I'm not sure how I missed this forum but I've been blown away by reading all of the awesome cases that have been designed and produced here.
I've been building custom cases for about 3 years. I've been building primarily wooden cases for the last year. I launched a Kickstarter that failed ().
I did a lot of thinking after this and went back to the drawing board. I focused on just 1 case and narrowed the scope of what I was trying to do.
I've made between 15-20 prototypes of this case. The initial issues were making sure I could control the thermals in a wooden case. After lots of testing and changes, I was able to run a 7700k @ 4.9ghz and stay around 80c.
Wood is a great sound insulator but, like I just said, isn't great at dissipating heat. However, the ability to run your CPU cooler at a higher RPM, without an increase in sound, makes up for the different.
Here are 21 high resolution pictures and some stats.
Size: 7.5" x 7.5" x 10.5"
Footprint: 7.5" x 7.5"
Weight: Just over 2lbs with fans
Cooling: 2x 92mm
Storage: 2x 2.5 Drives (7mm or 9mm)
CPU Cooler Height 95mm
Max GPU ITX Size ~6.7 inches
Build Materials:
- Baltic Birch used front and back
- Red Oak used for the remaining panels
- Tan parts (Dust screens, front IO, washers) were 3D printed with wooden filament (plastic wood mix) *Rear IO, Motherboard mount were printed in PETG. PETG is an extremely strong plastic that is incredibly heat resistant.
- Front/back received a tung oil finish. This was allowed to cure for several days before any additional finish was applies. This oil penetrates the wood and provides an extremely effective moisture barrier.
- Red Oak was stained to make it slightly darker
- 6 coats very thin coats of Polyurethane were applied inside and outside. This was done over a period of several days.- The finish was extreme overkill. One of the worries many people had was the wood swelling due to humidity. I'm fairly certain I could leave this out in the rain, overnight, without damage.
- Over 10 prototypes were designed specifically aimed at testing thermal performance. Will run a 7700k at 4.9Ghz under 80c @ extended full load. (This same CPU would run at 75-76c on water)
- Wood provides great sound instillation and allows the CPU cooler to run at a higher RPM without the added noise. Extensive testing with overclocked CPU & GPU have addressed any heat related issues.
- Most pictures are shown with the dust covers removed. I personally like the look of exposed fans and go with dust filters behind the fans. The case is designed to allow either option.
