The case is now ready. The only thing I need is rubber feet to elevate the case and a switch from RadioShack to use as a power button. Once I mount the button and status LEDs, I can glue on the front of the case and it will be fully assembled.

Today’s work with the front plate (which ended up being more acrylic rather than aluminum due to price) was sort of sloppy. I can mostly blame the fact that I didn’t get the front plate earlier, so I couldn’t really line up my cuts. And the cuts I made were a little rushed…

So basically just some lines along the edges aren’t going to line (or in some cases meet) perfectly. And the lid is sitting up to a 1/16″ of an inch too high at some points. I guess you can’t tell unless you feel the edges, and once the mobo is in there it’ll be less visible.

I would post pictures of the finished box, but it’s so close to being finished I’ll just wait until tomorrow.

See more: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6.5

Today didn’t seem quite as productive, partly because I spent half the day realizing I can’t do anything without the drill I put in my dad’s car. I glued down the braces for the power supply and fine tuned the opening for power. I was putting in some holes in a grid arrangement that were going to be my “intake” vents when I had my first fubar moment. The router bit overheated on the third hole. I should have let back to let the acrylic shards out of the hole, but I tried to go ahead and get through the whole sheet. The scraps melted, stopped the bit, and ripped a piece out of the side wall. I was pretty pissed, but I went ahead and cleaned up the holes rather than start over with that whole plank. So I have a new antenna hole now…

I also mounted the fan and routered out the general shape of the vent. I made braces for the hard drive, which is now floating a good 7mm above the case floor with the fan right in front of it. Cooling should be excellent for that. I just epoxied the braces down, and I realized that everything is now mounted to the case.

Tomorrow’s main task is the front panel. I need to get a sheet of aluminum or colored lexan for that face. After that I need to make the lip that will hold up the lid of the case. When that’s done, I’ll be ready to glue together the walls of the case.

Checklist: front panel, lid lip, power button and status LEDs for front panel, glue together, and… done!

See more: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6.5

Mucho progress today. I started off experimenting with the cuts I need to make for openings in the case. Turns out a table router and some patience makes some awesome results. I made an opening for power and a small vent that is going to double as an opening for the Wi-Fi antenna just to guarantee good reception.

I swung by Staples to get a larger fan to get better ventilation through the case. I wasn’t planning on it, but I couldn’t resist getting the one with blue LEDs. $8.99, not too bad…

Quick drilling and a tiny socket wrench got my motherboard standoffs into the top side of the case. The motherboard is now firmly mounted to the lid with no risk of shorting.

Also a quick (and huge) cut to get access to all of my I/O ports that I’ll probably never need.

I’m pretty sure my neighbors hate my persistent use of power tools in the garage the last two days.

Right now I’m experimenting with epoxy, and tomorrow I’ll start building in mounts to keep the power supply and hard drive securely mounted. I also need to cut a few more holes for my fan and ventilation. What else… hmm I still need material for the front face of the case. Also need a lip to place the removable lid on and I want to make the power button and status LEDs very cleanly positioned up front. The whole thing is really starting to take shape now…

See more: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6.5

I bought the acrylic and cut up all the walls of the case. Took a long time to figure out the best cutting method and how to get everything precise.

Everything fits in pretty well. Not too tight, which should be good for circulation.

As of now the plan for tomorrow is to investigate how to cut openings for ports, power, and circulation. Then I need to figure out how to mount the motherboard to the lid, as well as how to put in a hinge for access to the innards.

See more: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6.5