3D printed pc cases

Gav_881 · 26 Sep 2012 at 22:38

What do you think the chances are of having OCUk start a print your own case section, perhaps hosting members designs and giving a little store credit when someone chooses to have one?

Could lead to some interesting cases and possibly some optimised SFF cases building on the leasons learned from the commercially available.

First one i have seen done from scratch, not exactly mindblowing but a proof of concept if nothing else.

http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/857-3D-Printed-PC-Case.html

kiel367 · 26 Sep 2012 at 22:43

very nice, i imagine they wouldnt be cheap though, could be a bit of a nightmare when it comes to designing it from an average persons point of view i.e coming up with designs that look good on paper but when it comes to putting it into practice they look bad, im not saying it would be a bad idea for ocuk to produce these, but would consider it myself if it were offered

ajf · 26 Sep 2012 at 22:51

Pretty good, but I see a possible problem.
Shouldn't the moulding to hold the graphics cards be at 90 degrees to the moulding for the motherboard backplane?

Gav_881 · 26 Sep 2012 at 23:51

Deppends you can get 90 degree risers for pcie

shadowscotland · 27 Sep 2012 at 09:31

Just use a premade mobo tray to remove the 'risk'
That the only part that needs to be point one of a millimeter correct.

supergluechris · 27 Sep 2012 at 09:59

Looks great! but what is the cost of all this printing?

Gav_881 · 27 Sep 2012 at 18:19

supergluechris said:
Looks great! but what is the cost of all this printing?

Apparently its cheap as chips, just hope that's the ones in tesco's freezer isle not the casino ones

shadowscotland said:
Just use a premade mobo tray to remove the 'risk'
That the only part that needs to be point one of a millimeter correct.

+1

The Matrix · 27 Sep 2012 at 21:02

Not many places to hide all those messy cables

MonsterMoshi · 27 Sep 2012 at 21:11

supergluechris said:
Looks great! but what is the cost of all this printing?

Ok so this may give an idea of cost. This is the cost from school.

Price of material: £3.52 per cubic centimeter
Price of printer: £15,000

We have one of these: http://www.uprint3dprinting.com/3d-printers/3d-printer-uprint.aspx

supergluechris · 28 Sep 2012 at 12:00

We have a 3D printer at our school and laser cutters. This all sounds like a fun project!

Roverno · 28 Sep 2012 at 13:06

MonsterMoshi said:
Ok so this may give an idea of cost. This is the cost from school.

Price of material: £3.52 per cubic centimeter
Price of printer: £15,000

We have one of these: http://www.uprint3dprinting.com/3d-printers/3d-printer-uprint.aspx

Per cubic centimetre? That is gonna be very expensive as a finished product if the material alone is that price.

Gav_881 · 28 Sep 2012 at 18:28

MonsterMoshi said:
Ok so this may give an idea of cost. This is the cost from school.

Price of material: £3.52 per cubic centimeter
Price of printer: £15,000

We have one of these: http://www.uprint3dprinting.com/3d-printers/3d-printer-uprint.aspx

it sounds like your being done over mate, current costs are about £40-60/Kg or £0.30/m and the printers are in the region of £1-4k now.

Are you sure they didnt get one of those long term look how cheap it is this month but we will screw you to the wall for 20 years deals?

MonsterMoshi · 28 Sep 2012 at 19:13

Gav_881 said:
it sounds like your being done over mate, current costs are about £40-60/Kg or £0.30/m and the printers are in the region of £1-4k now.

Are you sure they didnt get one of those long term look how cheap it is this month but we will screw you to the wall for 20 years deals?

Got no idea haha

The machine itself we have had for over 2 years which may explain the cost of that. I doubt we paid that price for the machine as we tend to have much of our machinery donated or at reduced costs.
The material that is what we, the students, pay for projects of our own. I would assume that it is a system like that of inkjet printers. Forced to buy the filament from the suppliers and pay a premium for it.
It's not just the cost of the filament int he printing though. As its ABS there is also the cost of the curing chemicals ect...

Gav_881 · 28 Sep 2012 at 20:07

MonsterMoshi said:
It's not just the cost of the filament int he printing though. As its ABS there is also the cost of the curing chemicals ect...

Ah didn't know that.

PhillyDee · 28 Sep 2012 at 20:11

Gav_881 said:
it sounds like your being done over mate, current costs are about £40-60/Kg or £0.30/m and the printers are in the region of £1-4k now.

Are you sure they didnt get one of those long term look how cheap it is this month but we will screw you to the wall for 20 years deals?

There are a few different technologies. The one you are thinking of is extrusion, and is the realm of the home printers such as the UP! and the MakerBot. The pricey ones are far superior in the build, including finishes and ease of use. They can use resins, and sintering, but are not an extruded filament the way the cheaper ones are. The quality is miles apart.

mjones1 · 28 Sep 2012 at 23:21

Why would you need a 3D printer when you could use a cnc machine to cut out all of the parts you need and assemble it? :confused:

MonsterMoshi · 29 Sep 2012 at 08:22

mjones1 said:
Why would you need a 3D printer when you could use a cnc machine to cut out all of the parts you need and assemble it?

3D printing allows for much more complex shapes and hollow internals perhaps for cable routing. Every part can be made using the one machine and just setting it to print for a few hours. Where as with CNC you will find that a lot more manual intervention is required when producing complex pieces and many will be impossible using standard methods. With CNC you also have the problem of the high amount of wasteage that naupturally comes with it.

Also, as 3D printing technology advances it will become much much cheaper and the parts will be stronger. It is still very much in its early stages and, having witness the possibilites of metal 3D printing have no doubt that it will eventually replace many, other other manufacturing methods in the future.
Imagine things like taking your car to the garage and needing a replacement part. Instead of waiting for 3 days to get one shipped in, he downloads the files and prints on on the spot!

What I'm saying is, yes your right. For now it is is much cheaper to get parts CNC'd. 5-10 years time, who knows! You could hit print and have a fully assembled case without the hassle

SPG · 29 Sep 2012 at 15:10

mjones1 said:
Why would you need a 3D printer when you could use a cnc machine to cut out all of the parts you need and assemble it?

undercuts.

SPG · 29 Sep 2012 at 15:31

This is my toy at work

http://www.ops-uk.com/3d-printers

0.25 micron layers, simulated rubbers, plastic, clear materials.