A Few Questions

[Lancelot59]

Hello guys, I'm new to the forum. I've heard some good things about you guys here and figured I could come here to get my questions answered. I searched posts first so I wouldn't be asking any redundant questions. The overall plan of what I'm planning to do it design a case similar to a Mac Pro desktop case. Something however that I can take apart and move bits around when needed. It's complicated, most of the layout is still in my head. But now to my initial questions:

1. What are the standard measurements for PCI slots, the motherboard plates, USB ports, and power supply mountings? I haven't found this on the site.

2. For the optical drive mountings I wanted a cover in front of the drive itself that slide down like on the Mac case. But I can't figure out how to get something like that to work without jamming.

3. I think it would be easier to get this stuff fabricated because I lack shop experience with making this kind of stuff and I want a more dependable finish. So are there any good places where I could send the designs to get made?
The base chassis and the cover plates for the frame are all I want to get fab'd.

[.Maleficus.]

Welcome to the forums Lancelot59!

1. + 3. Fabbing it would be hard (done yourself) or expensive, so instead of going that route you may consider taking an old case you find somewhere and hacking out the mounting hardware. Take out the back plate, motherboard tray and PSU bracket. It'll save you time and money, and is a fairly straight-forward approach.

2. I think I understand what you mean... In addition to the face plate on your drive, you want an extra plate with an extension on the button, to make it more uniform with the case? I just got these on my Tt Lanbox Lite. They're actually very simple in design. It's a door pulled closed by springs, and a button with a spring that when pushed pushes the real button. That's the simple description, I'd have to take a closer look at the details to see how it doesn't get jammed, but it shouldn't be too hard to create.

Can we expect a worklog of this build?

[Lancelot59]

Well first I need to save up the money to buy the parts for the actual computer component of it. What I really want to do ideally is have the case designs ready to go when I do have the money to build it. So all I want to fab is the base frame the top, side, and empty base of the front plate. , the PCI slots and everything I'm gonna cut out of another old case that I've got lying around. But I need to know where to put the MB mounts. Those will be a lot harder to hack out of the case I have sitting around.

As for number two thats exactly what I want to do. What I'd ideally like to do is get a look inside a MAC case so I can see how it works, or even just hack out the mechanism and use it. Only thing is G5 and Pro cases are hard to come by empty.

And yes, when I start on it I'll post my work up here for sure. In a bit more detail I want to make a case that I can easily modify internally like a legoish setup. Things like hardrives on rails that can just slide in and out. A similar setup for the optical drives etc. Locking mechanisms and the like. As said it's still all inside my head. I need to relearn how to use SolidWorks so I can actually draft it.

[DeuceX]

If you are looking for measurements on PCs the best place to start is http://www.formfactors.org/ they have tons of industry standard measurements for computer internals. Hope that helps!

[J-Roc]

I was fortunate to find a G5 case from one of the users here and bought it for $20. It has some scratches and ding's and some of the rivets have broke free but thats nothing i cant fix. You can buy new g5 cases for about $300ish online. Allthough you can only fit a MATX board in there unless you feel like cutting out the entire back of the case and fabing a new one.

What i was going to do before i got my G5 was to cut some holes in a sheet of aluminum and bend it untill it fit snugly over a regular case and get some mesh on the front to compete the look.

[Lancelot59]

Would you mind removing the optical drive caging and taking some pictures of the sliding door? I want to find out how the mechanism works. Also I want to be able to get at least 5 of those, does anyone know any suppliers who could get that particular assembly? And thanks for the link DeuceX, it helped.