Thanks Rod; That gives me a lot to think (and dream) about. On Mon, 2007-06-04 at 09:48 -0400, Rod Giffin wrote: > William Case wrote: > > Hi; > > Starting with the case, I would like to do one of a couple of things; > > > > 1. Build the case with fine wood finish (mahogany, dark oak, dark > > walnut or Quebec Maple) . Has anyone heard of this being done > > before? I haven't googled for HOWTO sites yet, but am trying to > > collect my thoughts, and yours, about pit-falls and/or > > suggestions on how this might be down. And, how I might trim my > > monitor, keyboard etc. to match? Or, > > 2. Re-paint (colourize) a vanilla case and trim, in a non-standard > > colour scheme with some kind of paint or whatever that would be > > durable. I had in mind, what I call 'mustang yellow' like the > > mustardy yellow used on sporty cars. > > > > Any thoughts, suggestions or additions? > > > > There are quite a few good computer case designs based on wood. If > you're a good carpenter, you can actually make them look like a piece of > furniture. There are two things to keep in mind though - ventilation, > and shielding. Wood is a good insulator, and can make an otherwise > noisy computer fairly quiet in comparison. But it also does not provide > any shielding. (Even plastic computers are coated with a metalic film > inside.) What you can do though, is laminate a metalic film to the > inside of the case to provide that shielding. Aluminum foil is often a > choice, but in fact brass foil would be better, a lightweight (24 guage > or thinner) steel lining would be even better. Home Depot or Rona might > have some metalic melamine, but make sure it's actually metalic. Other > than that, you can also go to Cohen's on Merivale and pick up some > relatively thin brass sheeting. > This is along the lines I was thinking. > The nicest simple designs I've seen replaced the metal case cover with a > maple door skin veneer. Thin wood, but exotics are possible, and it's > usually knot free so even if it isn't an exotic, it can be stained to > look that way. On the front of the computer, the guy replaced the > plastic bezel with one made of wood and plastic, in order to have the > shaping in places where it was required. Stained in cherry and > varnished, it looked like an expensive piece of furniture. He actually > used the metal frame of the original computer case to mount the > motherboard, power supply, drives etc. > I'll see what I can google for. Somebody probably already has a set of plans and materials list available. > Another guy I know made a beautiful full sized desk/computer, that > looked like a mahogany bankers desk. I think the wood was actually > poplar or birch. The lower left hand drawer was actually the computer > case. The monitor was embedded in the surface of the desk, under > non-reflective glass, and he'd made a flip top sort of cover for the > front drawer for the keyboard. That desk was a work of art. All of the > wires were routed through a plastic conduit inside of the desk,so that > all you could see sticking out was one power cable and the ethernet > cable. Everything else was internal - but accessible through removing > the glass covering the monitor. When he switched to a LCD display, I > think a small modification was required in order to mount the monitor at > the front of the glass instead of way down in the bowles of the desk. > I have longed wondered why that kind of thing wasn't available in the 'high-end world'. I would sure be a great piece of furniture to have, if it wasn't gimmicky but reflected genuine classical furniture design and construction, and was rigged so that motherboards etc. were replaceable. Hang the expense. > Enjoy yourself! > > If you're just going to paint an existing chassis, you can use an > air-brush or find some kid who's good with an airbrush and do some > incredible designs. Use an enamel paint, and this can also look really > cool. I had a couple of photos of one of the fighters my Dad used to > fly painted on the sides of a case of a computer that was in my living > room. (friend of my son is really good with an airbrush, but he lives > in Calgary now.) It got lots of comments, and looked really good. > > Something I just thought of something that can add to the "look" of a > wood computer case. Neon or argon light bulbs, the ones with a soft > orange glow... They'd give the computer a sort of 50's look of having > tubes inside. I'd personally avoid ultra-violet... unless you're going > for an ultra-modern look (in which case just buy an all black chassis > and go with that.) > > Rod. > > -- Regards Bill