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Exotic Wood Computer Cases
Alien54 writes "Exotic Wood Crafts has turned an aluminum case into a wood veneer case. For those who don't know, a veneer is a very thin layer of wood, in this case, pressed onto the panels of the case, maintaining the strong and stable characteristics of an aluminum case, while giving it a one of a kind wood finish. Lots of pics, some pretty nice looking stuff."
Happy Trails!
Erick
http://www.busyweather.com/
I liked the black walnut burl. But none of them look like they have adequate ventilation for the AMD systems I run.
John
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Voided Warranty
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Virtual-Hideout.Net
Looks like they're not cheap--US$350-600--but they do look nice.Larry Ellison's probably got a custom one on his desk.
Though it is great for matching furniture, I would never buy one of these, because in my mind, nature and technology just don't mix.
It would be even better if it was a "tab a into slot b" thing that could be easily taken apart and reassembled.
heh heh heh -- you said wood.
Wouldn't the wood covering just act like an insulator?
Now, if they made one out of concrete - Fred Flintstone style - I'd be really impressed!
Yep, Yoshi made an EPIA TC box, in which the case was done with wood veneers (it WAS wooden, though - the veneers just made it not look like he used plywood)...
Why would such a simple "case mod" make the Slashdot front page? It isn't even a "case mod", it's a "case decal".
I might as well dig out some shag carpet from my parent's house basement, glue it to the sides of my desktop machine, and post some pics. Results would be the same: something that looks cool for a couple weeks, then becomes tacky, then downright ugly and embarrassing in a few months.
davejenkins.com |
These guys used to offer woodgrain finished keyboards, mice, peripherals, etc... but the website vanished.
Here's a picture of a keyboard they used to sell and here's a picture of a car computer finish that was offered.
There's also a company called Oberhofer that sells 'designer' keyboards / mice / etc. at a premium. The last time I checked the website, however, it was de-funct. They had some great peripherals at (albeit) grand prices. I think they have a showroom or two in San Fran or LA somewhere.
Anyone have any info on what happened to them?
Overall, this is a GREAT mod / hack and I'd love to know how they did it...
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
I am looking into making a wood LCD frame. This is for a home built Digital Picture Frame project. Maybe a wood veneer over a metal frame instead of a true wood frame would work better.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
I don't see what's wrong with making a wood box and cutting the right holes in it. I s'pose that would also be a good opportunity to make my ultimate case mod (for LANs). Get a flatscreen monitor, and stick it to the side of the pc. And you could make a compartment in the computer for storing headphones, keyboard, mouse. Next time you go to a LAN, this would be all you need... (and it's a space saver). So, any entrepeneurs here?
Karma: -2^0.5 . Mainly due to the imbibing of dihydrogen monoxide
And, at $250 to $600 for a freaking computer case, I'd say that trick still works.
Mike Hoye
Here it is: http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/modtips/story/0 ,24330,3646402,00.html
I've worked with hardwood veneers on musical instruments. Two points: (1) you want a porous substrate so the veneers adhere properly; (2) you want a reasonably rigid (non-flexible) substrate so the veneers adhere properly. I can't image a worse substrate for fine veneer work than sheet metal. How intact will the veneers be after a year of normal use?
I used to screen print textiles, and we had a saying when people brought us garments with big holes in the threading: we can't print on air.
Wouldn't the same be here: you can't glue to air?
How's the bass? how much sake?
C|N>K
FrozenCPU.com has been offering wood cases for quite a long time.. if you want to take a look for yourself, go ahead.
If a wood-case gets slashdotted on the web and nobody sees it, does it make a sound? ;-)
"PC Load Letter? What the $@#% does that mean?!"
http://www.swedx.com/
Didn't Yoshi do this on The Screensavers like two weeks ago? And not just a wood case, but wood veneer, because I remember he did something strange in the way he glued it on, although I can't recall exactly just what he did.
It's amazing how much "mature wisdom" resembles being too tired. - Robert Anson Heinlein
what happens when you put in a cdrom drive,
do they have a special cover for it?
if they don't, it'll change the look in a bad way
You should never have more than 4 ingredients on a pizza, never cover a toilet seat with fur (real or fake) and you should never use an insulating material like wood for a computer case.
While I'm sure it looks great (Slashdotted already) I would think that applying a wood veneer would negate at least some of the heat dissipation properties of the aluminum case. It's a big reason why case-modders go with aluminum cases in the first place.
on Applefritter.com:
Like the (gorgeous) Old Time Radio Case.
Another Old Time Radio case.
The (fugly) Popsicle stick case.
The (just homely) plain wood box.
OK, and the just plain whacky, like a Mac in a Floppy Disk Box!
Check out the other stuff, that site is seriously cool.
If you are going to be modding or painting a case, then other decorative elements like leather or wood seem in line... Although it is tricky to apply the veneers yourself.
There is a decent review here
There are plenty of wood veneer sources out there.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
George Washington (yes, that one) actually painted "wood grain" on his walls to make the wood look more expensive that it was.
And his house looks like it's made of stone. But actually it's made of wood, beveled to look like stone and painted with white paint mixed with sand to give it a stone like finish.
Despite his apparent cheapness, Mt Vernon is quite the sight to see.
I dunno though. I have a case that has plastic colored to look like wood going up one side which looks alright but it's technology. Unless you're trying to blend in with the furniture trying to give a natural look I think is a bit over the top.
Especially when the "natural look" is just a sticker. It's a bit tacky. Cases made out of real wood with real carvings and other woodwork, now that would be something. If it didn't burst into flames.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
In my day, we made our CPU's out of crystals! Our motherboard was a clay tablet. And we hammered the gold into thin sheets, baked it in a dung-fired oven, and we LIKED it.
-cp-
The station wagon of computers has arrived!
Praise the day!
--Stephen
Did you ever notice that *nix doesn't even cover Linux?
my university actually had a building burn down when a server overheated and cought fire.
f ire/
As I recall it cost a few million dollars to repair the dammage.
here's a page with pictures
http://www.acadweb.wwu.edu/dbrunner/cbe
Well art is art isn't it, but then again water is water; and east is east; and west is west; and if you take cranberries
pft, i'm waiting for the endangered species line of computer cases... they are much more vogue. The bengal tiger case is to die for!
Think of all the times you've spent with your computer.
All the hours of internet surfing, emerging and gaming.
All the good times.
All the time looking at pr0n.
All these years your computer has given you the gift of wood.
Won't you do the same for it?
If I really streach it I can understand nice wooden details inside cars, but you guys even put it externaly. Veneer is butt-ugly when applied to the wrong stuff, like computer cases or cars.
When in doubt, act determined. Business 101
Why would such a simple "case mod" make the Slashdot front page? It isn't even a "case mod", it's a "case decal".
Veneer and wood finishing work is actually a specality field, and a respectable profession. I respect it as highly as good carpentry work. I'm only an amature as far as this goes and let me tell you the hours involved in steaming, shaping, cutting and getting the damn thing to stick, and not to speak of the time involed with applying a finish. And don't get me started on the mind numbing hours of repeative motions you have to peform. And all of without an eye for design is pretty worthless.
I consider all such projects of breaking away from the mass produced PC case worthy of note... from fine veneer work to even glueing some shag carpet on your PC case.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
Luxury.
Back when I was a young'en, we didn't have any o' those fancy crystals, ovens or precious metals. We 'ad to make due with a bunch o' stones, manipulating the electrons by hand!
"If anyone needs me, I'm in the angry dome."
I have been building wooden computers for a while now and I can't stand all these stick the plastic mac tack on the plastic case crap. No matter what you do with veneer, it only looks good on wood. Shameless Plug -- take a look at some real wooden mods here and here and here and here --/Shameless Plug then tell me what a computer should look like. /. during the last article on wooden computers, the resources needed to manufacture a metal case are astronomical compared with the renueable materials.
As to the price of $600 bucks for their stuff... I hope it comes with hardware and some glue to re stick the veneer when the heat makes it bubble.
On the up side, I am really glad that people are starting to take an interest in making cases out of some natural materials, as per some of the complaints here on
I just hope no one starts doing computer cases that look like those big ass TV's from the early 80'. The last thing we need is another big piece of furniture.
I would be interested to see something made out of reconstituted wood though as it does have a great pattern to it.
Feed my eyes...
Adhesisve backed wood veneers have been around for decades. Normally, they are used by people with few woodworking skills. Anyone with a just a few bucks and a small amount of skill can use it on anything. Puting it on empty cans is a good way to get the feel for using it.
I had my own fruniture shop for a dozen years, specializing in computer desks and related furniture. This was before you could buy them in Wal-Mart, etc.
I never used adhesive backed veneers. They are very thin, about 1/32 of an inch, or less, and are easily damaged in everyday use.
Comparing Veneer to Plywood is like comparing a Luxery Sedan to a pickup truck.
Venner is meant to be a very thin single layer of an exotic or other fine wood. It is a non-structural product that requires a sub-surface to bond to. Veneers have been used extensivily for 100's of years and can even be traced to use in ancient Eygpt. These days veneers are thought of as a way to build things cheaper, this is sometimes the case but traditionally veneers were used to allow exotic woods not suitable for furniture to be used for that purpose. It also allowed furniture makers to express curves and other fine details in ways not possible traditionally.
Plywood is a utility product. It is a combination of the structural material and a veneer (assuming you are talking a finish grade product). You would rarely (if ever) see an exotic wood plywood (like Walnut Burl). Finish grade plywood is aimed at the DIY folks and contractors and is a common staple of home projects and kitchen cabinets.
There's nothing wrong with plywood but for myself:
I would be willing to use veneers if I was building a fine piece of furniture.
I would not be willing to use plywood/mdf/etc if I was building a fine piece of furniture.
After the completed sheets of hardwood veneer have been prepared, each case is prepared to receive the unique, new skin. Each and every case is hand crafted. Each burl pattern is like a fingerprint, and your Burl hardwood case will be one of a kind.
Veneer making process seen here - lots of pics, loading slowly for some reason. ;)
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
The Special Bonding Method uses a proprietary process.
What? Proprietary process? Why don't they release their process under the GPL? I'm not going to support a company who uses closed-source case compilation techniques! Open source forever!
I did not design this game/I did not name the stakes/I just happen to like apples/And I am not afraid of snakes-AniD
The perfect material for a case seems to be stained glass!
1. It's got good heat resistance and is seriously non-combusting for the extreme overclockers out there. While it won't help cool the computer much, computers don't cool by radiation much anyway, so that drawback is really trivial.
2. Leading canes are mostly real lead, and are put together with silver based solder, and panes are tinted with various metals (for example the usual bright red glass has about 5% metallic gold by weight inside, and blues are usually achieved with cobalt or copper). This means stained glass is a functional EMF shield, which those plexiglass windows are not. Just use lead crystal instead of plain glass for the completely clear panes, and your system should remain UL compliant.
3. It's a high prestige material, at least on a par with walnut burl. It's commonly used in upscale construction and implies both beauty and durability.
4. It will coordinate well with accessories such as Tiffany style desk lamps. Many computer accessories already feature substantial areas of luminescent glass, (although sadly most of these offset it with cheap plastic trim in colors such as beige or black).
5. Glass is an excellent insulator for electron flow. Connectors can be fitted direct to holes cut or drilled in glass and not trimmed with leading, to keep users safer from shock than conventional metallic cases.
6. no other material occurs in so many varieties of opacity, from clear or monochrome tinted varieties to extremely sophisticated polylucent and irridescent finishes. Individual pieces are often found in unique patterns, every bit as much a never to be duplicated arrangement as any wood grain pattern.
Who is John Cabal?