Any tips for a homemade case?

[NewHopeTech]

I need a smaller computer so I can bring it to college so I'm looking at mATX (I would go mITX but I want those insane Microcenter deals). I've very disappointed in the selection of mATX cases, as many seem to waste a lot of space with hard drive bays or 5.25 bays. I use an SSD that I'm fine velcroing to the PSU. I plan on using acrylic and 3d printed parts to build the case. Have any of you made a case and have recommendations? I'll take any advice available except "don't." 

 

Thank you all so much

 

EDIT: If you find a small tower mATX case let me know, I couldn't find one

[aeroencychris]

Is something like an Air 240 too big? I loved building in the one I used.

3D printing would be great for precise components like front I/O holes and PCI slots, but for the majority of the case maybe try something like aluminum or wood?

 

Also, DIY Perks:

 

[kelvinhall05]

Shoebox PC.

Kinda a joke, and kinda not....

[Mooshi]

9 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

Shoebox PC.

Kinda a joke, and kinda not....

Unless that shoebox belongs to Shaq, an matx board would be too fat lol..

[zak rooley]

26 minutes ago, cdsboy2000 said:

 

Also, DIY Perks:

 

DIY Perks is great, watch both of them videos for inspiration. I know I will be later on this year when I make a case.

[NewHopeTech]

30 minutes ago, cdsboy2000 said:

Is something like an Air 240 too big? I loved building in the one I used.

3D printing would be great for precise components like front I/O holes and PCI slots, but for the majority of the case maybe try something like aluminum or wood?

 

Also, DIY Perks:

 

Yeah I was thinking of 3d printing for joints are IO, PCI slots etc and use acrylic for everything else

[mariushm]

I would recommend against 3d printing and suggest more laser cutting components (you can do that with acrylic and thinner wood) and even metal (but steel/metal laser cutters are expensive)

 

You can find the specifications of mATX and ATX online , uATX screw placement is the same as ATX, the board is just shorter so the last screw places that you'd have on ATX boards are not used.

 

ATX : http://www.formfactors.org/developer\specs\atx2_2.PDF

microATX : http://www.formfactors.org/developer/specs/matxspe1.2.pdf

 

For screwing  motherboards to case usually UTS 6/32 (imperial screws, size 6, 32 threads per inch) are used, but you could probably also use M3 (metric 3) screws  .. you can buy spacers online at various stores, like Digikey for example  : https://www.digikey.com/short/3dtmjj

 

Depending on the base material you could screw them in ( metal, use some tool to create the thread in the steel/copper/whatever sheet, there are special heads which can be used to create the threading or you could just solder/weld them to the metal sheet) or in case of acrylic/plastic/wood you could just run them through the hole and use a nut on the other side to hold the spacers in place if you buy spacers with long enough thread ... or you could just risk using hotglue to lock the spacers in place.

 

For example this tool can make taps for 6-32 , 8-32 and 10-24 : https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/klein-tools-inc/625-24/625-24-ND/6804814

 

Some minor note: Generally, you want to use some metal material or glass/acrylic with some wire mesh on it, because such materials block EMI (electrical radiation from going outside the case).. that's also the reason why all cases typically have those many and tiny holes and not bigger holes.. because the holes are tiny enough that radiation would still be blocked reasonably well.

 

If you use plain acrylic or glass, radiation could leak out the case and it could affect AM radios in your room or if you have some cheap VGA cables the image quality could suffer and so on.

EMI was more noticeable in the past, nowadays there's better quality (and often shielded to prevent emi) components used and most signals we have around are digital, less susceptible to EMI.

[NewHopeTech]

6 minutes ago, mariushm said:

 

You can find the specifications of mATX and ATX online ,

So what I'm hearing is that I won't get cancer.

 

In all seriousness though thanks so much for those specs

[mariushm]

EMI radiation is not the kind that would affect humans directly, like microwave radiation (if your microwave's over window would be broken in some way), or x-ray radiation etc.. even a cellphone would produce a lot more radiation and those are relatively safe if you don't keep them glued to your ear (you shouldn't keep them near you junk because in long term they can affect the quality of sperm for example)

 

EMI can affect analogue signals .. wires can behave like antennas if they're not properly shielded. For example, you can hear lots of people complaining that the front end connectors often have buzzing or background noise .. that's because unlike the audio cable most speakers use in the back (where the left and right signal wires are wrapped around shielding which acts as the ground wire), the front panel connectors are generally just plain ribbon cable .. so noise from the CPU VRM or noise from the video card VRM can be picked up by the ribbon cable wires and then you hear it..

 

Often, case manufacturers make the mistake of having USB connectors on the front panel and audio connectors and they take the separate grounds and link them together on the front panel. This way the 5v and ground wires can bring noise into the ground audio wires ... the 5v may be generated from 12v using a dc-dc converter on the motherboard or it may come from the power supply's 5v dc-dc converter, while the audio signal could come from the audio chip which could be powered from a high quality 3.3v low noise, very good at filtering dc noise, linear regulator. .. so your quality sound is screwed up by having noise from usb getting into the ground wires.

 

[KnightWumar]

Not a mind blowing tip or anything special. But if you want to do a pc case from scratch make sure to measure really accurately and check alignments frequently.

You don't want to finish your work then notice something is offset or twisted like I did. And good luck.

Also and extra thing, if you like to share your work that might be a cool thing to do. So take pictures every major step, I might post mine when I finish my case 100%.