Hey guys, so I snagged a bunch of stuff at the Dangerden Fire Sale (Sad to see them go :sad-smile ) and I was jazzed with all of these parts headed my way and I was in the "modding" mood. However I am waiting on parts for my Bombproof Builders Desk and my Wall PC build. So knowing I needed a new benching station (traded away my Dimas) I got a crazy idea, build a bench from scratch and only give myself 8 hours to do it! Not only that but I decided I had to use free and found parts as much as possible and I had to make it up as I went along. No sketches, plans or CAD layouts. But wait theres more! I also decided I could not make any measurements, I would have to find templates or eyeball it, the only thing I could use was a strait edge, everything else would be improvised or found objects.
Now why would I put all of these totally unnecessary "limits" on myself? Well several reasons
1. If it isn't hard it's not worth doing. I live for challenge and its one of the main reason I build PC's.
2. To shake things up! I currently have my next 5 Desk/Case/Scratch builds planned out extensively (which by the way should end up being about 2 years worth of builds
![Thumbs up! :thumb:](https://cdn.geekhack.org/Smileys/solosmileys/thumbsup.gif)
) But I can only take those on one at a time and between work, cashflow and life there can be stretches where I dont even get to work on them. By playing playing by an entirely different set of rules I force myself to think and create in entirely new ways and explore the dynamics of my creative proccess.
3. Success Teaches us nothing, We only learn from failure. I knew going into this build with these rules I was going to screw things up, but thats the beauty of this build is that every mistake I made i had to adjust to and improve upon. Even this far in I have already come up with a ton of better ways to work with my builds and perfected some of my techniques along the way.
DISCLAIMER: This is a build for the fun of it. It in no way reflects my standards for regular case modding or scratchbuilding I am just having a good time and taking the attitude of as long as it fits we're good.
Ok so lets get into this build, the platform I am going to be using is a piece of scrap plywood from my desk build. I took a broken Asus Z68 Deluxe mobo and used it as my template for my standoffs. I then drilled the holes and threaded my standoffs in very very carefully :weirdsmil
First 4 in
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_155108.jpg)
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_155113.jpg)
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_155119.jpg)
Pretty happy with how it lined up
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_155135.jpg)
Then the Rest, not perfect but close enough (30 minutes in)
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_160205.jpg)
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_160314.jpg)
But dont think I have forgotten the mATX boards!
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_161036.jpg)
Bah one standoff short
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_161039.jpg)
Now we need to mark out some cable management holes
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_161953.jpg)
And its off to the Sawhorses!
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_164810.jpg)
First one was pretty rough
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_164813.jpg)
But with the second one I had gotten it pretty close to figured out
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_165924.jpg)
Third one was as close to perfect as I think I can get freestyling it
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_170132.jpg)
Now to the first leg, using 2x6 scraps from closing in my carport, didn't even cut them to fit this. (70 minutes in)
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_171313.jpg)
Pre-drilled then screwed in the leg
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_172130.jpg)
But then inspiration hits (I blame the Jawas, Utini!)
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_172348.jpg)
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_172646.jpg)
Beer decided to explode from vibration
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_173320.jpg)
Next up we have the 360mm rad cutout (thats right I am going for the gold here) (110 Minutes in)
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_173547.jpg)
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_174552.jpg)
Rough left side cut
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_180024.jpg)
Cleanin up
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_180027.jpg)
Side Cut for the right
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_180715.jpg)
Cleaned up a bit
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_180724.jpg)
Figuring out where I need to drill my mounting holes
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_181147.jpg)
Test fitting
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_182625.jpg)
Where I am at 2 and a half hours of work
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_184932.jpg)
![](http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae123/otterinator/Freestyle%20Bench%20Build/IMG_20121101_190226.jpg)
Next steps
PSU Mount
HDD mounts
PCIE Bracket
Router the Edges
fix some of the wood imperfections
Power and Reset Switches
USB ports
a Coat of High Gloss paint.