Project: Aluminum Water Cooling Case

[DallasNovelty]

That is Hard Core Right there

 

[Spotswood]

Next up is to cut the front sheet.

In order to cut-out all of the openings for the 5.25-inch drives accurately, a custom router template is required. I used .5x1-inch u-channel and .25x1.25-inch flat bar to frame the openings on .5-inch particle board.

The aluminum bits guided my flush trimming router bit.

The aluminum bits were removed and the particle board template was used to cut the .10-inch thick aluminum sheet.

Now I just need to square all of the corners and cut to width. Ugh.

 

[Spotswood]

"Life" had gotten in the way of this project for a few weeks, but I've managed to fabricate the inner and outer sheets of the front panel. It took me 5 hours to square-off all of the inside corners.

 

[Spotswood]

Back sheet cut to width, height and the hole for the 10-slot motherboard tray routed out.

 

[NosBoost300]

can't wait to see the finished project... so much talent here on TF now!

 

[Spotswood]

The inner and outer front sheets, cut to final length.

 

[lyecdevf]

I finally realized the size of this thing judging from the coffee table. It is huge!

 

[Spotswood]

Shelves!

 

[Spotswood]

The 5.25-inch drive bay rails:

 

[Spotswood]

I bolted the 5.25-inch drive rail assemblies to the front inner sheet.

Note how the extra deep rails will completely hide the drives and cables.

Another design benefit of the front air duct is hiding all of the mounting hardware.