I have something of an unusal project that I am planning: a fully custom-built steampunk pc. I'm starting with a wooden box that a woodworker is custom-making for me, with a hinged lid and an open base and back. I'm going to affix perforated steel panels, painted to look like brass, to the back, bottom, and top, underneath the lid. The inner wooden walls will be covered with adhesive copper tape for EMI shielding and to provide conduction for grounding.
The mobo will be fixed the the bottom steel panel with stand-offs, with holes cut in the rear panel for its ports, and for the ports on the video card, which will be screwed to the back panel.
The DVD drive will be mounted vertically to the right of the motherboard, and will be attached to the base with standoffs. There will be a vertical cutout on the front of the case to allow the drive to open and close, and a piece of wood that fits the cutout will be attached to the front of the tray (or possibly a brass plate, I haven't decided yet). The open/close button will be rerouted to a small brass pushbutton (speaking of which, I'm having a little trouble finding these, does anyone know where I can buy them online?) next to the drive.
The HDD's (2) will be mounted in a cut-down mounting rail screwed to the wood on the right-hand side of the box. There should be enough room at the back for easy removal (I think). Above them, near the top of the box, the PSU will be mounted. I'm not sure exactly what to do about the power button
Cooling will be provided by two 5cm fans in the bottom panel (one below the mobo, one below the hard drives), as well as one mounted in the center of the back panel (although I could install one on each side if needed). Will this be enough? I could also install fans in the steel panel at the top, although in order for this to work, I'd need to open the lid whenever the PC would be running.
On the lid of the box will be mounted a brass pressure guage (for ornamentation), as well the mechanism from this music box.


The main problem I'm having with planning it at the moment is the power switch. Will I be able to use just a standard electrical pushbutton? I'm thinking of using either a small brass button like for the DVD drive or a doorbell button, but am unsure if these will work. If anyone can offer advice on this, it would be greatly appreciated.
I'm also considering getting a coolermaster musketeer (http://www.coolermaster.com/products/product.php?act=detail&tbcate=65&id=144) and replacing the dial inserts to look old-fashioned, as well as replacing the internal blue LEDs with either white ones or with small incandescant bulbs. Does anyone have experience in this kind of modding? As I am not sure how to do it. If I ended up using one, I would order a wider box and mount the musketeer and the optical drive horizontally in a cut-down mounting rail.

Anyway, that's what I'm planning. It's a pretty ambitious project, considering this is my first mod, but I think I can pull it off. Any advice or tips anyone has would be very much appreciated.

too many words.
try express your ideas with the aid of some pictures.
remember

picture says a thousand words

Its a nice idea, though hard to visualise with your rather verbose explaination. As far as ventilation goes, it depends heavily on what components you put in and how they're positioned and set up. Low power/high efficiency components, properly positioned for good airflow and hardware settings set to save power, it is possible to build PCs with no fans (something the guys ad www.silentpcreview.com are nuts about).

You might be able to get brass buttons machined at stove repair shops, they work with a lot of brass. Here's a cheeky idea-put a speaker directing sound out of the grammaphone trumpet. Probably won't sound very nice, but an interesting novelty.