Still in design stages, thoughts? It will be totally be laser cut and fastened with the T-bolt construction method.
Link on the T-bolt construction method here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Anything-Using-Acrylic-and-Machine-Sc/
As above the T-bolt interlocking construction is still pretty rough and are still pretty much dummied out until I receive my hex M3 screws and finally be able to measure them in person.
How the insides will roughly look like
Fully Assembled: The leftmost being the case (sorry for the crudeness!)
One of the main reasons why I came up with this case is mostly because of the prohibitive costs of shipping SFF cases to my country as well as the price of the SFF enclosures themselves even before shipping. It's also an awesome opportunity to work with acrylics which can prove useful for me in my future endeavours with the material! (Another reason might be that I find my current Node 304 case is just still too big and plain for me.)
It's not the smallest case at 14 liters, and I can agree with that. This case is designed for compatibility with ATX PSUs (even non-modular ones) as well as long graphics cards (because exotic SFX, flex-ATX or even picoPSUs can add a lot to the budget!) but without sacrificing space at that. Most cube cases solve that problem, but it takes too much space (think Corsair 250D or Bitfenix Prodigy).
and then comes the problem with transportation...
I forgot to add that I will be carrying this PC on a luggage along with my clothes for my college, overseas. The Node 304 with its steel construction is just too damn heavy. I plan to do it under 2 kilograms for the case alone (in comparison the Node 304 is 4.7 kilograms without components installed!)
I'm not sure if I'm going to go for MDF or acrylics with this case though, MDF seems like a better material in terms of weight and price but the fire risk it presents as well as burnt edges seem to be a pretty effective reason for me to avoid it, if anyone could dispel that notion, that would be much appreciated!
I think that's all for what I thought of during the conception of this particular case, if there's any critiques or questions or even suggestion for this case it will be much of a help for me!
Update:
Revised it to accept SFX PSUs out of Confusis' advice.... Color me intrigued.
It wont be as transparent in the final design, but to give an idea of what the layout will look like:
It shaved off entire 4 L off my previous draft at the expense of using shorter cards and only able to use SFX PSUs now. Space saving!
Another update! :
It might be my mistake for not telling you guys that this is a bit of a personal project and not a jab in the PC case industry. I'm just a 17 year old trying to figure a smaller case to take with abroad!
Casing is to be able to be assembled with minimal outside components as possible (It's going to be fastened by M3 screws! they're pretty plenty out there in various shapes and sizes. Anti-vandal switches as well as those super useful PCI risers too.) as well as the choice of 5mm acrylic the user might want to cut out of. I'm talking something that the user could personalize themselves.
I plan to have this case's schematics released in .dwf ; sure, I might lose a big business opportunity, but I want to give some kind of tribute towards the maker/ PC builder community.
Latest update:
Going for the DAN cases A4-SFX layout, and I can see why it's the rather popular...
Some quick renders on the third revision:
13.7 cm x 34.5 cm x 23.4 cm....
Drumroll......
Exactly 11 L! Where did that extra 1 L come from? D:
It now fits long GPUs. Now you could easily slap a GTX Titan in it. It contributed to extra liter gained, I suppose.
Another that might cause the extra liter is the airflow chamber (as well as PSU mounting). Shaving off that chamber can really save some space but I want a properly ventilated and portable rig too! It can fit two slim 120mm fans up top (no support for radiator due to how the motherboard mounts, currently.
Also, I guess I will need vents on the side panels now.
Link on the T-bolt construction method here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Anything-Using-Acrylic-and-Machine-Sc/
As above the T-bolt interlocking construction is still pretty rough and are still pretty much dummied out until I receive my hex M3 screws and finally be able to measure them in person.
How the insides will roughly look like
Fully Assembled: The leftmost being the case (sorry for the crudeness!)
One of the main reasons why I came up with this case is mostly because of the prohibitive costs of shipping SFF cases to my country as well as the price of the SFF enclosures themselves even before shipping. It's also an awesome opportunity to work with acrylics which can prove useful for me in my future endeavours with the material! (Another reason might be that I find my current Node 304 case is just still too big and plain for me.)
It's not the smallest case at 14 liters, and I can agree with that. This case is designed for compatibility with ATX PSUs (even non-modular ones) as well as long graphics cards (because exotic SFX, flex-ATX or even picoPSUs can add a lot to the budget!) but without sacrificing space at that. Most cube cases solve that problem, but it takes too much space (think Corsair 250D or Bitfenix Prodigy).
and then comes the problem with transportation...
I forgot to add that I will be carrying this PC on a luggage along with my clothes for my college, overseas. The Node 304 with its steel construction is just too damn heavy. I plan to do it under 2 kilograms for the case alone (in comparison the Node 304 is 4.7 kilograms without components installed!)
I'm not sure if I'm going to go for MDF or acrylics with this case though, MDF seems like a better material in terms of weight and price but the fire risk it presents as well as burnt edges seem to be a pretty effective reason for me to avoid it, if anyone could dispel that notion, that would be much appreciated!
I think that's all for what I thought of during the conception of this particular case, if there's any critiques or questions or even suggestion for this case it will be much of a help for me!
Update:
Revised it to accept SFX PSUs out of Confusis' advice.... Color me intrigued.
It wont be as transparent in the final design, but to give an idea of what the layout will look like:
It shaved off entire 4 L off my previous draft at the expense of using shorter cards and only able to use SFX PSUs now. Space saving!
Another update! :
It might be my mistake for not telling you guys that this is a bit of a personal project and not a jab in the PC case industry. I'm just a 17 year old trying to figure a smaller case to take with abroad!
Casing is to be able to be assembled with minimal outside components as possible (It's going to be fastened by M3 screws! they're pretty plenty out there in various shapes and sizes. Anti-vandal switches as well as those super useful PCI risers too.) as well as the choice of 5mm acrylic the user might want to cut out of. I'm talking something that the user could personalize themselves.
I plan to have this case's schematics released in .dwf ; sure, I might lose a big business opportunity, but I want to give some kind of tribute towards the maker/ PC builder community.
Latest update:
Going for the DAN cases A4-SFX layout, and I can see why it's the rather popular...
Some quick renders on the third revision:
13.7 cm x 34.5 cm x 23.4 cm....
Drumroll......
Exactly 11 L! Where did that extra 1 L come from? D:
It now fits long GPUs. Now you could easily slap a GTX Titan in it. It contributed to extra liter gained, I suppose.
Another that might cause the extra liter is the airflow chamber (as well as PSU mounting). Shaving off that chamber can really save some space but I want a properly ventilated and portable rig too! It can fit two slim 120mm fans up top (no support for radiator due to how the motherboard mounts, currently.
Also, I guess I will need vents on the side panels now.
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