Project: Custom HTPC

[slamaa]

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/Header.jpg

Welcome to my latest worklog, for quite a while now I've wanted a home theatre PC aka Media Centre. This combined with me wanting to do a custom project lead to my idea of a Custom Wooden HTPC. It will be set up in my room and run through my Logitech surround sound system.

First of all, this case will be made from a wood called Amoora, which is a Malaysian hardwood. It is a Red Brown which looks very good once given a coat of varnish.
You can read more about this wood here (http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.wattswood.com.au/images/woods/75/1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.wattswood.com.au/&h=65&w=75&sz=2&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=dKmbE81rU1lwiM:&tbnh=62&tbnw=71&prev=/images%3Fq%3Damoora%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3D firefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN) and here (http://www.windsorplywood.com/tropical_woods/amoora.html).


Complementing this wood will be a range of aluminum parts made by MNPC Tech such as a front mounted 120mm fan grill, Billet Aluminum switch plate and some cool Bulgin switches.


http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC04162648x486324x243.jpg http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC04163648x486324x243.jpg


Now lets get started!

Now, so that the colour of the wood is the same throughout the whole project I plan to use only one piece of wood. So I started with one length of Amoora.


http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC00374.jpg




I then put it through the thicknesser machine and the plane.


http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC00375.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC00376.jpg




And it turned out like this:


http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC00377.jpg




I then cut two pieces at 26cm long each and glued them together, this will be the base.


http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC00378.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC00379.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC00380.jpg




Once this was dry I then put it through the thicknesser machine to remove any imperfections the gluing process may have caused.
I then repeated this process on the front and back panels, I then cut a 45 degree angle on the top corner of each panel.


http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC00384.jpg




I then added some cool feet from a old Yamaha DVD player, as they used some sort of patent locking mechanism to attach them, using the Dremel I just bored them out and bolted them on.


http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC04158648x486.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC04159648x486.jpg




Then using the Jigsaw, a rasp and a file I cut and cleaned a 120mm hole in the front panel which is where the Noctua fan and MNPC Billet Aluminum fan grill will be mounted.


http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC04160648x486.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC04161648x486.jpg





Well thats it for now, I hope to have more progress soon.

cheers
Slamaa

[DonT-FeaR]

looking good welcome to tbcs btw im watching closely....

[Trace]

Excellent start!
Good luck and I can't wait to see the finished project.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Welcome? Slamaa has been around for a while now. Nice idea mate, I will be watching this one closely.

[slamaa]

Did some work at home today, this time working more on the front panel 120mm fan mounting. Since room inside this case is limited, and every mm counts I decided to recess the fan. So using a router a bored out space for a 120mm fan, I could have set up limits and made all the lines perfect but as this won't be seen I did it free hand.

I then cleaned it up with the rotary tool using a barrel sander bit.


http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC04164648x486.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC04165648x486.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC04166648x486.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC04167648x486.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC04168600x450.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h148/slamaa/HTPC/DSC04169648x436.jpg


Please not that the fan pictured is only for testing and will not be used on the final product.

Cheers
Slamaa

ps: I'm not that new here, havn't you seen my other project I posted here, Project welcome tome rapture... lol

[DonT-FeaR]

nope sorry im kinda new to lol, apoliges, looking good

[The boy 4rm oz]

Nice work with the fan. Every mm is gold.

[DonT-FeaR]

Nice work with the fan. Every mm is gold.

to right mate to right.