How to make a wooden hard drive enclosure

Recently my PC technician changed the hard drive of my laptop. So I had the old hard disc laying around and I have decided to make an enclosure for it, out of plywood. This way I can still use the hard drive as an external file storage device.

First of all I traced the shape of the disc on a piece of plywood using a pencil.

Then I measured the side of the disc using my caliper.

Using a straight bit on my router I freehanded the hole for the disc on the plywood. I completed the routing process with two passes.

I used a chisel to make the hole a little bit cleaner.

I then measured the outer areas and cut the piece to size with a hand saw.

I straightened the edges on my belt sander.

For the bottom of the case I wanted some ventilation holes. I glued a template on the piece using spray glue and drilled the holes on my drill press.

I used rust remover to remove the template.

For the top of the piece I used a thin plywood piece with my logo on it. I drilled the starting holes on my drill press and cut out the template on my scroll saw.

I then drilled pilot holes for the top screws. I made countersinks using the appropriate bit.

After screwing the top, I used the flush trim bit, and trimmed everything flush with my router turned upside down.

I sanded the piece.

In order for the disc to be locked in place I made two metal brackets.

I cut the pieces out of a scrap metal piece using my dremel tool and a grinding disc.

I drilled the holes for the screws.

I applied a few coats of black spray paint on the piece.

I applied a few coats of clear varnish.

I screwed everything in place, added the sata to usb adapter cable and my external hard drive is ready!