Homemade "Tech Station" Part 1: A $3 Dollar Case and 2 New Tools

After spending days watching YouTube and staring at my new acquisition, I've finally gotten started on the homemade tech station. All this time, I had thought that these things were called "test benches": apparently, I was mistaken! Above is an image of the Top Deck model by High Speed PC. It's about $80..... which as you've probably surmise, is just too much for me. So, I've been dreaming, plotting and planning for the better part of the last month since this has become a "front burner" project. About a week ago, my wife gifted me with a "day off", from all fatherly/husbandly responsibilities. This is no small thing in the later half of the summer when the kids are driving you a little crazy! There are a few places I really like to go in those times such as the big Half Price Books, Micro Center, but at the top of my list is an out-of-the-way place called Discount Electronics in the middle of south Arlington in a run-down strip mall. It looks like it was once a Gibson's or something. They have all manner of the most random and downright old electronics. Basically, it's the kind of store, I'd own if I got into retail. They literally have racks full of old computer cases from $3 to $300, that range from the dingiest micro-ATX Acer, to 4U server cases. My plan was to spend my morning there, from 10am when they opened till I was done or hungry. Doesn't hurt one bit that a great Vietnamese Pho place is diagonally across the street. 

To make a long story a little shorter; here it is.... the $3 case. It was marked down to $3 because it was completely empty, which was not only fine by me, but preferable since it meant less to feel bad about throwing out! 

 

I didn't want this one because it was $3, I wanted it because it had a pull out motherboard tray! I'd been more than happy to be a "high roller" and spend up to $10 for it!!! In this picture, I've already drilled out the rivets, and removed one of the supports as well as the drive cages.

This is where tool #1 comes in. A couple of weeks ago, I was trolling one of my favorite pawn shops when I saw a Dremel 300 (in the box complete with bits) on their "as is" table. It was marked at $40, so I ignored it, knowing full well that I've wanted one of these things since I was old enough to know what one was (16); way back in my model railroad days. During the ensuing two weeks, I researched them and found that the Model 300 is almost current, and sold for $80 bare; meaning without a kit of bits. A few days ago, I went back, it was still on that table and I offered them $35, which they took. I bought one of the Dremel EZ Lock cutting sets from Lowe's and now I have one of the essential "modder's" tools. 

Twenty minutes of sweating in the garage and one significantly smaller metal cutting disk later, I have this. Here's the concept: I'm not trying to outdo the big manufacturers.

The fact is, that mine is unlikely to look anywhere near as good as the Lian-Li workstation pictured above, or even as nice as the HSPC one.

I'm actually shooting more along the lines of this homemade rig that somebody built and put on a website. I want to do my own, because:
A. I'm cheap, and have virtually all the necessary pieces on hand.
B. I want it the way I want it, because I'm a stubborn old cus!
C. I want to see if I can do a halfway decent job.

Along the way, I'm going to see if I can learn to use tool #2 a little bit. Yup; Google's SketchUp that I just downloaded. I keep hearing and reading about it and it just looks cool! I'm going to try and use this project as a testbed. So, you bet.... there's going to be updates as I move along on this thing. It'll probably drag out a little bit, as you guys are undoubtedly aware that August is not the time that anyone sane wants to spend much time in their garage down here in Texas! But in the meantime, you should get on YouTube and do a search for Tech Stations, particularly ones by CyberDruid. He does really cool work! Since you are reading this, you'd be the type to be entertained by it.