Radio PC (Planning)

[crazypenguin101]

Ok. So I am currently in the planning stages of a new PC. I was just in my room and came across two old 1950s-60s radio. It was at this point that I realized these would make really cool PC cases. The one on the left is open at the back, entirely wooded, only the three dials, and has all the electronics such as glass tubes and dials inside of it. The second is likewise filled however the back is not open (could be good or bad), has 4 buttons on the top row, and slightly smaller. The motherboard in the picture is a mini-ATX motherboard (generic specs/Fm2+). First I need to decide which radio would look best. My main concern at this point is with how to implement the IO of the motherboard and how to make the radios fire retardant on the inside. Obviously it should have no reason to catch on fire but I would like to protect it to be overly cautious. Any help is appreciated. 

[NTDaws]

Well a fan always helps.

[KazerTheKeen]

You really don't need to worry about the wood igniting. Its ignition temperature is 300 degrees Celsius, way hotter than your components can should get. There are probably some flame retardant paints out there if you still are concerned. Make sure and plan out some airflow though as wood is very much an insulator.

 

As for mounting everything you can either buy or re-use a motherboard tray (extra peace of mind about fire) or you can measure and mount motherboard standoffs into the wood. You should be able to find some printable diagrams. As your probably aware the size and locations of all the holes is the same for the form factors you don't need an itx or matx specific case if your reusing parts. That goes for the region behind the motherboard as well which can be used or reused to get the right size for the io shield and pcie slots.

 

If you can I would orientate the motherboard so that the io shield is pointing down for the cleanest look but plugging in cables will likely require a couple right angle adapters but having front audio and usb jacks might be tricky to plan out.

 

You can probably rewire the original buttons for power and reset so long as they are the right type of switch (they should only let current through while you are actively pressing on the button. )

 

Anyway hope that helps. Sounds like a really cool build, i'm a bit jealous.

 

P.S. I'm partial to the one on the left.   

[crazypenguin101]

2 hours ago, KazerTheKeen said:

You really don't need to worry about the wood igniting. Its ignition temperature is 300 degrees Celsius, way hotter than your components can should get. There are probably some flame retardant paints out there if you still are concerned. Make sure and plan out some airflow though as wood is very much an insulator.

 

As for mounting everything you can either buy or re-use a motherboard tray (extra peace of mind about fire) or you can measure and mount motherboard standoffs into the wood. You should be able to find some printable diagrams. As your probably aware the size and locations of all the holes is the same for the form factors you don't need an itx or matx specific case if your reusing parts. That goes for the region behind the motherboard as well which can be used or reused to get the right size for the io shield and pcie slots.

 

If you can I would orientate the motherboard so that the io shield is pointing down for the cleanest look but plugging in cables will likely require a couple right angle adapters but having front audio and usb jacks might be tricky to plan out.

 

You can probably rewire the original buttons for power and reset so long as they are the right type of switch (they should only let current through while you are actively pressing on the button. )

 

Anyway hope that helps. Sounds like a really cool build, i'm a bit jealous.

 

P.S. I'm partial to the one on the left.   

Thanks. I am seriously looking forward to this build. I think it should be awesome and I agree with the look of the left one. :-)

[You_are_a_cunt]

For the interior try looking for flame retardant paint. Can be either spraypaint or regular paint.

For the I/O, you'll have to cut the back if you want easy access or you can drill a hole, router all the cables through that and to the corresponding plugs.

If you're going to use a dedicated GPU, you'll be able to figure out which radio to use. A LP GPU will fit in either, but a full height one might require using the taller of the two (they both looks like they would be able to house a full fat GPU though).

Fitting in a PSU might be a bit tricky, since I can't really figure out the interior space for them (for obvious lack of pictures to refer to).

You'll want to consider cooling too, which might be tricky to do while still keeping the aesthetics there.

If there's enough space and budget, you can probably replace the band selector with an ardiuno/pi powered screen of some sort and make a monitoring interface that keeps with the style of the band selector.

 

Just my two cents, but I'm proper jelly and I want one