at the top

[Ether_VS]

Just raw aesthetics. I wanted every surface you could typically see to be simple minimalistic and free of vents.
I'm a mechanical engineer so heat dissipation is in my wheel house, it should be fine and if it's not I will figure out a way to add more vent area to the bottom and back surfaces.

 

But ya. I did some measurements on the feet and geometry with the fuzziest of carpets and the feet are pretty stupidly tall (compared to normal cases) so it will not suffocate.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

10 minutes ago, Ether_VS said:

Just raw aesthetics. I wanted every surface you could typically see to be simple minimalistic and free of vents.
I'm a mechanical engineer so heat dissipation is in my wheel house, it should be fine and if it's not I will figure out a way to add more vent area to the bottom and back surfaces.

 

But ya. I did some measurements on the feet and geometry with the fuzziest of carpets and the feet are pretty stupidly tall (compared to normal cases) so it will not suffocate.

Makes sense if you've done the math I guess. I'd also say definitely do a TG side panel.

[TheGreatestGazoo]

I'm an amateur woodworker and I don't think that laminated bamboo is particularly attractive, but I'm a wood snob. lol. I like the look of the mitred edges and the roundover. However, the joinery for that can be tricky. Just gluing end grain pieces like that is not strong enough. I'd probably use Festool Domino loose tenons to join that mitred edge but depending on the width of the wood planks, that would be quite tricky too. The routing the roundover might cut through to the domino.

 

What is the PSU deal there? Going to mount it on the right (in the picture) and then run an internal cable to a passthrough connector? That seems like it would work just fine, but if there is a window there, it may be unsightly.

 

I like the fan grates just the way they look. I'm assuming 140mm fans?

 

For the I/O, you could consider epoxying them in place but that is rather permanent. Some mobos have a built in I/O shield instead of separate so that might be an option, but again you might be tied into that mobo configuration and not able to easily update in the future unless this case will be bespoke to your original setup.

 

I'm considering making a wood case too, but I haven't come across anything inspiring. Your renders are about the best I have seen so far to be honest so well done! I may in the end just go with the black Fractal North. It has some walnut on the front and that is what most of the desk I custom built is made of right now. I'm still rocking a 20 year old laminate top but I'm looking at a sheet of 1 1/4" thick walnut plywood ($200!) to build the top and monitor riser.

[thrasher_565]

i dont think 1 fan will do it but i guess all depends on what you put in there... if you dont have a founder card the gpu will block most of the air and the back will then suck it out. im guessing tower cooler?

 

the fan gill also blocks alot of air... looks nice but... at lest make the bottom open with no grill. i would try and put 2 bottom fans. and you want the closer to the edge to push the gpu air up.

 

imo

[TVwazhere]

Not sure how finalized certain aspect are but I do have some comments:

On 8/15/2023 at 12:48 AM, Ether_VS said:

Assuming you do want to put an FE card in this case, the heat sinks for the rear fan actually exhaust out the back, so you'll need to make it a triple slot design and not jsut the single slot for the video ports. 

 

How are you mounting the PSU (in what direction?) Nearly all ATX/SFF psu's exhaust their air out the back, the same way the power plug faces. This means you cant mount the back of the PSU flush with the motherboard tray. Most builders who mount their PSU's to the front put the power switch and power cable port facing upwards, and have the PSU fan exhaust the air out the top. This may be something you wish to consider how you're going to overcome, especially if "minimum visible vents" includes the rear panel.

[Ether_VS]

 

On 8/16/2023 at 9:13 PM, TheGreatestGazoo said:

Just gluing end grain pieces like that is not strong enough.

Sorry it took me so long to get back to this thread. I got pretty side tracked.
Ya, I'v heard this from every wood worker on the planet, I made a test run corner and then tried to rip it apart, it did not break at all (i'm not a small person). It is standard 3/4 inch thick wood. I still think you guys know what you're talking about though. I'm going to have a cabinet maker fabricate it and talk with them about how to add support for this joint, but it is kinda low on my list since the test corner could support over 200 lb of force. (imaged wood is Ash wood? I forget) I was testing finishes, sanding, getting dust out of the end grains on the corner, and saw blades. 

On 8/16/2023 at 9:13 PM, TheGreatestGazoo said:

I don't think that laminated bamboo is particularly attractive, but I'm a wood snob.

lol fair.
The laminated bamboo is really just for modernity of it since it matches the vibe of computers, I considered Cherry and I might end up doing that but idk. I think Bamboo is more thematic for new things like computers.

 

On 8/16/2023 at 9:13 PM, TheGreatestGazoo said:

For the I/O, you could consider epoxying them in place but that is rather permanent.

Yaaaa, I want to make this something that can be upgraded with out tearing the poor thing apart. if you put that much time and $ into something it'd be nice if it was around longer than 5 years.
There are these goofy plastic grid IO shields where you can use wire clippers to cut out the space you need for your ports, it is not pretty... so I still want a better solution.

 

On 8/16/2023 at 9:13 PM, TheGreatestGazoo said:

What is the PSU deal there? Going to mount it on the right (in the picture) and then run an internal cable to a passthrough connector? That seems like it would work just fine, but if there is a window there, it may be unsightly.

that is a pretty good point. I really wanted a tiny computer case so that was the best place I could put it to make it compact.... but maybe I should put something in-font of it like a hard drive cage or some little wood decoration to hide it.

The rear fan is 120 and the bottom is a 140 If I recall I originally was going with a 200mm but nactua says the 140 does the same flow rate of 140.2m^3/hr. Not going to lie the air flow currently is a sacrifice on air flow for sure, maybe not up there with apple but it is pushing it if you put peak performance stuff in it.

 

On 8/16/2023 at 9:13 PM, TheGreatestGazoo said:

I'm considering making a wood case too, but I haven't come across anything inspiring. Your renders are about the best I have seen so far to be honest so well done! I may in the end just go with the black Fractal North. It has some walnut on the front and that is what most of the desk I custom built is made of right now. I'm still rocking a 20 year old laminate top but I'm looking at a sheet of 1 1/4" thick walnut plywood ($200!) to build the top and monitor riser.

Not going to lie thats pretty awesome! I think it's a very pretty case.
It is a shame there are no full wood computer cases, though given the head ache i've had designing mine I can't say I'm surprised.

Thanks for your input!

[Ether_VS]

On 8/18/2023 at 8:53 AM, TVwazhere said:

Not sure how finalized certain aspect are but I do have some comments:

Assuming you do want to put an FE card in this case, the heat sinks for the rear fan actually exhaust out the back, so you'll need to make it a triple slot design and not jsut the single slot for the video ports. 

 

How are you mounting the PSU (in what direction?) Nearly all ATX/SFF psu's exhaust their air out the back, the same way the power plug faces. This means you cant mount the back of the PSU flush with the motherboard tray. Most builders who mount their PSU's to the front put the power switch and power cable port facing upwards, and have the PSU fan exhaust the air out the top. This may be something you wish to consider how you're going to overcome, especially if "minimum visible vents" includes the rear panel.

The rear GPU thing I knew, thanks!
The power plug thing.... I think I mixed that one up, thanks for the correction. I don't mind more vents on the rear panel or the bottom. I don't think there is space on the back face there unless I make the case bigger (I hate how empty some computer cases are ngl, personal pet peeve) or remove the fan, both are undesirable.... I have heard other PSU form factors are very loud which I hate, they are also very expensive if I recall... Have any recommendations for alternate PSU arrangements or hidden vent strategies? I might consider being a savage and just rotating it 90 deg and having the fan directions make no sense DX

[TheGreatestGazoo]

Sorry, I have no further ideas on the PSU - there are some weirdo options out there for them, but I am not up to date on them all these days.

 

Looks like you have some sanding to do but the roundover on that mitre joint looks really nice! Well done.

 

I did end up going with the Fractal North case. It's actually pretty nice and I'm quite happy with it. And I also picked up that sheet of 1 1/4" walnut veneer for the desktop. I have the left and right sides fully finished and just cut the final centre piece last week. NGL, it was a bit nerve wracking because I was using a jigsaw to cut a radius curve on the backside. Luckily, I have a really nice Festool jigsaw with the circle cutting attachment. It made a very nice smooth cut with no tearout on the crosscut of the grain. Now I just need to finish the edgebanding on the sides and back and putting hardwood edgeband on the front. Then I can finally replace the whole desktop and put my battlestation back together.

[TVwazhere]

On 1/12/2024 at 9:17 PM, Ether_VS said:

The rear GPU thing I knew, thanks!
The power plug thing.... I think I mixed that one up, thanks for the correction. I don't mind more vents on the rear panel or the bottom. I don't think there is space on the back face there unless I make the case bigger (I hate how empty some computer cases are ngl, personal pet peeve) or remove the fan, both are undesirable.... I have heard other PSU form factors are very loud which I hate, they are also very expensive if I recall... Have any recommendations for alternate PSU arrangements or hidden vent strategies? I might consider being a savage and just rotating it 90 deg and having the fan directions make no sense DX

 

On 1/12/2024 at 9:17 PM, Ether_VS said:

 I have heard other PSU form factors are very loud which I hate, they are also very expensive if I recall... Have any recommendations for alternate PSU arrangements or hidden vent strategies? I might consider being a savage and just rotating it 90 deg and having the fan directions make no sense DX

I can personally recommend the Enhance 600 W 80+ Platinum Certified Flex ATX Power Supply, Specificlaly this one. It was purpose built for a SFF case that I had the pleasure of building in and was very pleased with the outcome. It's been running for (coming up on) three years now and it still less audible than the low profile CPU cooler. The one major downside is that it does not have a 12VHPWR connection, so you wont be able to use most 40 series cards.