Mounting circuit boards to wood

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Posted by Jonathan the Red on February 24, 2002 at 18:23:16:

In Reply to: How to fix elements (Motherboard,CD,HD...) on board ? posted by Jeehemdee on February 23, 2002 at 02:06:20:

I thought about this problem for mounting my Hagstrom controller and its breakout boards and also for mounting the circuit board for my Crystal Trackball hack. The solution I came up with is simple: get some plastic or nylon spacers, and drive wood screws through the circuit board and spacers into the board.

But I would think very long and hard before doing this with my motherboard. I did consider that, but there are a few problems with it.

First, dust. There's sure to be some residual sawdust in your cabinet, and ambient dust in the air. You really don't want that stuff settling on your delicate motherboard. Really. Your processor will have a fan dedicated to cooling it, and the accumulation of dust can slow or even stop that fan, which will certainly destroy the processor.

Second, cooling. While it might seem as though an exposed motherboard would be easier to cool, in actuality a good computer case promotes airflow over the motherboard, helping to cool the components, especially the processor. Power supplies have built-in exhaust fans that pull air over the motherboard, but only if they're properly mounted in the case. Modern, faster processors (especially AMD procs) benefit from additional case fans as well.

Third, expansion cards. They really need to be screwed in to the top to be seated properly. A slight jar if they're not screwed down can be costly. Others have proposed workable solutions for this, but the simplest one is just to use a case.

Fourth, as you mentioned, other elements such as HDs, CDs, etc, are not so easy to mount. When I was considering keeping my computer out in the open, I ripped a drive cage from an old case, and was going to mount the drives in it and then mount the cage to the wood. If you insist on keeping your computer outside a case, that's probably the best way to handle your drives.

The fact is that a case is not very expensive. Most of 'em come with power supplies, and a power supply without a case isn't that much less expensive than a cheap case with a power supply. I bought a cheap (but rather snazzy-looking) case with AMD-approved 300W power supply for about $35. You can't get a decent 300-watter for much less.

Your computer is likely to be the most expensive and most delicate part of your cabinet. It belongs where it was designed to be: inside a case.

Jonathan's Cab-in-progress

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Re: Mounting circuit boards to wood rmfx 14:38:05 02/25/02 (0)

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: I thought about this problem for mounting my Hagstrom controller and its breakout boards and also for mounting the circuit board for my Crystal Trackball hack. The solution I came up with is simple: get some plastic or nylon spacers, and drive wood screws through the circuit board and spacers into the board. : But I would think very long and hard before doing this with my motherboard. I did consider that, but there are a few problems with it. : First, dust. There's sure to be some residual sawdust in your cabinet, and ambient dust in the air. You really don't want that stuff settling on your delicate motherboard. Really. Your processor will have a fan dedicated to cooling it, and the accumulation of dust can slow or even stop that fan, which will certainly destroy the processor. : Second, cooling. While it might seem as though an exposed motherboard would be easier to cool, in actuality a good computer case promotes airflow over the motherboard, helping to cool the components, especially the processor. Power supplies have built-in exhaust fans that pull air over the motherboard, but only if they're properly mounted in the case. Modern, faster processors (especially AMD procs) benefit from additional case fans as well. : Third, expansion cards. They really need to be screwed in to the top to be seated properly. A slight jar if they're not screwed down can be costly. Others have proposed workable solutions for this, but the simplest one is just to use a case. : Fourth, as you mentioned, other elements such as HDs, CDs, etc, are not so easy to mount. When I was considering keeping my computer out in the open, I ripped a drive cage from an old case, and was going to mount the drives in it and then mount the cage to the wood. If you insist on keeping your computer outside a case, that's probably the best way to handle your drives. : The fact is that a case is not very expensive. Most of 'em come with power supplies, and a power supply without a case isn't that much less expensive than a cheap case with a power supply. I bought a cheap (but rather snazzy-looking) case with AMD-approved 300W power supply for about $35. You can't get a decent 300-watter for much less. : Your computer is likely to be the most expensive and most delicate part of your cabinet. It belongs where it was designed to be: inside a case.

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