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My mom saw the [H]otdog workstation I did for my wife and said she wanted something done for her. All she wanted was something for playing on the internet, emails and occasional word processing and spreadsheet functionality. I had never done an ITX project and have wanted to for about a year now. SOooo, I showed her www.mini-itx.com and asked her if anything on there pleased her. Her first computer (and therefore so was mine) was a Commodore 64 so she really wanted me to make the C64 mini-ITX. I got everything purchased including a C64 off of ebay but when the C64 showed up it looked like someone went at it with an Uzi. First time ever to get ripped off on ebay. I mean there were litterly 30-40 HOLES in it like someone took a drill to it and could not stop. Anyway, I decided (without my mom's knowing) to search around for something that hasn't been done yet.
Welp, my search was over pretty quickly. While at Walmart my wife decided she needed another "Sewing box" which is a handy little apolstered wooden box with a handle that someone can tote around with them to and fro the sewing machine. I pulled out my trusty pocket measuring tape.... and.... PERFECT! It was like it was built to hold a mini-itx mobo.
As you can see by the salt can (I had no pepsi can for referance) that it is small and cute. I made some paper templates and proceeded to cut. I used a drill and a jigsaw with a small wood scroll blade. The slimline DVD I ordered off of ebay ($35 inc shipping) had a funky little curve in the faceplate so I had to cut that same funky little curve into the box:
Next to go in were the little plastic motherboard standoffs I had from some other motherboard I had purchased a long time ago! (see it pays off to keep crap you think you would never use again). They are screwer in (by drilling a slightly smaller hole) and then epoxied in from the bottom:
The DC-DC powersupply I have has a little round external connector that you plug an external brick into. I had to cut an oval shaped hole for that. Pushdown the motherboard onto the standoffs and insert the plug for the power supply and vwalla:
I used two long brass motherboard standoffs for mouning the DC-DC PSU on the lid. They are the longest standoffs I have ever seen, like half an inch long. Again, saved from another project. Heres the PSU mounted:
I used a long peice of wood and attached it to each side of the inside of the box for the HDD and DVD-Rom to lay on. I had to use something like this because I wanted the DVD drive to line up perfectly with the wooden strip on the front of the box. You cant see the mounting very well in this pic but here they are both in place:
Once everything was installed into the box I "borrowed" my wife's [H]otdog setup to test and install. Here it is all fired up and installing the OS. The DVD-Rom looks like it is slightly protruding from the box. Thats because while installing I discovered that I had used too long of a screw in the back to mount the IDE converter onto it and it would not close properly. I fixed that later and it now once again sits flush with the side of the case and you can hardly notice its there.
This was a really fun project for me. Like I said, I have been wanting to do an ITX for a long time now. The whole thing probably took me around 12 to 15 hours of blood (I cut myself a couple times), sweat, and nervious shakey hands to complete over two days. I hope my mom likes it. If she doesnt I will probably either just take it all apart and make what she wants or sell it and start over with hers.
All in all the computer is great, and is COMPLETELY silent with the lid down. It gets FRIGHTFULLY hot inside the thing while on so tonight I will be adding a 40mm exhaust fan near the top and intake vents on the floor of the box next to the mobo. Plays DVDs flawlessly.
System Specs:
Via Epia M10000 1GHz multimedia PC motherboard
256MB PC2100 DDR RAM
10GB HDD (I had this lying around)
Slimline DVD-ROM with slimline->IDE converter
DC-DC 56watt PSU with external brick.
"Made in China" sewing box from Wally-World
Welp, my search was over pretty quickly. While at Walmart my wife decided she needed another "Sewing box" which is a handy little apolstered wooden box with a handle that someone can tote around with them to and fro the sewing machine. I pulled out my trusty pocket measuring tape.... and.... PERFECT! It was like it was built to hold a mini-itx mobo.
As you can see by the salt can (I had no pepsi can for referance) that it is small and cute. I made some paper templates and proceeded to cut. I used a drill and a jigsaw with a small wood scroll blade. The slimline DVD I ordered off of ebay ($35 inc shipping) had a funky little curve in the faceplate so I had to cut that same funky little curve into the box:
Next to go in were the little plastic motherboard standoffs I had from some other motherboard I had purchased a long time ago! (see it pays off to keep crap you think you would never use again). They are screwer in (by drilling a slightly smaller hole) and then epoxied in from the bottom:
The DC-DC powersupply I have has a little round external connector that you plug an external brick into. I had to cut an oval shaped hole for that. Pushdown the motherboard onto the standoffs and insert the plug for the power supply and vwalla:
I used two long brass motherboard standoffs for mouning the DC-DC PSU on the lid. They are the longest standoffs I have ever seen, like half an inch long. Again, saved from another project. Heres the PSU mounted:
I used a long peice of wood and attached it to each side of the inside of the box for the HDD and DVD-Rom to lay on. I had to use something like this because I wanted the DVD drive to line up perfectly with the wooden strip on the front of the box. You cant see the mounting very well in this pic but here they are both in place:
Once everything was installed into the box I "borrowed" my wife's [H]otdog setup to test and install. Here it is all fired up and installing the OS. The DVD-Rom looks like it is slightly protruding from the box. Thats because while installing I discovered that I had used too long of a screw in the back to mount the IDE converter onto it and it would not close properly. I fixed that later and it now once again sits flush with the side of the case and you can hardly notice its there.
This was a really fun project for me. Like I said, I have been wanting to do an ITX for a long time now. The whole thing probably took me around 12 to 15 hours of blood (I cut myself a couple times), sweat, and nervious shakey hands to complete over two days. I hope my mom likes it. If she doesnt I will probably either just take it all apart and make what she wants or sell it and start over with hers.
All in all the computer is great, and is COMPLETELY silent with the lid down. It gets FRIGHTFULLY hot inside the thing while on so tonight I will be adding a 40mm exhaust fan near the top and intake vents on the floor of the box next to the mobo. Plays DVDs flawlessly.
System Specs:
Via Epia M10000 1GHz multimedia PC motherboard
256MB PC2100 DDR RAM
10GB HDD (I had this lying around)
Slimline DVD-ROM with slimline->IDE converter
DC-DC 56watt PSU with external brick.
"Made in China" sewing box from Wally-World
)
