Stalled BlackLight-NOVA:15L-Case for 240mm Liquid Coolers With Minimalistic Design

[Sorakamii]

Hello everyone,
Since we are all at home and i was bored, i decided to look around for a new pc to build. After a few days of searching, i couldnt find anything that really attracted me without needing to spend $200usd+. Then,it dawned on me, why not just attempt to make my own. I wanted a sub 20L itx case with a pretty decent amount of support as would the rest of you id assume. The design is based on the Circle Pro case,which is nearly $500. I want to make one thats closer to the $120-$150 price point,and if it turns out really well,i may attempt to start selling them.
After alot of annoyance and trouble,i think i can finalized a design for my first actual case. From the first picture that i posted,many major aspects of the case have changed.
DETAILS

Layout: Sandwhich style with PSU moved to the front and bracket for AIO liquid cooler support on the top

Size: 15.5L (W: 154mm D: 307.5mm H: 326mm)

Materials: 3mm thick Aluminum for Frame

Finish: Sand Blasted Aluminum

Front I/O: Power button....might include more down the line

Fits: Mini-ITX motherboards, up to 50mm Air Coolers/240mm AIO liquid coolers, 2.5 slot GPUs (315mm long),SFX PSUs, 2 SSDs, 4120x25mm fans with 2 slot GPUs

Two Side panel Options.

1. Mesh
2. Perforated Aluminum

Please note: take this list with a grain of salt until I have a working prototype to verify everything

I plan on making this case out of Aluminum,but am still having trouble getting a decent price of the 1st one. Should i just give up on that,ill end up with going with Acrylic. I truly want to have this case go for sale at the $150 mark (with PCIE included) for a few reasons.

• I dont want not think i can compete at the Ncase M1 price point.
• Its the first time im attempting this and id feel bad if people spent $200+ on my case and ended up hating it.

I want to go with a very minimal design that is easy to mod,should you want to do so. I want the color options to be Black,Bare (Natural Aluminum Silver),and White.

Currently i am looking around for a manufacturer to get the first prototype built,that way i can finally test real world problems. So far,no luck, but i believe that i can get something within the next few weeks.
I very excited to hear your feedback.

Thank You,
Shuaib

 

[oOflyeyesOo]

All clear acrylic with distro plate(ability to drop in pump of choice) on the front would be pretty cool, would keep the price pretty low.

 

[bricemx]

All clear acrylic with distro plate(ability to drop in pump of choice) on the front would be pretty cool, would keep the price pretty low.

Try to fit a distro plat inside, a yes definitely currently lot and more of people want case built-in distro or can fit one in the case. And i think also that the case has to be a little squarish, because the design of the case is a bit familiar to me, seeing another circle pro base design. It's just an opinion am not against your project, i hope just that's your case become available one day for this kind of price. Keep up the good work Shuaib

 

[kazuma86]

Still big, but i always love this shape case.. I'm looking forward update about this case.. Can you consider distro plate too?

 

[Sorakamii]

Still big, but i always love this shape case.. I'm looking forward update about this case.. Can you consider distro plate too?

All clear acrylic with distro plate(ability to drop in pump of choice) on the front would be pretty cool, would keep the price pretty low.

Thank you to both of you for the idea,ill look into it. I may need yo change the internal design some since i hadnt thought about it before. I hope that i can make it happen even though its already such a tight fit with everything.

 

[Sorakamii]

Try to fit a distro plat inside, a yes definitely currently lot and more of people want case built-in distro or can fit one in the case. And i think also that the case has to be a little squarish, because the design of the case is a bit familiar to me, seeing another circle pro base design. It's just an opinion am not against your project, i hope just that's your case become available one day for this kind of price. Keep up the good work Shuaib

I understand what you mean. I mentioned the case was based on the circle and since they never released any dimensions or info,i basically eye ball built this. I do need to continue to work on it like you said since there is roughly 5mm of space between most of the components here and the entire frame is held up by itself.
Now,with that distro plate idea ive seen,i never actually realized how many people would be into custom loop cooling. Now that i know,ill mess with the design with that idea in mind also.

 

[Sorakamii]

Thanks to my total of 2 hour understanding of water cool,i made a basic distro plate for the front panel.Might end up going the route of replacing the entire front panel,but ill have to sit down longer and think about it. I'll more than likely attempt this after i finish this semester. Online only college classes are awful.
Tell me what you think and where you would like to see it next.

 

[Shatrod]

Does that distro plate incorporate a pump mount? If so where is would the pump go?

 

[oOflyeyesOo]

Maybe it's the big circle in the center.

It does look pretty good! Looking forward to seeing the progress.

 

[Shatrod]

Maybe it's the big circle in the center.

It does look pretty good! Looking forward to seeing the progress.

Yeah I thought so too.

Could you rotate your distro plate 180 degrees to put the pump at the bottom? They work much better if there is volume of liquid above the inlet

 

[bricemx]

Thanks to my total of 2 hour understanding of water cool,i made a basic distro plate for the front panel.Might end up going the route of replacing the entire front panel,but ill have to sit down longer and think about it. I'll more than likely attempt this after i finish this semester. Online only college classes are awful.
Tell me what you think and where you would like to see it next.

Thanks lot, you follow our idea of adding distro, now your case stand out from other, it uniqe one. I really like the idea of the front panel. But yes there are changes to make about pump placement, inlet, outlet and power button. We are completely in the industry of distro plate right now that's Why people demand more this kind of configuration. We can see already lots of company also launching tons of kind of distro plate for oem's or customers. Otherwise keep the good work Shuaib, indeed online classes are awful.

 

[Sorakamii]

Thanks lot, you follow our idea of adding distro, now your case stand out from other, it uniqe one. I really like the idea of the front panel. But yes there are changes to make about pump placement, inlet, outlet and power button. We are completely in the industry of distro plate right now that's Why people demand more this kind of configuration. We can see already lots of company also launching tons of kind of distro plate for oem's or customers. Otherwise keep the good work Shuaib, indeed online classes are awful.

Yeah I thought so too.

Could you rotate your distro plate 180 degrees to put the pump at the bottom? They work much better if there is volume of liquid above the inlet

Maybe it's the big circle in the center.

It does look pretty good! Looking forward to seeing the progress.

So,i decided that i would replace the entire front panel with the distro plate,but this will cause 2 things to happen.

1. The cost will have to go up. Machining out that much acrylic is going to hurt my soul personally. Plus machining costs serious money anyway.
2. I'm going to have to redesign the entire case to accommodate this new front panel,so it'll take me some time before i can get back to you guys on that update.

For now,i think i've finally found a manufacturer willing to get my first version of the case made,hopefully within the next few weeks to two months ill be able to get it,and get the parts i want into it to show off. Thank you all again for the support and words of encouragement. I see why people dont just stand up and design a case. Who knows,hopefully once all this is over, i can get a thousand made and sent out for $150 each.

 

[Sorakamii]

Seeing some of these quotations hurt me

 

[kazuma86]

You may consider distro plate is optional parts, so price is not high.. also I'm waiting your render with parts on it.

 

[lawney]

Looks almost exactly like a Circle Pro

 

[Sorakamii]

You may consider distro plate is optional parts, so price is not high.. also I'm waiting your render with parts on it.

I meant in terms of just the regular case.One quote i got this morning was $1800 per set. Now about that distro plate render with parts, that'll take some time. I have zero experience in water cooling so im being careful with it.

Looks almost exactly like a Circle Pro

Like i said before,i love that design and i want to keep that design. Im glad i was able to make it look so close with little information on the circle,but at the same time brick with curves isnt exactly innovative. In the background ive been attempting to make my own case without any ideas to start me off,but being the type of person that i am,i've scrapped 25 different ideas becuase they arent under 20L with all the options that i want.

 

[Shatrod]

I have discovered the hard way that you must design for manufacturability to keep costs down. Looking at your renders, it seems like the frame is a unibody solid piece with the internals bolted/rivited/welded in?

Consider abandoning the unibody approach and go with panels. You can make it look almost the same but it will be way easier to make. I reckon that might halve your quote.

 

[Sorakamii]

I have discovered the hard way that you must design for manufacturability to keep costs down. Looking at your renders, it seems like the frame is a unibody solid piece with the internals bolted/rivited/welded in?

Consider abandoning the unibody approach and go with panels. You can make it look almost the same but it will be way easier to make. I reckon that might halve your quote.

Do you have solidworks,i could send you the files if you want?

 

[Shatrod]

I have fusion360. I believe it can import SolidWorks parts. I'd be happy to take a look tonight

 

[Sorakamii]

I have fusion360. I believe it can import SolidWorks parts. I'd be happy to take a look tonight

Awesome,thank you