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Mounting a motherboard into wood?

I

IronyTaken

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Jun 7, 2016
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I am finishing up my Bartop Arcade and I have all my parts but I want to know the best way to install my motherboard.
I've seen people just use some bolts with lots of nuts to raise the motherboard up.
Can I do this without drilling completely through the wooden bottom?
The wood is 3/4 inch thick.
I want an easy way to have the motherboard installed so it stays still and is not scraping the bottom along with that I have a sound card and video card installed and the back slot covers extend below the motherboard so there needs to be enough room below.

For the power supply I just used sticky tape Velcro to hold it down to the bottom while the hard drive is upside down and held down by velcro to the top of the power supply.
I can always change the orientation of them later But I don't see anything hazardous about the placement I have currently.
I will be installing two fans to the left and right of the back to push the hot air out.
The hardware I have is not that power intensive so it doesn't put off too much heat.
I am using a g3258 intel cpu and an EVGA 750ti SC video card along with a low power IPS panel.
 
thread of the bolts used as pc standard are with big enough pitch to used as screws in wood. just pick mb stands with longest male thread you can find.
i would add thin washers between wood and stands (0.8-1mm) to prevent stands from tilting. also you want leading holes in the wood (make sure your drill is perpendicular to wood when you drill em) with diameter 0.6-0.8 of the outside diameter of the thread.
 
I would cut the tray out of a old case. Then screw the tray to the wood. Easiest way to line everything up. You could even use the PCI slots to hold cards in place

capture057.jpg


You could even buy a test bench and use the top tray

capture058.jpg
 
You can drill a hole ¼ or ½ inches (depending on wood) and epoxy a bolt in. You can also use threaded wood insert nut and a rood if you want to be fancy.
Of course the best would be if you got some brass motherboard standoffs, and epoxied some nuts in. But in that case you have to find the right height standoffs.
Plenty of options on how to do it, and there are plenty of guides on it.
 
you can easily just drill small holes and use standard stand-offs into 3/4 inch wood, especially if the motherboard is horizontal when installed. If installed vertically, I'd take the time and expense to buy a tray and mount the tray to the wood.
 
Jetster said:
I would cut the tray out of a old case. Then screw the tray to the wood. Easiest way to line everything up. You could even use the PCI slots to hold cards in place



You could even buy a test bench and use the top tray
Click to expand...

I don't have a lot of space in the case.
Here is a picture of the back.
Once the monitor was added in there was not a lot of room for height.

67a60a65b2.jpg

Monitor_installed.jpg
 
When i made my Winebox PC i used woodscrews and made standoffs with some fuel pipe off my strimmer (aquarium airline will do)


4444444444444444444444-jpg.63446


i also used the old superglue and baking soda trick for mounting lights and for spacers.


 
Long stand off extensions.

Just drill a hole and epoxy them in. I'd also saw off the male threading. If you want them all perfect mark out the holes and drill them. Then put the spacers on the motherboard and glue all the spacers in together. That way you won't get some at different heights or out of alignment positioning. Buy longer ones than you need because cutting them is easy and will let you set them deeper into the wood.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2...d-Off_-_55mm.html?tl=c529s1384b77&id=wI8qJQP7

scr-747.jpg
 
Jetster said:
I would cut the tray out of a old case. Then screw the tray to the wood. Easiest way to line everything up. You could even use the PCI slots to hold cards in place
Click to expand...
I'll second that. I've got such a tray and it's also dead handy for testing new builds out on before mounting them in a case.
 
qubit said:
I'll second that. I've got such a tray and it's also dead handy for testing new builds out on before mounting them in a case.
Click to expand...
I am not sure I can fit the tray with everything else in the back.
Also I can't raise the motherboard too high or the CPU heatsink won't have enough room.
Just take a look at my previous pick to get an idea.
 
Ok, that does look tight. I would recommend embedding studs in the wood in that case and having the screws go into those. This will avoid a stripped thread in the wood and the problems that can bring.
 
qubit said:
Ok, that does look tight. I would recommend embedding studs in the wood in that case and having the screws go into those. This will avoid a stripped thread in the wood and the problems that can bring.
Click to expand...
Do you know what size I should get?
I forget what is used for motherboards.
 
Not off the top of my head. Try Googling for it and then look at embedded studs that match that that thread type.
 
back to the title, dont forget to leave a space below the board. it may help the temp lower since it has room for hot air to leave
 
Def need the air moved around it!!!
 
Just use long metal thread screws and teflon spacers between the board and the wood.
That saves having to try and mount stand offs.
 
A workbench i been fiddling with maybe you come across a idea :)

Using a old case which i just drilled out the rivets no cutting was needed
It had a good solid base to use others where a bit wonky
Will also use the side panel for pci cards to be supported , but will cut smaller

I dont rate your hdd is mounted in a good spot ,will get hot

IMG_20160608_154847 (Small).jpg


Using old drive bays from old cases
IMG_20160608_155125 (Small).jpg


I drilled a small hole then knock in a standoff , can be glued in then just screw in an extra stand on top
Just an idea
20160608_155917 (Small).jpg


standoff on top of another
20160608_155938 (Small).jpg
 
I might do something like that.
For now I just bought some pcb feet then used some strong stick velcro on the bottom feet and stuck them to the case.
I will check HDD temps and if they are bad then I will move it.
Not a lot of room to work with.
I got a surge protector which also allows for my monitor, speakers and lights to turn off when I power down my PC.
The components I used are low power so they shouldn't generate too much heat.
I am going to use two fans on the back (intake and exhaust) to help cool it. The intake will be near where the HDD is and the exhaust will be on the side where the CPU and GPU are.
Still have to get the marquee lights and plexiglass on.
Was just holding it up for this photo.

69b0158d4a.jpg

4169ba4aa1.jpg
 
Last edited:
if you go the stand alone board tray route make sure you connect the board tray to a grounding source such as the psu case
wood is a insulator so your board will have no path to ground
which may or may not cause issues
this thread needs this
 
Last edited:
OneMoar said:
if you go the stand alone board tray route make sure you connect the board tray to a grounding source such as the psu case
wood is a insulator so your board will have no path to ground
which may or may not cause issues
this thread needs this
Click to expand...
The PSU grounds the motherboard from the 24 pin power. And it in turn is grounded from the 3 prong power cable that connects to the surge protector.
 
there is also PCB grounds that connect via the mounting screws those need a path to ground
 
Nice bartop.
 
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