Prunus serotina-american cherry

[blakdart]

Hello all,I'm building a computer case

material-solid cherry wood,with patches of plywood

hardware-door mounting hardware,ball bearing drawer slides,motherboard tray,and various computer hardware

design-contemporary modern

modder skill level/wood working skill level---beginner too intermediate--HS woodworking student who has entered a Major competition many times


--------------------------------------------------------
PC component specs

Mother board--ASUS P7P55D LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131404

memory--G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193

CPU--Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215

Cd/DvD drive--Sony Optiarc black Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030

PSU--Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

video card--XFX HD-485X-ZDFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150351

cooler--COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

[SchaibleTech]

dang! goin super fancy with the cad!

[blakdart]

My previous woodworking projects

My first Year of HS wood working
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMAG0096.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMAG0099.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMAG0097.jpg
A wooden shelf that can hold DVD's and CDs,a clip board,and a huge oak chest that you can't see here.






My second year of HS wood working,that I completed in my second year of HS.

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/101_0017.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/101_0018.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/101_0019.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/101_0021.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/101_0027.jpg


This is a cherry wooden desk that i made with curry maple inlays on the front.

This desk has a Formica top that i glued on,and used a router to create a cherry edging.

This won me 1st in regions and 8th in state wood working competition in Michigan.


This is where i entered it.


http://www.mites.cc/


http://www.mites.cc/2009%20Pics/index.htm


http://americanwoodworker.com/blogs/resources/archive/2009/02/19/school-news-big-show-in-michigan.aspx





My third year of HS wood working,that i completed in my third year of HS.

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMAG0109.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMAG0108.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMAG0105.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMAG0104.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMAG0103.jpg


Forgive me,and my shabby digital camera,which is not a cellphone which i took pictures with!

This is an entertainment center,made out of all cherry wood,and glass.

This has two cabinets which has speaker clothe(the black) to allow me to place a speaker in the cabinets and hear sound while hiding them.

The cabinets are accessible by a door,which the center parts of the doors have clothe mounted onto.


I also entered this in the competition,and won honorable mention in regions.

[blakdart]

I first created "blue prints" in CAD,it's also in scale size.

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/SIDEPANELREMOVED-1.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/MOREINSIDE.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/OTHERSIDECOOLPANEL.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/SIDEPANELREMOVED.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/TOPVENT.jpg

[blakdart]

After countless steps which i could not get my..rather shoddy camera in too take pictures of my progress in school,I came up with this.


http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20shop/IMAG0167-1.gif
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20shop/IMAG0166.gif
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20shop/IMAG0163-1.gif
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20shop/IMAG0162.gifhttp://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20shop/IMAG0161.gif
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20shop/IMAG0163.gif
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMAG0167.jpg




PS-not a sole nail was used so far,I used simply used http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortise_and_tenon

[blakdart]

Now that i had my frame done,I decided to create the wood paneling for the sides.


http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMAG0168.jpg
This is side/panel one.

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMAG0169.jpg

This is side/panel two


http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMAG0170.jpg



This shows you how I router the edges,on both panels...this is near the bottom of the panels also.
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMAG0172.jpg

The bottom edge, of the panels.

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMAG0171.jpg

The top portion of the panels.



Please forgive me,and my shoddy 8MP wal-mart camera,I'm using my schools 600 dollar Cannon camera for now on!

[blakdart]

Now that i got a new camera to play with,which is payed by our taxpayers..i hope i don't give you all an migraine!

[blakdart]

The first thing i did after getting my frame built, is get my motherboard tray installed!


http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/secound%20batchy%20of%20wood/IMG_6459.jpg

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/secound%20batchy%20of%20wood/IMG_6460.jpg


Success!!!!

[nevermind1534]

Beautiful woodwork; I'm looking forward to seeing this project finished.

BTW, where are you in Michigan?

[blakdart]

Beautiful woodwork; I'm looking forward to seeing this project finished.

BTW, where are you in Michigan?

Martin,between Grand rapids,and Kalamazoo,and by Plainwell.

i live at the town with the huge drag-strip race track...

..its also going to be where the b93 birthday bash concert this summer!

[blakdart]

After getting the motherboard tray installed,I got the 5 inch bays put in!


http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/secound%20batchy%20of%20wood/IMG_6463.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/secound%20batchy%20of%20wood/IMG_6464.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/secound%20batchy%20of%20wood/IMG_6461.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/secound%20batchy%20of%20wood/IMG_6462.jpg

[blakdart]

Now i got my bay-drives put in,i went for the PSU mounting area!

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/secound%20batchy%20of%20wood/IMG_6466.jpg

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/secound%20batchy%20of%20wood/IMG_6467.jpg


This is a cover that I made,by using a jig saw,solid wood,and a planner for the PSU to hold it in place!

[blakdart]

Yet,I can't forget about my HDD rack!

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/secound%20batchy%20of%20wood/IMG_6450.jpg

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/secound%20batchy%20of%20wood/IMG_6451.jpg

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/secound%20batchy%20of%20wood/IMG_6470.jpg

[blakdart]

dang! goin super fancy with the cad!

hey thanks very much

[NakuraD]

This far I am impressed with your build. Can't wait to see what you have planned for the aestheric parts of the case.
Don't make us wait too long :D
I have already feasted on the rest of the mods here, need some new meat.
Haha, Thanks, and good luck.

[blakdart]

I then made a panel that's made of "curly cherry",an rare form of cherry,that goes under the 5inch bays and in front of the hard drive rack.

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/secound%20batchy%20of%20wood/IMG_6456.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/secound%20batchy%20of%20wood/IMG_6457.jpghttp://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/secound%20batchy%20of%20wood/IMG_6458.jpg

[XcOM]

man this looks great, i love wooden builds

[diluzio91]

This is looking drool worthy, will you be stealthing the Dvd drives? it would look pretty nice and round off the look pretty well.

[x88x]

Beautiful work, all of it. I love wood. :D

How are you going to be holding the drives in place?

[blakdart]

the bay drives,slide in perfectly...and not snug...

that's how they hold in...im not bolting them in though.


I'm in the progress of adding photo i shot today,to this work log.

i have to warn you all about a detail about the side panels....


as you know wood expands,and lets off moisture When you plane off layers of wood. Big panels warp like hell.... so its hard to get it perfect.......


I have 2 side panels mounted on my case,on these...clips...which makes the panels ease to remove.

[blakdart]

The bottom panel is a drawer I'm working on! I fitted on the panel to give you all an idea what the case would look like at the end!
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMG_6511.jpg


A better view of the case,with the side panels mounted on.
(this panel has a lightly colored area,as i sanded it to remove a large and noticeable scratch)
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMG_6509.jpg

One side of my case!
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/IMG_6510.jpg

[x88x]

Mmmm, large expanse of wood. :D

[blakdart]

at the moment,i need some sponsorship for high powered fans...dont want this to turn into charcoal...

Do you guys have any idea..who should i ask?

Do you think I could get a sponsorship?

[artoodeeto]

I haven't personally had sponsorships with them (yet), but I see a lot of guys getting sponsored by PerformancePCs and MNPCtech. I'm not sure what the protocol is on handing out contact info for these places (course, I don't have it so I couldn't anyway) but it's worth finding people who have been sponsored and asking them. My guess is something like fans should be pretty easy. You might also consider water cooling, since high powered fans could be noisy, but that'd mean cutting a large hole for a radiator.

[blakdart]

hey does water cooling work well for over clocking?

also liquids don't go well with wood

[nevermind1534]

hey does water cooling work well for over clocking?

also liquids don't go well with wood

It does if you have a good setup. If you don't want to spend the money or a sponsor, though, air cooling can still get very good results.

As long as you have no leaks, the wood should be fine. I guess you just want to be extra careful, though.

[artoodeeto]

It does if you have a good setup. If you don't want to spend the money or a sponsor, though, air cooling can still get very good results.

As long as you have no leaks, the wood should be fine. I guess you just want to be extra careful, though.

I second that. as long as you set it up well, make sure the hoses don't have cracks, make sure all the fittings are tight (and use metal compression fittings, not barbed ones, my understanding is compressions are less likely to leak), and do a leak test for at least several hours, if not 24 (covering up the wooden areas around the fittings and connections to protect them from water damage), you'll be fine. i'm going to have my loop mounted right over an exposed power supply, and I'm not too worried about it. maybe I should be LOL...

I should add that my case is fiberboard, which I know doesn't matter quite as much if it gets wet, but I still want to avoid it. If you're planning on varnishing or lacquering yours at all, that's an effective water barrier.

Water cooling is perfect for overclocking. You'll get much lower temps compared to most air cooling setups; if you want to stick with air cooling large, slower spinning fans (1600rpm or less) will be effective in keeping temps AND noise levels lower.

[diluzio91]

i was gonna say the same thing, some kind of water proofing on the inside should be more than adaquate. I know we used some plastic coating stuff at the shop that we just painted on, but i dont know what it was... hmm

[blakdart]

Ok guys I'm about done here.

I got my project all lacquered up.

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6732.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6735.jpg

Here are my side panels done.


http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6736.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6737.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6737.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6739.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6736.jpg

I created an grid/vent out of a solid piece of wood,and made the slots using dado techniques



http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6741.jpg

This is a rear view of my project,I might not get the back panel done...


http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6742.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6743.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6744.jpg

Here is a drawer that's built into my case. I can open it,by reaching under my case.


http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6746.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6745.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6744.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6748.jpg

Here is the frontal view of my case.

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6750.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6751.jpg

A inside view of my case.


http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6753.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6754.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6755.jpg

Both sides are panels,that can be removed by clips shown here.


http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6756.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6757.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6758.jpg
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/blakdart/wood%20finnal/IMG_6759.jpg


The complete case with sides mounted,viewed by the front.

[blakdart]

Ok guys,I entered it into a wood working competion ..which i entered yearly..

I won 3rd in regional..and I'm going to state!

Yet since judging is ..different...


Normally projects are awarded points on complexity..not looks...


the two projects that beat mine were...

A cutting board,with coasters....

And

a wall mirror..made with 9 pieces of wood....

[x88x]

Looks great, and congrats on the win! ..you're gonna need longer PSU cables though. :P

[blakdart]

its a junky PSU,i will get more stuff..one day

[diluzio91]

thats awesome! You should totally stealth those dvd drives!

[blakdart]

thats awesome! You should totally stealth those dvd drives!

What do you mean?

[diluzio91]

cover them with cherry panels

http://www.overclock.net/case-mods-general-discussion/473401-tutorial-dvd-drive-stealth-guide-56k.html

it would really complete the look

[artoodeeto]

Ok guys,I entered it into a wood working competion ..which i entered yearly..

I won 3rd in regional..and I'm going to state!

Yet since judging is ..different...


Normally projects are awarded points on complexity..not looks...


the two projects that beat mine were...

A cutting board,with coasters....

And

a wall mirror..made with 9 pieces of wood....

You're kidding...man. Dumb judges. what do they know? LOL, congrats on the win though, hopefully the judges at the state level will recognize that no matter how well a cutting board and coasters are made, they're MUCH easier to make than a computer case that has to have certain parts made to exact sizes so the components will fit...

[blakdart]

ya,their stupid but oh well..I'm planing to get into something like industrial design!