The previous experiment 3D printed just an enclosure for the Mini-ITX motherboard itself, it didn’t have much of a computer around. This project expands on the idea by building something to hold the rest of the computer components.

The physical size is larger than the build volume of the 3D printer so additional hardware were brought into the equation. Emulating the design for some early RepRap 3D printers, I started using commodity hardware store threaded rods as building structure.

The power supply unit is the heaviest single element and employed to provide the stable base. The new addition to the project is the screen built out of the LCD panel salvaged from an old broken laptop. I used a controller board that translated standard VGA/DVI signal to the panel’s proprietary signal to connect the panel to the rest of this system. Such controller boards can be purchased from one of several vendors on eBay.

The cable management is better than the previous effort, which admittedly set a low bar. The PSU is nice and heavy providing a stable base. Compared to the commodity Mini-ITX case: the overall package takes less desktop space (especially considering the screen) and overall roughly the same volume of space.

This is a perfectly usable (if not very neat or pretty) PC. If this were the final goal, I would take a Dremel cutting wheel to cut off the extraneous ends on the threaded rods. Since I have no real need for a Mini-ITX AIO PC at the moment, though, I’m taking the lessons learned and recycling the metal bits for the next project.