Project: Quad Cube-2nd place professional

[Timlander]

As promised, the build log of my leet case. I know I haven't been around a lot lately guys, sorry about that. Iv just been way to busy with stuff lately....hopefully things will settle down here in a few months. Anyways, to the build log!

Ok, I would like to start this thing off by saying its been a blast to do this custom case build! There have been some fun times...and some not so fun and very aggravating times =). But all in all my case has finally come together and is looking rather spectacular. I did take a TON of pics, around 150 or more plus a short video clip, so you will not be short on that. And now, onto my case and the PICS!!!

The 1st of many deliveries!!! What's inside the boxes???
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0770.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0771-1.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0772.jpg

I assembled the motherboard tray:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0773.jpg

Some stuff I got from Home Depot for my original case design, but ended up not needing to use the hinges on the left:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0778.jpg

The Plexiglas has arrived!!!
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0783.jpg

The 2 x 4' sheets of wood that will be used for the body of the case:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0785.jpg

Cutting them to size:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0786.jpg

Cutting some strips of poplar that will be used to hold the case together:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0787.jpg

Pieces are cut and ready to be pieced together:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0788.jpg

Adding the poplar strips:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0789.jpg

Piecing the whole thing together:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0790.jpg

ITS A BOX!!!
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0791.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0792.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0793.jpg

Design flaw encountered...=*( So after a long time pondering what I should do, I finally fixed this first big design flaw and moved on, this caused a few more bumps in the road but wasn't too bad. As you can see I had to rip out 1 side of the case, gotta love how well that wood glue holds!!!

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0801.jpg

Now onto the back of the case:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0802.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0803.jpg

Test fitting of the motherboard tray:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0804.jpg

And now for a little patchwork from the previous design flaw, BONDO!!!:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0805.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0807.jpg

After lots of sanding and some coats of sanding sealer:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0808.jpg

Another test fit, this time deciding how I want the drawer slides to be held on:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0809.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0810.jpg

How about some solid mahogany?
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0811.jpg

These slides are rated for 150 lbs and are the perfect length for my purpose, as you will see later on:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0812.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0813.jpg

Screwing the mahogany to the (what will be) bottom of the case:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0814.jpg

test fit:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0815.jpg

Give you a little idea for what I am going for here:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0817.jpg

Time for sanding and sealing of the rest of the wood:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0824.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0825.jpg

A little more bondo:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0826.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0827.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0828.jpg

Time to mark for some windows!!!
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0830.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0831.jpg

[Timlander]

Front fan hole:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0833.jpg

Went by Home Depot to pick up some paint!!!
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0829.jpg

Time to paint!
This will be the piece that will support the motherboard tray:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0835.jpg

The back of the case:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0836-1.jpg

The Back, motherboard tray support and bottom of the case all painted:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0844.jpg

Jigsaw cutting:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0847.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0848.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0850.jpg

Test Fitting the 250mm fan:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0853.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0854.jpg

More supplies have made it in!!!
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0851.jpg

Time for more test fitting, sanding and painting:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0855.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0856.jpg

Notice i fit the back in there:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0857.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0858.jpg

More coats on the blues:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0859.jpg

Now for the red!!!
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0860.jpg

Some more boxes have come in!
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0862.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0863.jpg

Good ol' UPS, doesn't everybody just love UPS?
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0864-1.jpg

They ended up paying me for a new radiator, took them 3 weeks but they did do it, so that's good.

Now it is time to take apart my old water cooled sig rig, clean some stuff up, and get ready for the move into my new case!!!
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0867-1.jpg

oooo, cpu block looks a little nasty:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0868-1.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0869-1.jpg

Lets clean that up shall we?
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0870-1.jpg
Better?

Well, I was surprised at how much stuff was kept inside my little ol Antec 900:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0871-1.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0872-1.jpg

HEHE, now here is the box I have been waiting for:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0874-1.jpg

Out with the old, and in with the new!!!
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0875-1.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0877-1.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0878-1.jpg

Now back to the case!
Measuring and marking for the next set of holes to be cut in the back:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0879.jpg

After cutting the holes out with the jigsaw, I then began piecing the motherboard tray holder and back together:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0881-1.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0882-1.jpg

Test Fit of 1 power supply:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0883-1.jpg

More paint, the final coats:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0884-1.jpg

Now its time for the elegant part!!!
Working with the cherry veneer, which will be the finish for the exterior of the case:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0885.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0887.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0888.jpg

[Timlander]

The following is a pic of the above 2 pieces pressed together:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0890.jpg

Now it is time to retire the good old Antec 900. But not to worry, it will be reborn into my new custom case!!!
So...lets start punching out rivets:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0892.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0893.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0894.jpg

The fan assembly in the top must be taken out:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0895.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0896.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0897.jpg

Now this is what I wanted:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0898.jpg

Now we can go back to the case.
Applied some of the contact cement to stick the veneer to:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0891.jpg

And after lots of sticking, and some router work, this is what I got:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0899-1.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0900-1.jpg

Now lets go back to the inside of the case.
lets get this baby assembled!!!
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0901.jpg

After some test fitting, I re-riveted some parts of the rack to make it more stable:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0902.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0903.jpg

This is the power supply holder, had to cut a hole in there for 1 of the power supplies:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0904.jpg

Test fitting of both power supplies:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0905.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0906.jpg

How it looks from the rear, notice the slot on the left is for 3 exterior molex power connectors, which will be powering my external Black Ice GTX480 radiator:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0907.jpg

How it looks with the Antec rack and power supplies mounted in there:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0908-1.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0910-1.jpg

Where is the water cooling?!?!?! Oh here it is:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0911-1.jpg

My next major design mistake, I hate to even admit to doing such a noobish thing, but I wasn't even thinking and was in such a hurry to get this thing together, I was so excited. Many may not know why the following was an extremely bad idea, but for those who water cool, you will know.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0912-1.jpg

Anyways, let us continue on.
Fitting in the motherboard tray and bolting it down:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0913-1.jpg

Oh, look what has arrived, and just in time too!!!
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0914.jpg

lets get some yate loons on that thing and get it bolted on!!!
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0915.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0916.jpg

And now, for the moment we have all been waiting for!!!
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0917-1.jpg

[Timlander]

You will have to excuse me for not taking more pictures in between the last one and this one, but I was to excited to get it together to stop every 10 seconds to take a picture. =)
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0920-1.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0921-1.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0922-1.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0923-1.jpg

Now I realized the major mistake I had made on the GPU loop set-up. So...after much thought, I finally come up with an actually very good solution to the problem, without having to buy more tube or make any major changes. I didnt take a pic of it in the shop, so the next pic is after the change, but also after I moved the case into my room to do A LOT of cable management and to make sure all the lights and everything worked ok.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0925.jpg

Lights off please:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0926-1.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0927-1.jpg

And the temporary location of my GTX 480 radiator, inside of its nicely hand crafted radbox. If anyone would like to see the radbox build log, the link is in my sig!
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0929-1.jpg

Cable management, working on it:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0930-1.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0933.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0934.jpg

Back to work with the outside:

Had to make a seat for the windows to sit into:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/100_0101.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0959.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0960.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0961.jpg



A few glamor shots:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/100_0103.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/100_0104.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/100_0107.jpg

1st coat of varnish on:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/100_0109.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/100_0110.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/100_0111.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/100_0112.jpg

While that was drying it was time to cut out the windows:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/100_0096.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/100_0097.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/100_0098.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/100_0100.jpg

The 3rd coat of varnish has dried, and the window sills have been painted black, and windows have been put in:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0972.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0973.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0974.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0975.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0977.jpg

[Timlander]

The Final Shots:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0979.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0981.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0983.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0986.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0988.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0989.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0990.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0991.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0992.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0993.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0994.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0995.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0996.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0997.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0998.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY0999.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY1000.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY1002.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY1005.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY1006.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/Timlander/SANY1007.jpg

YouTube - Custom computer case (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEHFb6qjaOM)

[RedRaider]

very fucking nice bro...:2up:

Congrats as well :woot: :champ:

[BrokenHalo83]

nice work. looks great. Pretty sweet how it slides out

[Timlander]

very fucking nice bro...:2up:

Congrats as well :woot: :champ:

Thanks red! =)

nice work. looks great. Pretty sweet how it slides out

Thanks. Yea I love the sliding, thought it would be a good idea. Makes it easy to get to everything inside.

[trfnj74]

Congrats on your second place victory......:up:...

Nice design with the case, and I love the finish.....Great Job

[Marne]

holy shit dude. at first i was like wooden case....FAIL...but damn you proved me wrong that shit is CLEAN.

im just worried about one thing...fire? LOL - varnish is pretty flammable :P

[Septim]

Very Nice!. congrats on the 2nd placer.

[Timlander]

Thanks a lot guys!!! And there will be no fire with my water cooling around marne =) At least I hope not, haha.

[Timlander]

BTW guys you know there is a youtube video there as well. Check it out.

[Snyxxx]

I really envy your ability to make a wooden case. I would love to be able to do this and get a case just like I would want.

Great job.

[magoo25]

sweet.