i did a lot of work in my dad's small workshop that i didn't take photos of because there would have been to many of them. the next photo shows the holes that i made in the board to attach the colums and to run the data and power cables for the hard drives and cdrom.
i made the hole in the center with a dremal tool and a spiral bit. it didn't turn out the way i wanted but i works

.
now it's starting to look good

i used normal flat based screws to attach all of the drive mounts and the motherboard plate to the board. underneath the motherboard plate are large diameter rubber washers to raise the plate a little ways off of the board and to allow air to circulate underneath the plate.
here are the hard drives and the cdrom mounted to the bottom of the board
the last three photos are in the next post