How to Design and Build a Laser Cut Computer Case With Plywood

The most extreme computer-builders create computer cases entirely from the ground up. Using templates from their own parts and the internet, they use a variety of household materials to craft a case, such as aluminum sheets, acrylic or plywood. However, its extremely difficult to build a case because the majority of time is spent actually building while in comparison, very little time is spent designing a case. This tutorial is going to show how to flip that process and create the best computer case to suit you.

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 Steps

1. 1
   Get your design tools. Something like AutoCAD 2013 to make a template which will be cut out of plywood using a laser-cutting machine.
2. 2
   Have a basic idea of what you are going to do. Something like a very rough draft, which I would follow when designing the case.
   

   A very rough draft of the computer
3. 3
   Design a mounting plate. This piece of plywood is where you will mount your motherboard, power supply, and wood stubs for mounting hard drives.
   

   This is the foundation for the rest of your build
4. 4
   Design parts to mount your hard drives. In this instance, you want the hard drives to be accessed from the back, so build sleds to screw the hard drives onto. Those sleds would be mounted onto wood stubs that connected to the mounting plate.
   

   The wood stubs are on top and the hard drive sleds are on the bottom. The hard drive sleds and the front panel connector plate mount to the stubs
5. 5
   Design cooling and front panel connectors. I built this plate to be mounted in front of the hard drives with spacing for 92mm fan mounts which would blow air across the hard drives, Make sure there is an inch of space between the mount and the hard drive sleds! I also made a hole for a 22mm power switch, which would be pushed through both the plate and the front panel. A mount for front panel connectors such as USB 3.0 ports can be cut into this as well.
   
6. 6
   Design your top and bottom panels. On mine, these need to fit over the mounts on the top and bottom of the component plate. I added spaces for 120mm fan mounts on both panels.
   
7. 7
   Design your front and bottom panels. The ones I designed are to be pushed into the top and bottom much like the wood stubs for the hard drives. Make sure to correctly measure where the IO shield and front panel connectors (switches, USB ports) would fit on the front and back panels.
   

   Make sure the cuts line up!
8. 8
   Design your side panels. These need to fit in the spacing on the front and back panels. Also add air intakes to give the components adequate cooling and to keep the wood from becoming less fatigued.
   

   Make sure there are openings for air over your parts so they get adequate cooling
9. 9
   Make sure your parts fit together. If you're happy with your design, you can send it to company that does laser cutting to get your plywood parts. Assembling your computer should take under an hour.
   

   Once that's done, its easy to assemble a computer! (This is not the same computer as in the previous pictures)

Tips

• Get templates for computer parts from both your parts and the internet. Make those parts in CAD and implement them into your model to make sure everything fits
• Always test your parts before buying them
• Use material thicker than 1/8". Otherwise, the case will be flimsy. This case uses 1/4" thick birch plywood.
• The kerf of the laser causes more material (.005 inches) to be cut off from either side of the line which the laser follows on your template while cutting. You can compensate for this by offsetting lines by .005 inches in the direction away from the object which you want cut out. This is more necessary for parts that slide into other parts.
• Some parts that slide into other parts receive a lot of stress because they must bend. This can be done by adding .02 inch radius circles to corners of sliding parts and trimming them so that they make the corner bigger.
  

  This is an example of a corner that has been made longer. Since this is a sliding piece, it must take more stress and fit perfectly with other pieces, which is why the sides have been offsetted
• Get your parts from a reliable company that does laser cutting. These parts were cut at Pololu Custom Laser Cutting
• Software such as AutoCAD tend to be very expensive. If you qualify, it is recommended to get a student version.

Things You'll Need

• CAD Software
• Computer Parts
• Part Templates