3. Motherboard Mounting
Mounting:
I had to fashion a mounting of some kind for the motherboard to be seated on before I could plan the cut-out in the back for it. I picked up an 18" x 12" - 22 Gauge piece of sheet metal and went to work. All I needed was a simple L-shaped piece the motherboard could rest on, while bolting it to the mailbox bottom. I measured out some pieces, got out my handy tin-snips, and cut away. After bending the sheet metal, which is just possible with 22 Gauge, it looked good enough and was time to clean it up a bit. I rounded the corners, sanded smooth, drilled the mounting holes, an voila!
I figured I would do something for the PSU at the same time since it would have to be secured to the mailbox somehow as well. You can see what a little imagination, sheet metal, and some tin snips can do. :)
Back to the Back:
After tracing the cut-out onto the metal, and hacking away at it with my trusty Dremel, I created an opening just for the PSU. I then drilled some holes to secure it. Once that was done, I could bolt down the other end of the PSU with my custom bracket. I decided to use bolts to hold everything together. Now I could begin to measure out the opening for the motherboard. Looking at the picture, you could see that the motherboard would just make it. Phew! I would have hated to scratch this project because of something like that.
LAN Party!!:
I had to take a quick break for some lan party action in my room. w00t!
Back to the Back to the Back:
After deciding on that position, I drilled the motherboard bracket into place on the mailbox base, and secured it down. I could now start planning out the rest of the case design with these 2 essential components in place. Since there really is no need for a floppy anymore, I knew that I really only needed a hard drive and a cd-rom to get all the basics in. On the the cd-rom.
