Alright… now that the contest is officially over, I can finally share this build.
I wanted to combine PC modding with my job as an instrument maker (I build traditional Swiss accordions / Schwyzerörgeli).
It escalated a bit.
Here’s a short clip showing the power-on and the bellows mechanism:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ilp4ohFfveQ
The Swiss Harmonic Engine
Concept
The goal wasn’t to just put wood on a PC, but to make it actually feel like an instrument.
- Walnut as the main material
- Maple inlays (classic instrument style)
- Gold/brass accents
And yeah… a custom loop had to be part of it.
(The sponsored AIO had to suffer quite a bit for that… it used to be an AIO.)
Features
Motorized bellows
At some point I thought:
“If it’s an accordion-inspired build… it needs bellows.”
So now it has:
- A motorized front
- Linear actuators
- Hidden USB hub behind it
Completely unnecessary.
Works great.
Musical power button
Instead of a normal power button:
- 13 buttons
- Each plays a note
- You need to play the correct sequence to turn the PC on
Yes, you can lock yourself out of your own PC.
Yes, that already happened.
Cooling (slightly cursed)
The contest required using a sponsored AIO.
So naturally I:
- modified it
- integrated it into a custom loop
So it’s not a “from scratch” custom loop…
but the AIO probably wouldn’t recognize itself anymore.
Goal was still:
- quiet
- good performance
(with an external radiator helping out)
Build process
A lot of time went into details:
- CNC machining
- Laser-cut inlays
- manual finishing
The goal was to keep it close to real instrument craftsmanship and avoid the typical “wood panel PC” look.
What’s next
Not done yet:
- GPU upgrade planned
- more details and refinements