Build a Wooden Computer
by Elite158
Remember being in woodshop making cutting boards for your parents and little shelves for your room? Or perhaps you're still in woodshop, or maybe you're a carpenter and work with wood for a living. Well, it's time for something new. It is now time to present the wooden computer.
The computer I'm on right now is made out of wood. All my friends thought I was crazy for ever trying to make a computer out of wood.
Type of Computer: Think of a tower-based computer with three 5.25-inch drives and two 3.5-inch drives. You could easily add more drive bays or take some away, but if you wanted to do that, you'd have to remeasure everything.
Type of Wood: The type of wood I used was 1/2-inch plywood. The reason was because it's very strong and hard to bend. So use any kind of plywood 1/2- to 2/3-inch. Any bigger and the computer would weigh more than you'd expect.
The Frame: The computer will have five sides (the back being left open, mainly for ventilation). The front piece is 9.5 x 18 inches. The left side is 20 x 18 inches. The right side is 20 x 19 inches. And the top and bottom pieces are 10 x 20 inches. Totaling that up is 1111 square inches. With these dimensions, saw out the five pieces.
The Inside: This is what you want to work on first, basically building from the inside out. As said before, you're going to be making a computer with three 5.25-inch drives and two 3.5-inch drives. The 5.25-inch drives will need three rectangles with measurements of 6 x 8 inches. Along with that will be one more piece that's 7.5 x 8 inches. Lay the 7.5 x 8 inch piece down and mark it with a pencil dividing it into three equal sections 2.5 inches apart. Take each 6 x 8 inch piece and place them on these marks, therefore making the bays.
See Figure 1A. Glue and nail (use small nails) these four pieces and set it aside to dry. Now the 3.5-inch drives are basically the same thing but with different measurements. This time, you need two rectangles with measurements of 4 x 6 inches and another piece that's 3 x 6 inches with equal sections 1.5 inches apart. See Figure 1B. Glue and nail these three pieces.
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
More Inside: Now that the front drive bays are done (or drying), it's time to make the hard drive rack. This assembly uses the same basic concept as the drive bays. The hard drive rack will hold three hard drives, so you will need three rectangles with measurements of 4.5 x 6.5 inches and another one with measurements of 5.25 x 6.5 inches. Lay the three 4.5 x 6.5 inch pieces on the biggest piece and place them 1.75 inches apart. See Figure 2. This rack will be located in the lower left corner of the computer.
Figure 2The Front: For the front piece, you're going to need to saw out two rectangles. This is for the 5.25- and 3.5-inch drive bays. The big rectangle is 6.5 x 7.5 inches and the small one is 4.5 x 3 inches. To do this, use the drill press to make six holes (for turning points for the saber saw). Then, take the saber saw and saw along the edges meeting each hole until the figure is released from the rest of the front piece. See Figure 3. Be careful that the left edge (the 1/4-inch) does not break. Once it's put together it won't be vulnerable to breaking. Sand to flatten and smooth the sides.
Figure 3The Left Side: All you need to do to this piece is make a half inch (or however wide your wood is) dado. The dado will be along the shorter side of the left side. See Figure 4.
Figure 4The Front Console: This is the beginning of putting the computer together. Now you should have two assemblies of drive bays (the three 5.25-inch and two 3.5-inch). The two assemblies should fit firmly in the front piece. Take the 3.5-inch assembly and place it on the front piece so that the back end sticks out. Don't glue yet. This is where it gets tricky so you may need another person to help you. With the assembly there, take the left side piece and match the dadoed part along the left side (the 1/4-inch) of the front piece. Have the nail gun ready. Glue the 3.5-inch assembly along the two left edges touching the front and left side pieces, the bottom edge touching the front piece, and the right edge also touching the front piece. Holding that there, take the nail gun and point it from the left side piece nailing the left side piece into the front piece and through the bottom of the 3.5-inch assembly. See Point 1 on Figure 5. Nail at Point 2 and at the ends of the assembly (to even out the pressure). Let it sit for the glue to dry. Use the same process for the 5.25-inch assembly nailing Points 3, 4, 5, and the assembly's ends. Then go ahead and finish off nailing the left side piece to the front piece.
Figure 5The Hard Drive Rack Installation: Looking at Figure 6, the hard drive rack is touching the front piece and the left side piece (the view is looking on the inside of the computer on the opposite side of the front piece where the left side piece is now on the right side). The first thing to do is to attach the bottom piece to the front and left side pieces. This way the hard drive rack has something to sit on (and other inside pieces as well). Glue and nail the hard drive rack to the front, bottom, and left side pieces. Proceed to attaching the top piece as well.
Figure 6The Door and Hinge: This is where the final piece comes in - the right side piece. This piece is taller than the left side piece and that is because it's the door for the computer (the computer has to have access to the inside one way or another). What you need is a 19-inch piano hinge (about an inch wide), and a whole lot of screws to insert this hinge. The chances of finding a piano hinge that's exactly 19 inches are very rare, so just get the next size up and saw it down to size with a hack saw. Have the hinge's turning point face towards you so that when you attach the right side piece it will swing out towards you. With a drill and a 1/8-inch bit, make small holes aligned with the holes of the hinge and the computer. This will make the screws go in easier. Assemble this together and then go ahead and sand, lacquer, and stain (optional) the computer.
Metal Lining: At a local Yardbirds or another home improvement store, buy metal sheets. This is for putting on the inside of the computer. The reason is to keep it cool, keep the wood from warping, and to have a metal base for the motherboard (my computer has been running for eight months and not one problem has existed in the fact that it's made out of wood). Don't try to buy metal sheets that fit the exact size of the walls on the inside. Just buy really big ones and a pair of metal-cutting scissors. The best way to put these on is to screw each corner onto the wood base of each wall. Cutting metal is not fun (and not to mention painful when not careful). This is in fact the worst part of making the computer. You may also want to put metal lining underneath each hard drive.
Computer Components: The computer is designed to put the motherboard on the left side piece. Put it on however you want. Make sure you have plastic feet on the motherboard so that it doesn't touch the metal when you screw it on. The power supply can pretty much go anywhere on the base of the computer. I used the metal sheets to hold it in place by forming a shape around the power supply. You could just as easily make a box that the power supply sits in as well. All the other components (CD-ROMs, floppy drives, etc.) have their own place to go. You may be thinking about how these other components are going to stay where they are when inserting floppy disks and such. The solution is to make many small rectangular cubes and nail them (one nail for each, centered on the cube) behind each component so that the components will hit it when pressed upon from the front. Make it so that they can rotate for when you need to remove/add components. See Figure 7. Hook everything up and it's ready to be started for the first time.
Figure 7Starting the System: On your motherboard information booklet (or something of that nature), there should be a diagram that shows where you need to hook up the power switch. If you were like me and could not find a power switch that fit the motherboard output, then take a close look at the diagram in the booklet. Hopefully, it tells you what prongs function what. On mine, it pointed to two parallel prongs that were labeled "PWRBT" (power button). Instead of hassling over the fact that I couldn't find a power switch, what I did was take two long wires and wrap each one around its own prong (the kind of wires I used were from an electronic kit I got from RadioShack - they're single-stranded and very thin). Then all I did was touch the other two ends together and listened to it purr. You may want to buy a small switch for the wires to make it easier to start the system (RadioShack has tons of these).
