Custom case project

MonsterMoshi · 4 Mar 2012 at 21:09

The tubes i left unfinished because i figured i would need a major rethink about their location seen as they go straight over the I/O ports

Recon i would probably ditch the fan and just put a honeycomb grill on the middle back section.

King Damager · 4 Mar 2012 at 21:12

Ah fair enough. That middle section could also have enough room for hosting a vast number of HDDs, although watercooling would probably have to go through there. Thinking about it logically as well cabling and routing might work out slightly nicer if you swapped the middle and bottom section.

kd

MonsterMoshi · 4 Mar 2012 at 21:18

Certainly would make the water cooling easier but having the PSU and other devices where they are now allow for the cables to come up exactly where they need to be with minimum hassle.

alexakasloth · 4 Mar 2012 at 22:03

I like the second design with the important parts on show, it's visually interesting and i'm sure it would impress your tutor. A suggestion - perhaps a small form factor version? There seems to be a lot of unused space on the mid section.

MonsterMoshi · 4 Mar 2012 at 22:23

Never really considered using a micro ATX board and i'm not too sure why. Would certainly be something more interesting and to consider when mounting the board horizontally.
Thanks!

Raventu · 4 Mar 2012 at 22:58

Very interesting! If I had access to the kind of equipment you do, I would love to put together my own case. Good luck mate!
The second design is so far my favourite, though the possibilities are endless - I really like the components-on-display style. Looking forward to see what else you come up with. Subbed.

colinmcr · 5 Mar 2012 at 03:59

I love the second design so far, with that shape. It would be awesome to have to coolant pump to the top of the case, run down an inner layer of acrylic "waterfall" style into the tank at the base.
The components would look cool through the flow of the coolant.

Will you be starting a Project Log thread or are you gonna use this thread?

MonsterMoshi · 5 Mar 2012 at 07:30

That would be cool. Although controlling the flow to uninformly cover the acrylic and for it to be entirely sealed would be a little bit difficult. I could however have a large skinny backlit reservoir.

The project has to be completed ideally by April next year but this includes a lot of boring written work which had to be done for it wo be worth anything. I am hoping to have the design finalised by the of this school year. At this point I will start a project log with less often but big update. I will start manufacturing in September. I'm using this thread purely for ideas.

colinmcr · 5 Mar 2012 at 10:34

I downloaded Sketchup (I had no clue what it was until I read your post). Its incredible, I have never used anything like that before but I've been sat playing with it for hours !

Back to your project though, yes I agree it would be rather difficult to manage the flow, you could waste a lot of time trying to get it right and it not really pulling off the wow factor.

MonsterMoshi · 5 Mar 2012 at 17:06

SketchUp is brilliant for designing. Very simple to use but does have some more advanced features should you wish to use them. Really useful for first designs

Jake_C · 6 Mar 2012 at 20:24

MonsterMoshi said:
Okay, so i'm a year 12 student studying engineering at a new-ish school with a large association with a certain reputable digger company.

You must mean the 'reputable digger company' academy in Rocester. It's my home village

. The academy didn't spring up until I'd started uni, I would have loved to go there.

I'm very impressed with those models of the components (mobo, gfx etc), did you download them or do them yourself?

I've only tried sketchup once and I didn't really like it. SolidWorks is what find the best, and I know to do those components in it would take a very long time.

MonsterMoshi · 6 Mar 2012 at 22:30

As much as I'd like to say I made them, sadly, I didn't.

SketchUp has thousands of models To download if you have a google for what you'd like.

I would only use SketchUp for the basic designs as its free for home and I find it easy to use. Sketchup has some huge limitations so nything beyond simple designs and layouts such as this, then I will use NX which is very similar to ProEngineer/Creo (if you haven't some across it) which is more common University's apparently.

Personally, I'm really enjoying it and the quality of the teaching is much better than my previous school.

Jake_C · 7 Mar 2012 at 10:50

MonsterMoshi said:
As much as I'd like to say I made them, sadly, I didn't. SketchUp has thousands of models To download if you have a google for what you'd like.

I would only use SketchUp for the basic designs as its free for home and I find it easy to use. Sketchup has some huge limitations so nything beyond simple designs and layouts such as this, then I will use NX which is very similar to ProEngineer/Creo (if you haven't some across it) which is more common University's apparently.

Personally, I'm really enjoying it and the quality of the teaching is much better than my previous school.

I've never heard of NX. I know AutoCAD is free for students, and there's a mac version of that also, though I don't really like it. I used Pro/Desktop at school a few years back which was the education version of ProE and as far as I remember it was decent. At uni and on my current work placement I use SolidWorks and I think it's brilliant!

I whenever I'm in Rocester I drive past the Academy quite a lot since my gf lives at Abbotsholme (she's not a student, her Dad's a teacher). I've noticed the mx-5 and that 'soap box' car, looks like so much fun. Design and Tech was one of my favourite subjects at school.

Would love to see how get on with this project. I was thinking about case design using CAD the other day but I haven't really got the time for it atm.

MonsterMoshi · 18 Mar 2012 at 17:05

Bring this thread back to life.
After a busy week, i got some minor tweaks done to one design which i do quite like. Tell me what you think.

Switched around the water cooling tubes and added some detail to them
Placed two small fans beneth the motherboard to circulate a small amount of air for chipsets
Rounded front edges of case
Added locaiton for a few HDD's

In progress of a new, more original design to be uploaded soon

MonsterMoshi · 5 Apr 2012 at 23:18

With much more practice on sketchup and some more ideas, i came up with this.
What do you think?

Dimensions: H450mm W350mm D350mm
Should be a very tidy layout

Unsure whether to have the entirely perspex front panel though. May go with just a window.

RevBillyG · 6 Apr 2012 at 07:08

Liking the wraparound window. Do it!

ch3333z · 6 Apr 2012 at 08:28

RevBillyG said:
Liking the wraparound window. Do it!

+1

alexakasloth · 6 Apr 2012 at 08:43

Agree with the guys there, it's a very cool idea with the wrap-around window.

Roverno · 6 Apr 2012 at 16:04

+1 on that epic window design. Very sleek, very epic. Could you oil cool it? Very messy and OTT i know, but if you hadn't thought of it... Dunno just ideas.

MonsterMoshi · 6 Apr 2012 at 16:58

That would look cool but the plan was to make it small and light-ish as I quite often take it out