Motherboard Mounting

I started off with a rectangular piece of acrylic for the so-called mobo tray. It's 8mm thick and it measures 18cm in width, just slightly larger than the mobo itself. The Mini-ITX mobo has 4 mounting holes and using the normal brass mobo stand-offs, holes were drilled onto the acrylic sheet and the stand offs installed. Once that's done, the mobo was secured in place. I did this first as everything else has to go in with the mobo in mind.

Mobo tray

Stand offs

close up on stand off

mobo installed

close up

I/O Plate Mounting

Next up is the I/O Plate mounting area. After measuring the size and location for the I/O plate on the rear panel, I cut it off using a hacksaw. The rear panel is a 5mm thick opaque white acrylic sheet. I find this method easier than cutting the individual holes/opening for the different ports on the mobo. And it's faster too! Just make sure you cut just a tad smaller than the drawn lines so that you can still adjust the opening with a file in case it doesn't fit right. If you cut too big...well... tough luck! LOL! nce done, test fit the I/O plate and also the mobo position to get it right. Then using screws, I secured the rear panel to the mobo tray. As you can see from the pic below, the rear panel sits *inside* the outer shell so it's important to get the alignment right on the I/O plate and mobo.

location of I/O plate

cutting it off

almost done

perfect fit!

Mobo tray and rear panel

secured by screws

PSU Mounting

The next critical part is the PSU mounting. I'm using the same slim 1U PSU from Skyhawk as I've used in Project Black Qube but with a different mounting technique. Space is scarce in this custom case so I wanna make sure I get every inch of it. Lucky for me, the PSU has mounting holes on its' side so I decided to use them. This causes the power socket to be located inside the case instead of facing backwards towards the rear of the case. So I took the power sockets from an old PSU, one where they have dual sockets.. one for the PC and the other for the monitor. I ripped off the "male" socket and using another plug, I made a pass-thru power cable for the PSU.

PSU mounting

mounting screws

sockets from old PSU

wires secured using spade connectors

Male socket

pass-thru power cable

All I have to do now is cut a small opening for the male socket and secure it there. I used the "right angle" plug for the PSU cuz a normal straight plug would extend out of the case. The right angle plug saves me some space to work with. Once installed, only the power socket is visible. It kinda gives that clean look to it... :O) And since there's some space available above the PSU, I mounted dual 80mm fans to help with the cooling... not that the EPIA mobo would need it or anything... but it's better to be safe. :oP