Wood and electronics don’t generally mix nowadays, but if you yearn back to a time when radios and the like had a nice wooden finish, this wooden computer case may be for you. Combine that with a Wooden keyboard enclosure, and maybe even a LCD monitor stand and you’ll have a setup that should fit in with any wood-themed decor!
The wooden computer case is actually more of a cover in that it uses most of the stock case to house all of the components. It would definitely be a pain, and possibly a fire-hazard, to make a back mounting plate for all the components out of wood. To go along with this, the LCD monitor stand was engineered for a 21″ monitor when the owner of it wasn’t satisfied with the stability of the stock stand. In the end, he ended up building something quite sturdy and nice looking to replace it.
The highlight for many for the keyboard would be that it was made, in part at least, out of a desire for a Commodore-64 keyboard. It appears to function well andlooks great, so be sure to check out the other pictures after the break!
what?! no cover for the cd drive? for shame.
if it had that dark smooth finish of old times roadios and such, I’d be more positive.
but if you have special size needs or if something was broken, its a nice way to repair instead of throwing out.
I think that monitor stand is a replacement of something broken, instead of a wood fetish
I like it better than metal/plastic case. Nice effort and thumbs up.
I expected a nicer detail/finish after so much woodworking.
Exactly. At least a coat of stain.
I like the keyboard, impressed with the woodwork skillz
Wood in a computer is not going to pose much of a fire hazard. Unless you block the cooling and let the components over heat. The bigger concern is the shielding provided by the metal case. That is why most computer and similar electronics with plastic housings have some sort of metal inside or at least a metal spray finish internal.
Wood does not burn that easy. take a 1×4 piece of wood and try and light it with a match or lighter sometime. Think of those big wood radios and TVs and you will see that fire isn’t a big deal.
I have to say that I do not find this case pleasing.
I am not fond of plywood edges for one thing. If one really wanted a wood look he could have gotten a ATX case and applied wood veneer to the the sides and made a custom wood front pannel.
I is really sad because his laptop desk http://woodgears.ca/laptop_table/build.html looks great.
Inre: plywood edges
A narrow strip of veneer could cover those ugly edges. A lot of home improvement stores sell rolls of various woods, some with an iron-on adhesive on the back side.
Then a stain of tung oil and a coat of shellac…
By using metal to mount all the parts you will mainly prevent issues with static electricity/grounding and thermal expansion. I like the build, but its lacking some finish. Some nice dark varnish maybe? But off-course that’s just taste..
One of my old friends did this many years before:
http://vajk.mile.hu/computer/
Thanks for the link Sigma…
The fan opening on the back of that case is a true work of art!
They’re all good looking projects, but none of them look finished. A wooden bezel for both monitor and dvd drive and wooden keys, and I would be sold on all 3 projects, definitely!
Ben Heck show did it better imo.
http://revision3.com/tbhs/hak5
This is really ugly. Functional but it looks like those beige computer cases from the 90s.
I agree with most.
The case just looks boxy and primitive. Why use russian birch plywood, and take such care with tricky corner splines; then ignore finishing, details, and drill a serious of uneven holes in the front for the speaker?
The beige of the keycaps seriously clashes with the natural wood tone, making the keys look dirty, and the wood yellow. Whitewashing the wood, to bring it closer to the keycap color, might look nice. Black keys with a dark wood stain would look really nice, although that doesn’t appear to match any of his other decor. I do like the nostalgic shape.
Nothing bad to say about the monitor stand though. Impressive in design and it looks good, even unstained.
My 2 bits is with the one distraction on the keyboard. The bulge on the spacebar rips away at the rectilinear style of the rest of the design.
In the 90’s you could by storage bins with flat fronts and somewhat see thru, then the the stylists got ahold of them. Now a curvy “sphereoid” handle-front covers the view of contents.
These wood hacks often whip the curvy-swoosh style straight.
The uneven speaker holes distract me too much.. Sorry for being a party pooper.
Uhh.. This is more than a year old.
That is ugly…and I can say that because my wooden media server looks so good you would think it was made of steel.
Very nice build! Problem identified – problem solved.
Seems like people have quickly forgotten how to behave on the new HaD…
It’s OK but they are rather utilitarian in design, i think this guy probably does the best wood cases out there.
^WOW!!! Those cases are amazing!
Meanwhile, in an Elbonium computer lab…
…the lightning rods extend slowly through the roof and reach for the darkening clouds.