Bread box Computer ( a work in progress). : Coolermaster 600W ATX : GA-H77N WiFI ITX : I3-3225 : 8G DDR3 1600 : 595G C drive : 2x 1TB Data drives
Can I ask.. why a breadbox ? Was it just something you had laying around and decided to do 'something' with ? or was it some other reason ?
Why not? I just wanted the roll top to be honest, I have thoughts about doing something retro with a roll top desk and wanted to see what it would look lke. LOL do I detect a note of sarcasm? Its just a mockup to see if it fits and cools, I will worry about the details later...
Starting to look a bit less ghetto. Sorry about the pix, kid has stolen my phone again lol these are Telstra T-Hub photos. Took the box to pieces, removed the base and back. Replaced them both with a single piece of wire mesh, bent at 90 degrees and sitting into the slots the original 3mm wood was in. (it was a $15 storage basket from Bunnings which I have cut up). I've made a HDD bracket from the same mesh, which will fit 2x 3.5" storage drives and an SSD. Still to decide how to mount the SSD, it may just get secured to the base. The U shaped mesh HDD frame will probably just attach to the base with pop rivets, havent decided. I only put it back together to check the size and mark the rear I/O cutout. The board will probably be moved over completely to one side, as using the PCI-E x16 slot is not an option. Any card in that slot will foul the roll front when it is opened (even the motherboard IO modules only have 1mm clearance under the back of the roll front). That means I should also be able to move the HDD rack over too.. at the moment there is no access to the screws on one side of it, moving it over should give me room to get a stubby phillips head in there. THe other alternative of course is to drill a couple holes in the side of the box to allow a screwdriver through. Probably be easier to service that way but will leave me with a couple holes in the side of the box I would prefer to avoid having. Hmm decisions... I havent put the roll front back in yet, its only screwed together. I will dismantle it again once I decide exactly where it is all going, stain and laquer it all, cut the IO hole and drill a 10mm hole for the power supply. (DC input jack for a 150W PICO PSU). I'll replace my wall plug standoffs with wooden dowels. The rear bottom area will also get the mesh treatment. The drawer will be a space for knicknacks. I have considered sticking a burner in there too, but although I have the space it will make it look untidy, so I think I will stick with a USB burner which can be kept elsewhere except for the rare occasions it is needed. Another option I guess would be to remove one of the dividers from the drawer and stick a burner in there instead, but I doubt I will go that way.
I have a PC that would be perfect for occasional use but I can't be bothered to buy a case to build it. THIS would be perfect....tempted
Love the mobo standoffs! Subbed, I love anything that mixes timber and tech. EDIT: Should be in Modding/Worklogs. Report your OP and ask an admin to move it. EDIT2: Lol, just saw your convo with MadEngineer in that sub-forum, looks like you beat him to it.
yeah I have another wooden machine in progress too, but I had it in modding and was told it belonged in here lol... apparently all real mods are done with a dremel? so I moved it to here. So for that one and this one too, CBF, it can stay here with the other one
The final product !!! All I need to do is anchor the HDD cage and change the Mobo standoffs for wooden dowels. Cooling is excellent now with the wire surrounds, and of course the drawers underneath could be very useful for knick knacks. Everything is wireless, the only cords will be the power supply and the HDMI cable for video and sound to a TV. Since this machine will soon be on eBay, I will wait till its sold to anchor the drive cage. I intend offering CPU and HDD options, so I will wait and see whats required by the buyer. The one issue with this design is poor access to the drives once assembled, the cage will be riveted to the wire base so better to add the drives first when I know what the buyer wants. HDD swaps will require drilling out of the rivets (plenty of access from below with the drawers removed) or access holes drilled into the side of the box, which I prefer to avoid at this point. I envisage this as a perfect machine for a boutique cafe, with dual screens running. A larger display screen, wall mounted, with a slideshow running menus and adverts, and a smaller behind counter screen for managing the business. You can see the power switch mounted at the front. There is no reset switch or front inputs of any kind. There ARE activity and power LED's, but they are simply on the end of 50mm wires among that nest of PICO wires. They light up, but certainly not a cosmetic feature!! Havent bothered with a burner. This USB burner will do for those rare occasions when one is needed !!
