CNC, perspex case design.....

After an unnecessarily long and complicated dependency issue, I've gotten it back together. :p

I cut the front opening. Looking quite nice IMO. In this screencap I've mocked up a power switch.
frontcuttm8.jpg


I suppose the answer to your question depends on the Lian-Li tray. How will it attach to the plastic frame? If I had to guess I'd say that you'll have plenty of room for just about anything.
 
What should I work on next?

Regarding sinking the grills flush with the top and front, I don't think that's wise. We don't know how thick the grills are, so let's make up a number and call it 3 mm. That means you have to cut 3 mm out of the panel to sink it.

Since the grills play an important role in supporting the weight of the radiators I think that cutting into the top and especially the front will make the panel too weak to support the copper radiator, the water in it, and all the hoses hanging off of it.

Better to leave 'em on top the surface IMO.

If you want, and since you're CNC machining the panels anyway, why bother with a separate grill? Cut a vent pattern into the panel itself. It'd be fine as long as you don't remove too much material.
 
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Yeah I suppose that would be the best way, just cnc teh grill pattern.

Amazing job. That looks sexy as hell.

Just need the 2 slots in the front for the dvd drives.
 

Tray dimensions are
Tray Dimensions 307 x 327mm
Backplate Dimensions 187 x 337mm

So I'm assuming first number is width and 2nd is height.

Obviusley the case needs to be high enough to accomadate this and wide enough. And teh back panel needs to be cut out to allow it.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
You'll run a screw up from the bottom/back, into the top/front? I'd be worried about stripping out the top/front panels since they're relatively thin.
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Yeah be running stuff from the bottom, back and through the struts into the front. I'll be drilling into it and gluing some black anodised nuts into the panels. So no chance of stripping anything.

Obviusly there will be long screws going on the way through for the rads.
 
Ok, I'll leave that alone then.

How will the ODDs be held in place?

Does that motherboard tray have a model number? How will it be held to the case? From a quick glance it looks like it's supposed to slide on a pair of rails in its original Lian-Li home. You probably don't want to implement that.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
Ok, I'll leave that alone then.

How will the ODDs be held in place?

Does that motherboard tray have a model number? How will it be held to the case? From a quick glance it looks like it's supposed to slide on a pair of rails in its original Lian-Li home. You probably don't want to implement that.
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No. I'll just screw it to the struts. And probably add a few extra bits of perspex between the struts to screw into. But that's something i can do. to keep CNC costs down. so hope it's not a ridiculous price tag.. Otherwise I'll have to break into a school and use theres.

Lian Li A10 Motherboard Tray
 
It'll just be one 5.25 tray from an old case. So it'll be 1.5" high One drive at the top of that one at the bottom. So the slots will need to be spaced about an Inch apart. Will fit the drives to the slot, makes it easier.

Again I'll sort all that out, just need the slots in the front.

Alsocan you just form those grills back into the panels..
Assuming slot drive is about 8mm thick and loads in the middle? as long as the gap between the slots is big enough to accomadate teh thickness of two drives close together.

Also not sure if you have already done it, but the rads need spacing out 5mm more for the dust guards.
 
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The ones I've seen seem to load the disk nearer to the top.

The one I modeled earlier was 16 mm high at the highest point. The slot was generously mocked-up at 4 mm. The bottom of the slot to the bottom of the disk was 10 mm.
oddaj4.jpg


Here's a rough idea for the ODDs:
laypotun8.jpg

From there you see there's plenty of room for the disks. It'll all be just fine. :)

Later I'll cut the holes and that bit'll be done.
 
slotsrw8.jpg

They are modeled as in the above sketch. FYI the slots are 19.5 mm apart on center.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to learn the vent feature to see if I can work some trickery with the top and front fan vents. Should be fun.
 
I can't do much about designing for the mobo tray without any dimensions, but I mocked this up from what you gave above.
worstcasege4.jpg

This is something of a worst-case-scenario since I pegged all the dimensions as large as they'll go. It shows that there will be sufficient clearance between the top of the PSU and the bottom of the roof radiator. Woot.

I wrote to Lian-Li asking for a drawing, but since they've never answered any of my emails before I don't expect them to start now. Judging from the horrific Engrish that persists on their web site year after year nobody over there speaks English anyway. :p

The width might be a bigger problem. The distance between the strut uprights is 153 mm. The tray at its widest is 187mm. It might not fit, or it might just be a close call. It depends on the amount of overhang the pack portion of the tray has with regards to the plane on which the mobo will sit. I'll cross my fingers. :p
 
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