Set-Top-Box UpCyclingDuring the last couple of years I have ventured on various direction, to come up with ’less-tool-intensive’ home brew enclosures, though many ended up as a one-way road.
I found that one of the easiest method is reusing old enclosures and creating only the front bezel and an additional rear cover.
The next example will provide significant benefits without imposing undue machining hardship.
In this attempts I took a run down set-to-box. It is sturdy enough by its own right, which is a good starting point.

Fig.21
Avoiding plastic-bottom-tray type enclosure is advisable. Inherently to the nature of plastic mould, they just simply build too many features into, devouring otherwise desirable space inside. To a certain extent, it is the same with standard hi-fi size full-sheet-metal equipments too. For structural stability they are using deep drawn features extensively and were able to place them exactly the spots we would intend to use for something else.
Set-top-box where top and bottom halves are sheet metals are the best compromise IMHO, a 30-50VA toroidal transformers, half-of-a-palm-size heatsinks, or even 40mm fans can be shoved into them. The front and rear surface area are usually enough for basic functions, displays, buttons, PWR and I/O connectors. Many of them can accept a grounded IEC receptacle as well.

Fig.22

Fig.23
In order to achieve the desired robustness, jog-fetures are common building blocks of any mass produced sheet-metal enclosures utilizing plastic bezel at the front. We have two major problems with that:
a, They are protruding too long, hence we need more layers to incorporate them.
b, The replacement part, as being wood, it is not that strong compare to the original plastic item. Therefore the new front should be a few mm wider, consequently it will not be flush with the top and side surfaces of sheet-metal shell.
(The bottom tray coloured in orange, it is actually almost a complete box itself, only its top lid is ’missing’. (see more: fig.25))

Fig.24
The only labour-intensive section is the layered wooden front bezel:

fig.25
To make it easier to comprehend, just imagine it as a multilayer PCB. In our case it is a 5 layer stack-up, ~2.5mm individual thick sheets glued together. This system can accomodate many 'flush to surface' components, hide fasteners, swallow up unwanted features of the enclosure.
This front bezel is akin to layered wooden sculpture. Because of easy to access material, I normally start with 2...4mm thick-veneer. With caution during material selection, after the gluing process, it can appear as one solid block (...well, from a couch distance). This layered approach can accomodate the sheet-metal shell front jog-features, plus you can utilize it to create sittings for front panel components and hiding their mounting hardwares.
The quickest way to get those sheets manufactured is laser-cutting. On the same token, on the most outer layer, you can make your logo and other text-like features produced, using this very same technology. If you really want to proceed to professional outlook, UV-print is sensible. Most of the time on many wooden surfaces, normal size laser engraved features are not crispy/contrasty enough for easy reading at every type of ambient light situation. Smudging coloured wax into finicky lettering do not help also and later can cause issues with certain type of surface finishes. For bigger legends it is acceptable, but not for fine inscriptions.
Surface finish on wood:
Typical coating system consists of three layers, namely the sealer, filler and topcoat.
Normally I roll with two-component sealer, filler if it is required, and something semi-gloss water based laquer with hardener. A few times I have tried french-polish, but it takes ages and easy to destroy a week worth of effort with just one wrong move. Though many times shellac can be utilized as sealer.
Issue almost always arises with oak and many other exotic woods during finishing. Its acid content commonly seeps through the not-yet-dried coating, causing miniature puncture holes, when you try to cut corners during the initial surface treatment process. With those type of woods, as an alternative, you can skip the traditional steps, and use solely wax or hard-top-oil. Sadly, those two usually demand some preventive maintenance in every 6-18 months.
Be aware, the final appearance will be driven by the surface preparation and primer/filler layers, not the clearcoat. If you mess it up, you will easily find yourself cornered with a 'can of Bondo', what may lead you to the sad conclusion: the only thing it has left is its calorific value...
For whatever your reason is, bound and determined applying dye, try something what can be mixed into the clearcoat, instead of applying directly onto the bare wood surface, what can end up easily as an unrepairable blotchiness.
LEDs might not be built into directly, but rather their emission should be channeled through light pipes, for eg D1.5mm PMMA rods. Using laser cutter, apply a fair amount of tolerance for those holes, their dimensions will be all over the shop. Epoxi or 10s glue will keep those light-pipes in bay as you make them flush with the front surface using sand-paper.
Usually the top sheet-metal part cries for repainting, but with materials available nowadays, it is not a big challenge. Just try to avoid already damaged or rusted units, they are a pain in the back preparing them for repainting.
’Full-Wood’ enclosures:

Fig.26
It is the hardest to make it right in every aspect. From aesthetic perspective it is OK, but it frequently ends up either too flimsy or too bulky to work with. The inner temperature management is a complete disaster, plus you will have a hard time facilitating any electrical and mechanical components, because the whole contraption could become an inbreed, as it could have many hard to reach places, like a boat in a bottle. As many mountains from a distance, it looks so temtping to climb, but even before reaching the base camp we may realize, we should be more prepared for that.
Thanks for reading.