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Ok, so it may not be 100% wooden, but the front was a solid slab of curly maple, so I think it qualifies?

A friend of mine who did this sort of thing professionally (and now mostly sells case mod supplies) did a 3-part video series on this case.
Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


This is what the case looked like originally:


Then I started with a slab of curly maple, and started hackin' it up by hand






Made it so the original front frame could be used still




Drilled screw holes and marked out the recess for the window




Coping saw + 2-3/8" of hard curly maple = not much fun


Little bit of cleanup




Then I finished it with 4 coats of shellac. First two were sanding sealer with some vintage maple trans-ting dye, stronger mix on the first, and lighter on the second, then 2 coats of regular clear shellac on top, and buffed with paste wax.



For the side panels, I used a grinder on some steel panels I cut out, then we sprayed it with some kandy paint, and it has a sweet effect with light


A lot more pictures can be found here
http://www.mosquitomediaserver.com/projectLogImages/DancingIridescence/

Gallery

Comments

· Just Plane Crazy
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Those were sweet little cases. Never owned one, but wanted to.

I almost built a Japanese/G&G Lamp style HTPC, but ended up doing this one instead (for now lol). If you design something up, I'd be interested in seeing it. Computers in wooden cases I like :-D
 

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Cool stuff. Been wanting to build a PC case out of wood for my father in law. He's a programmer for Oracle. I think he'd dig it. He's pretty nutty about having the latest and greatest.
 

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Hey Mos,

I didn't look at the videos the first couple of times, for what ever reason. Having seen them now, however, I officially HATE you! Who gets to build their cases at MNPCTech? <whine> Man…</whine> I've bought a few things from them in the past. I really like their vandal switches and some of the grills. But, jeez, the best place I ever had to work was a small one car garage, with the car in it! Just the thought of being in the same zip code with those guys makes my mouth water.
 

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5,776 Posts
Top notch. Lots of things to like in this one. Well done.
 

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And then… I go visit your website for the first time. You are either excessively modest or a BIG-time sandbagger! The APC case is sweet and very original. But, do you really expect me to believe that the Retro HTPC was your first venture in woodworking? I'd sooner believe "David" was Michelangelo's first sculpture.

OK, you've thrown down the gauntlet, I'm picking it up! Soon, soon… All your base are belong to us!

Well, maybe not all that soon. I've only been woodworking since August. Within my lifetime, surely, or not.
 

· Just Plane Crazy
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Thanks guys :)

BustedClock I do tend to be relatively modest, I guess, or at least I think so lol. I just do what I enjoy :-D And as for shop, I don't do much in the way of modding at Bill's shop (MNPCTech), but I'm there probably 2-3 times a month on average. He's become a friend of mine over the past couple of years. I've also been a staff writer/admin for TheModZoo (a site/forum he started 2 years ago), so I'm there picking up review samples from time to time. Also been in a fair few videos as of recently, with another friend Jesse.

Funny thing, is the first time I saw one of Bill's videos, I recognized a PC that was hanging on the wall. A coworker of mine had shown it to me when we were at a client site in San Francisco one time, and told me about all the modding stuff he'd done (I hadn't done any yet). Then later come to find out, that coworker used to share the shop with Bill… small world I guess.

I would have killed for a 1-car garage to work from, I was using my parents' garage about 35 minutes away, or my apartments spare bedroom (carpeted, with a canvas drop cloth lol). Where there's a will, there's a way, I suppose! If it's something you're interested in, I'd highly recommend it. It's a lot of fun, combining the two, at least for me. Lets to make exactly what you want. Retro HTPC was my first woodworking project, and I only had a drill, jigsaw, router, and some cheap big box store files and rasps. There's a reason it's all pegged butt joints lol
 

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If the design bug bites you again, take a look at the auto-speed shops, both local and online. I used high-pressure, woven metal, oil lines as water cooling lines on the Rt. 66 build. It's not an artistic look like Dancing Iridescence, more the tough-guy, sci-fi, or industrial. Nevertheless, between fuel injector rails, the various lines (gas lines are thinner-at the time, I though ID too narrow), and all kinds of connectors. Also the air-cleaners/filters, etc. I have lots of ideas, but no time or moola, at the moment.

Randy
 

· Just Plane Crazy
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nice, I've often liked car themed cases. Like the one Bill made for Dirt: Showdown, or the old Corvette Stingray case he did
 

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This is amazing man, great combination of hobbies and skills.
 

· Just Plane Crazy
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Thanks Mauricio! I think the next one might be a wooden case built from scratch again. I look forward to hopefully getting more woodworking done now that I'm settled into the new place :)
 
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