# Wooden motherboard tray?



## XooM (Feb 3, 2007)

Are there any potential hazards in using a wooden motherboard tray? I know there's the obvious conclusion of wood burns, but i dont *think* that anything on a computer would reach the temperatures required to ignite wood... thoughts?
This is for a big case mod that i'm working on right now; i'll post lots of pics when i'm done


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## ex_reven (Feb 3, 2007)

XooM said:


> Are there any potential hazards in using a wooden motherboard tray? I know there's the obvious conclusion of wood burns, but i dont *think* that anything on a computer would reach the temperatures required to ignite wood... thoughts?
> This is for a big case mod that i'm working on right now; i'll post lots of pics when i'm done



i have nfi but isnt the purpose of the tray being made of metal to dissipate any possible static buildup or to act as a ground for the motherboard?


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## XooM (Feb 3, 2007)

it is supposed to act as a ground, yes, but since the tray itself is screwed into a metal case and i'll probably run a ground wire to one of the mounting posts, it'll be grounded. As for static buildup, I don't think wood would be an issue there, like plexi would...
EDIT: just read elsewhere that wood does a fine job of building up a static charge, too.


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## ex_reven (Feb 3, 2007)

XooM said:


> it is supposed to act as a ground, yes, but since the tray itself is screwed into a metal case and i'll probably run a ground wire to one of the mounting posts, it'll be grounded.



sweet , good luck with your project then


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## ktr (Feb 3, 2007)

Wooden case, metal motherboard tray...and a psu with a grounding wire


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## Namslas90 (Feb 3, 2007)

XooM said:


> it is supposed to act as a ground, yes, but since the tray itself is screwed into a metal case and i'll probably run a ground wire to one of the mounting posts, it'll be grounded. As for static buildup, I don't think wood would be an issue there, like plexi would...
> EDIT: just read elsewhere that wood does a fine job of building up a static charge, too.



You may want to choose the mounting post for your ground carefully.  Usually, only one post, is the actual static ground on any circuit board. (Normaly near either the power in or the I/O slots).


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## Lazzer408 (Feb 3, 2007)

What about those plexiglass cases? I've always wondered how grounding works on those. And what about cleaning a plexi case with a soft towel? That's a vandergraph generator!! lol
Do post pics of the wooden case as soon as it's done. I have alot of respect for woodwork.


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## ktr (Feb 3, 2007)

you need a psu with one of these grounding wires.


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## Namslas90 (Feb 3, 2007)

That PSU is a good find, how about a link?


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## ktr (Feb 3, 2007)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817812002


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## XooM (Feb 3, 2007)

ktr said:


> Wooden case, metal motherboard tray...and a psu with a grounding wire



except the funny bit is, it isn't a wooden case, its a conversion job  (metal case) wood was the easiest and most readily available substance for me to hack up and make a motherboard tray out of.
I may wire all the mounting screws together from behind and ground them.


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## W1zzard (Feb 3, 2007)

wiring one mobo screw to ground / case metal will be good enough


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## Carcenomy (Feb 4, 2007)

If you're worried it wouldn't take much to sling some light wire between the motherboard mounting posts and then running a wire to the chassis/exterior of PSU.

Here is another dude's wooden case project if you wanna see how others are doing it.


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## bennix (Feb 21, 2007)

XooM said:


> Are there any potential hazards in using a wooden motherboard tray? I know there's the obvious conclusion of wood burns, but i dont *think* that anything on a computer would reach the temperatures required to ignite wood... thoughts?
> This is for a big case mod that i'm working on right now; i'll post lots of pics when i'm done



My 1st post.

@XooM, no worries. That shouldnt be a problem, i've bench-test my rig once, on a cartoon-box once. And it do fine, no smoke or fire 

Btw, here is my wooden-case mod:




Don't worry about the SPD. If ur local electricity provider is great, it's okay even w/o the grounding too.


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## Thermopylae_480 (Feb 21, 2007)

I've always thought it would be a lot of fun to make a case out of wood.  Why are you just making a motherboard tray out of wood though?  You mentioned it was a conversion job; what did you need to convert?  Out of curiosity?


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## AshenSugar (Feb 21, 2007)

i have done this, well we converted an old bread box(no joke) into a pc, as long as the woods not "plasticoated" your fine its not had a ground on it and its been running for 5 years or so, we also made a case out of a small craft box for a buddys daughter, we used one of those via mini ITX boards, laptop style dvd rom, and some other parts, again no ground, but the boards in foam screwed to the bottem of the box 

plastic cases can be conductive, most cheap ones arent, and thus can be iffy, but decent ones are just cunductive enought to keep there from being any problems.

i made a case with mylar panils once, that was fun, but it took a bitching fan to keep heat from building up, the koolist part tho was it was mirror shiny in the light but if u turned off the room lights and fliped a switch BAM it GLOWED(cold caths inside) looks farking sweet, wish i could build another but my conntact who had access to a waterjet to cut the meterial nolonger has that job(he now run a laser cutter that would not be good for mylar )


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