GTC by Cüneyt Yetgin

GTC - Building the chassis

After buying masking tape, thread inserts, threads, sleeving breads and heatshrinks, the shopping list was complete. The main problem when working with acrylic is the risk of static shock and the damage it can do to components.

To avoid, or at least minimise the risk, instead of fixing the motherboard directly to the acrylic tray, I used a motherboard tray ripped out from an old case. I sprayed this matt black with Presto spray paint so that it looked like new. I've been using this method for years and static has never been an issue for me. It also attracts less dust. After converting my 3D models to 2D, there were so many small parts and complicated shapes that I decided to have them laser-cut. You can cut them yourself, but this requires a lot of patience, skilled hands and a lot of sanding. I had to send off the designs in specific formats, and I was lucky enough to have CorelDRAW 9.


I highly recommend checking your drawings thoroughly before you send them off - I was sure that everything was correct, but after my parts came back, I found that I'd made mistakes with two of them. One was a critical piece holding the vertical LED strips on the upper fascia of the case. Luckily, my friend Mustafa (aka Amfibi) has a lot of experience in modding, and was able to help me remake the pieces.

Another critical issue with acrylic is bonding. Mustafa had a great solution for fixing static pieces together. Using a suitably sized syringe, you have to be very careful about aligning the pieces together, as there's no 'undo' option with this.


Goggles and a mask are important accessories too, as the fumes are nasty and getting adhesive in your eyes wouldn't be pleasant. The lower compartment of the case holds two hard disks, with an 80mm Akasa Amber fan for cooling in a separate box made of 3mm clear acrylic, which has weather strips to avoid vibrations.


The PSU, optical drive and most of the cables are also hidden behind black acrylic. Air vents with meshes are located in the side panels to allow improve airflow. I was lucky enough to find vents for these in a computer scrap yard - they were almost new and only the meshes needed spray-painting. I was quite happy with the result, as they not only look great but are also very functional.