I’ve seen a video (forgot his name, sorry) of someone buildin’ a pc case made out of wood, but it looks, too weak/flimsy. I could potentially (but probably not) design an entire case out of actual wood, that won’t flex, and support EATX (cuz I have reasons for liking them lol).
But should I? eh. Yes/No.
I know it can’t really “catch on fire” if you get it all sorted out, but putting anything that can run at 80*C+ near wood, at least to me kind of soudns risky, might damage it n such. That’s the No part.
The yes part is, it’s freaking wood, WHO DOESN’T LIKE WOODGRAIN? Cough LGR… Where is he cough. Anywho, just random brainstorm idea, wondering what others would think of this silly stupid thought.
Also it will have airflow. I’m not making a 2nd PC case that is like my, utter crap of case.
It’s not a really stupid idea. But I have an idea: what about using veneer on metal? Benefit of both worlds in my opinion + reduced costs. Maybe a full slab of wood could work for the front.
I think you’re underestimating the number of slots, threaded holes, surfaces requiring thin walls, front I/O ports, etc that a PC case needs to actually function here lol
If it were me and I really wanted to woodgrain a PC case, I’d get something cheap like a DIYPC or AZZA case (they all tend to use the exact same perfectly square frame with different plastic panels) and make new front+top panels for it. Get a CAD program, extrude a flat rectangle of wood, cut out all of the recesses/screw holes/fan mounts for that particular side of the case, and send it off to someone to route on a basic 2D CNC router for you.
Kinda like how Wendell woodgrained his Define 7 (timestamped):
If you really wanted to make something out of wood that was functional, at a minimum you’d need a pre-formed motherboard tray, preferably with PSU mount so everything is earth grounded together. There’s no way making the rear I/O panel out of wood would be functional; even if you theoretically CNC machined every slot where it should be, the thickness required for any kind of structural strength so it didn’t immediately fall apart would absolutely obstruct your I/O ports.
What about metal veneer for parts that might need grounding/metal connection, a thin skin of metal to go inside for mounting to the wood and the pc to it. Effectively a motherboard tray of sorts.
Hi there! I just by chanche found this post, new user here just because I wanted to give some suggestions xD
So I built 2 entirely wood cases, but in ITX format, and here are the results of my work
The first one is now not used anymore since I upgraded to the second with watercooling (not really needed by the components since I only have an rtx 2060 and an r9 3900, but just because I liked to try new stuff)
I posted on Reddit a gallery for the builds that have some more information inside, but the forum does not let me post links. You can search in r/sffpc for “I’ve made a case!” and “Homemade wooden sffpc, watercooled with 360mm radiator space” respectively
Overall I’m very happy with the results, and if you want to make a wooden pc go for it! You will definitely learn and have a lot of fun!
However you have to keep in mind that you will need to put in quite a lot of work, because you need to design everything in a 3d cad to make sure that everything fits correctly, and then actually make the case. I made both of them with very cheap hand tools, but you can look into laser cutting shops to have your parts made with better dimensional accuracy. Be very mindful of the thickness of the wood, because under 1cm your case may not be sturdy enough to support a lot of weigth. My watercooled build uses ~1cm thick panels for the main structure and metal L brackets, but because of the weigth i’m still not very comfortable moving it around.
Feel free to ask any questions if you’d like to!
Edit: links to the reddit threads:
I have a lot heavier things in some astonishingly cheap wood that I wouldn’t use if I were actually designing it all myself. My PC itself is housed in a woodchip desk: there’s no conceivable reason why building it into the wood itself couldn’t work. As for the heat, the wood isn’t actually coming into contact with the 80 degree components. It’s screwed into the motherboard, which isn’t anything like that hot. I have a thermometer measuring internal air temperatures, and it’s about 10 degrees over ambient when it’s on, so now that’s about 40 Celsius. I think wood should be able to handle that.
They had a metal frame holding the sockets for the valves and the cabinet was wood with plenty of ventilation.
You could start with an open frame metal PC and build a case around this. Plenty of PC fans and it should be fine.
Wood is not a fire hazard. Yes it burns well but it cannot be used to start a fire, it only burns when the fire has really got going. Cobwebs, paper, plastic and fabrics are fire hazards.
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