McMuggins - Walnut Workstation

[Jeremy McGinnis]

Inspiration for this build came from many places. Form sleeper PC builds that look like old radio cabinets, and a vague idea similar to steampunk, to bit tech "Project Toreador," and tech by Matt's wooden computer.

 

At the start of the design phase, all I knew was that wanted to make the case out of primarily walnut, with copper accents. It had to look old, but not rustic. It had to be clean, but not minimalistic. I modeled seven different ideas in cad before finding the one that looked right to me. Here it is.

  

I wish I could take one of those nice photos of all of the brand new components in boxes, arranged neatly on a desk. I can't do that because 90% of the components going into this case, are in use in the computer that I am using for this cad work. Here's the rundown of parts. This build currently has no sponsor.

 

Motherboard - Gigabyte X570 UD

CPU - Ryzen 5 3600

RAM - 2x16GB G.Skill Ripjaws V 3600 CL16

GPU - Gigabyte 1080 Windforce OC

Storage - Crucial P1 1TB PCIe3.0 SSD

PSU - Thermaltake Smart 700W

CPU Cooler - Cooler Master Masterliquid Lite 240 modified to replace the 240 radiator with an XSPC EX420.

The 3600 definitely doesn't need a 420mm radiator, it's for the aesthetic of the radiator taking up the whole front intake area.

 

More updates coming soon.

[Jeremy McGinnis]

Years ago, I found a great bulk deal on rough sawn walnut boards like these. I thought that I would make them into a table, or some other furniture eventually. I guess this was what I was waiting for.

I own very few woodworking tools. Thankfully, an uncle of mine owns a wood shop. His main business is making burial caskets. I considered referencing that fact in the name of this build. Maybe I should have named this build the Casket Case, or the Grimm Gamer. The whole build isn't death themed, so it wouldn't have been a good fit.

 

On a recent weekend I made the time to drive the 2.5 hours there, work for some time, and drive 2.5 hours back. I only finished the basic box, and cut the front and sop slats. This picture is taken the next day, after I had glued most of the slats in.

Notice there three slats on the front that support the ends of all of the others. To avoid having to measure a 45 degree angle for every slat, these were placed first. I intentionally cut all of the slats slightly longer than calculated, only 1/32 to 1/16 of an inch. Any woodworker will agree that it is infinitely easier to remove excess material than it is to add back what's missing. The bottom main slat was tested, and sanded, and tested and sanded, and repeated, until the angle was right. Repeat for the remaining main slats. 

 

Walnut is a hard wood. Hand sanding takes a lot of time and effort. I definitely did not want to do that for all 57 remaining slats. So I didn't. I only shifted the slat left or right to get the correct 45 degree angle before gluing it in place. Some gaps are a little thinner than the 3/8in that was designed, some a little wider. It's a small enough difference that you definitely won't see it in pictures, and would only notice in person if I pointed it out. 

 

Walnut is a beautiful wood by it's nature. A simple oil, varnish, or shellac makes walnut look great. No stains required. I've tried it on a test piece already, and promise you won't be disappointed. I can't wait to get a finish on the whole case. Before I can do that, it needs the motherboard and GPU OI, and PSU cut outs. More than the small holes that are there already.

[Jeremy McGinnis]

Ok, the IO cutouts are finished, as well as the power supply vents. To make the PCIe mounting easier, the whole system is spaced 3/8" away from the back panel. Conveniently, I could reuse the vent slat offcuts for spacing the IO away from the back panel. First the motherboard standoffs were fixed to the right side panel/motherboard tray, then I marked and cut IO holes. With the majority of the big woodwork out of the way, I sanded the case once more, and finally applied a tung oil finish. 

 

Here's the motherboard and graphics IO fitment. (sans IO shield)

The oil finish was surprisingly light at first.

It did darken with time and more coats. White balance for this picture is a little off. It's really much more brown, less red/purple.

A view of the IO from the rear. These pictures have much closer color to how I see it in person. There's still too much glare on the shiny surface, but I'll take good pictures when I'm done.

[Jeremy McGinnis]

This case has no right side panel, or rather, the motherboard tray is the right side panel. There's no space behind it to easily hide cables. Similarly, there is no PSU shroud, and I have a non-modular PSU. 

 

This is where the copper accents start to come into realization. One word: Conduit. 

Here above I have two runs of 1/2" copper pipe. The first carries both the EPS and PCIE power cables. The EPS cable wasn't long enough, and I had to splice in some extra wire. The second pipe carries the 24pin. 

I thought I would have been able to run front OI cables through the first conduit, because it already runs to the top of the case. It was too full. I had to add another.

It's not shown in this picture, but at the moment, it only carries the power button wires.

Now the overall color scheme is coming together. A lot of black, and dark brown in the computer parts and wooden case, then some red/orange conduits, and a few bright yellow brass screws. I expect the dead space will not be so severe as soon as I get the front radiator/fans and top case fans in.

Each conduit is held in place by many brass 6-32 screws.

All of the connectors are too large to pass through the conduits as is. I have seen many case modders de-pin the connectors, and run sleeved cables through combs they have built into the case. I didn't want to de-pin a connector. I don't have the tools, or the confidence. Instead, I did this. This tool is called a nibbler. it takes a small nibble out of the edge of sheet metal. Many nibbles, and a line can be cut into something that would have otherwise been hard to access. Now all of the pipes and fittings that make up the conduits have a channel in the back. Wires and gables get stuffed through the channel, no de-pinning needed, and all evidence is hidden.

[Jeremy McGinnis]

I have made a lot of progress. I think I have enough pictures to let them speak for me.

Case fans tentative placement. Also I have a power button now.

420mm radiator placement. This is a tight fit.

First Water cooling pipe placement. I thought It looked a little cluttered around the 24pin connector area.

Definitely too busy/cluttered, so I took it apart. Compression fittings take a lot of torque. More torque than the plastic connectors on the pump block could take. I had to drill them out and epoxy in metal stents. 

Here's the second pipe layout. It's less visually cluttered around the 24 pin connector than before, but it's also not straight. I tried to put too many bends in one pipe. Also, the compound bends are too close together. 

This is the third pipe layout. I am happy with this one.

I Made a lot of copper scrap. Each layout above had one failure before each success.

And a few more glamor shots of the wood having darkened with a little time.

Left

[Jeremy McGinnis]

This post is all about the left side panel.

Here's the glue-up of the wooden frame finished. (Sorry for having no pictures of the woodworking in progress. Shop time is valuable.)

This rabbit(notch) was cut into each piece before glue-up. The acrylic pane will rest in this area.

Sanding is done, and you can see I have oiled a small section. 

The oil finish has had time to cure. I have glued the acrylic panel in place and started installing mounting hardware.

The side panel to the left has a brass screw driven into the front edge of the frame, the head is barely visible in the photo. The inside edge of the case has a matching hole. I still need to patch those pin hole.

In the back edge of the panel is another shallow hole. The hole is larger than the threads and just keeps this screw from slipping sideways. That long thin hole in the back edge of the case was not easy to drill. It had to be perfectly straight and square.

Here is the side panel in place. All that's left to do is to remove the tape used to glue in the acrylic, and peel the protective film. I think I'll do that right before I take the final glamor shots.

 

 

[Jeremy McGinnis]

It is done.

[Jeremy McGinnis]

I hope you like it.