Building the flightcase, Pt. 1

written by Rahvin on July 15th, 2008 @ 10:19 PM

To protect my new music server when moving it around, taking it to LAN’s and keeping everything together in one place, I decided to get a real flightcase. I first went looking for pre-built flightcases but they were either the wrong size, or way too expensive. The plan to build my own custom flightcase was born.

After some googling for flightcase parts I found a belgian webshop which is specialised in flightcase parts for custom-built cases. Now that I found all the available parts, and the sizes of everything I started calculating what size the case should be. I decided to make an 8U high case, the server and storage are 6U together so that would leave 2U for a switch and a power bar. After a lot of calculating and measuring, I drew the flightcase in SketchUp.

The flighcase in SketchUp

I didn’t draw all the parts (mostly the corners and the locks) but they will be there when it’s finished. Now that I got all the sizes I made a template for the most efficient way to cut all the parts while wasting almost no wood.

Cutting template 1 Cutting template 2

Now that the plans were ready, it was time to make a shopping list.

Shoppinglist

After placing the order, the waiting started :)

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  • Michel on 15 Jul 22:24

    One minor thing you might have overlooked in your design , or not yet added on your technical drawings are ventilation grills. I bet those 16 hardisks and quad core cpu generate quite some heat :)

  • Rahvin on 15 Jul 22:41

    Yeah I actually thought about that, but I decided to leave them out. When the server is running, the 2 doors are detached, and since it’s server hardware, it’s designed to only have fresh air coming into the front, and dumping the hot air out of the back. No heat gets out on the sides.

  • inno on 15 Jul 22:44

    That looks like a lot of work to me. But a fun DIY project it wil be. I’m looking forward to part 2 and the final result.

  • Rory Hinds on 03 Nov 17:45

    Great work. I’m looking to build my own case and your site is great, thanks.

    Do you know where I would source the Flightcase black wood from in the USA or Canada?

    I’m not sure what I’m looking for as to what its called and can’t find anyone selling it on Google.

    I’d like to avoid using normal plywood as I want it to have a professional finish.

    Thanks again Rory

  • Rahvin on 04 Nov 12:16

    Hi Rory,

    Unfortunately I can’t help you with finding the wood in the US, I googled a bit but couldn’t find anything, but you should really keep looking. Maybe you can ask a flightcase manufacturer.

    I wanted to go with normal plywood but in the end I’m glad I got the professional wood, it looks so much better.

    Thanks for the compliment :) I’d love to see your flightcase when it’s finished.

  • 3D Flight Case on 07 Jun 00:45

    Hi Rahvin, Great artical – did you every make the second artical and finish the case. I would love to see the results Best regards Justin

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