Stalled BlackLight Presents: Sion (10.6L) Console Case

[Sorakamii]

Major Updates 10/15/2020
Its finally almost done. All that's needed are a few very minor adjustments/personal painting and it'll be ready.
Also did some testing with the PC completely built
Added to timeline below

Table of Contents:

• Concept & Goals
• Case Specifications with Part Compatibility
• Design
• Survey, and other important details (Please fill this out)
• Timeline & Next Steps
• Changelog / Tl;Dr

Concept & Goals

Sion was designed to hit a balance between 3 main goals:

1. Premium build quality, look, and feel with a machined Aluminum enclosure.
2. Compatibility with widely available parts (ITX motherboards,full length 2.n slot GPUs, and SFX power supplies
3. A final price of $150 USD + shipping

Specifications:
Dimension: 325 x 336 x 92mm
10.6 liters volume
Motherboard: Mini-ITX
Power Supply: SFX
Graphics card: Dual-slot, up to 315mm length, Up to 2 slot open-air GPU
CPU cooler: up to 72mm height
Storage: 4x 2,5” SSD/HDDs – 4x above the PSU (up to 15mm height)+ M.2 HDD
Fans: 2x 120 mm behind GPU
Front panel: Premium power switch (16mm anti-vandal)
Materials: 3mm Brushed Aluminum

What's included:
Chassis, stand, PCIE cable, internal power cable, power switch, screws, standoffs, L Brackets and A set of SSD Cages

Ventilation Options.

1. Bars
2. Slots
3. Circles
4. Custom (email me directly)

Top,and Bottom Panel Options

1. Clean
2. Custom (email me directly)
3. Bars
4. Circles
5. Slots

Please note: My hopes were achieved

Design:
It will have a minimal design, unless you decide to get the custom ventilation l.I also want the case to be is easy to mod,should you want to do so.


Survey, and other important details:
Kickstarter Link:


Timeline & Next Steps:
As of 10/15/2020, version 0.9 of Project Sion has been completed. I love the look, I love the fit and once i get done customizing it, Ill love it more. Pictures have been updated to show the new look. I apologize for the weird cable management.

• Painting
• Fixing minor detail problems.

Thank you all for all the support. The final sale price i'm going for is $150 plus shipping (with everything listed above included). I want to somehow personally thank those people,I'll be looking into a way to do that.



Changelog / Tl;Dr:

1. May 02,2020
   1. Fused the top and left side panel into a single part. Did same for Right and bottom panels.
   2. Created a new bracket inside the case for easy assembly and disassembly.
   3. Added the new SSD bracket for an additional 2 SSDs. (Total of 8 now rather than 6)
2. May 08,2020
   1. Removed the middle frame
      1. I felt this part was unnecessary single its only purpose was to hold the ssds. Now they have been mounted about the power supply and should interfere with anything else.
   2. Added a small bracket at the back where the GPU will be screwed into.
      1. This may change down the line,but first i need to test how well this works on its own.
   3. Changed the ventilation pattern and face plate
      1. I got rid of that anglular design and the RGB that i wanted in the case. Im not going for a gamer"y" ascetic. I want this case to look professional while also being something you can drop some decent hardware into it and game.
   4. June 08,2020 prototype only shows the previous changes.
3. May 16,2020
   1. Changed the stand to be one closer to that of the Sentry 2.0
      1. This was unintentional and i didn't realize it until after i changed my order. The final stand that comes included with the case will be different, I just need to sit down and think of a better design.
4. May 24,2020
   1. Changed the project name from Yama to Sion (i like this better now)
5. June 02,2020
   1. Changed the stand (needs to be 3d printed otherwise would be very expensive to machine)
   2. Moved the 2nd fan slot over 60mm (Now should very easily exhaust hot air from GPU and SSDs.
   3. Changed the L-Brackets. (Now should give the case much better support internally)
   4. Pushed the motherboard back 5mm
      1. CPU Cooler height has been increased to roughly 66mm
6. June 05,2020
   1. Increased the width of the case to 92 mm.
      1. This in-turn increased the size to 10.9L (was 9.9)
      2. Increased the fan size behind the GPU to 25mm Regulars fans (was capped at 15mm)
      3. Increased CPU Cooler Clearance to 71mm
         1. Can now fit the Scythe Big Shuriken 3 (with included 15mm fan)
7. June 06,2020
   1. Shrank the length of the case to 320mm (was 325mm)
      1. Case is now 10.6L (was 10.9L)
      2. Now fits GPUs of 315mm or under
8. June 08,2020
   1. Changed to brushed Aluminum
      1. Will no longer have color options
      2. Price is now $150 (was $160)
9. June 09,2020
   1. Added an extra bar on each side panel to improve stability
   2. Doubled the amount of space each SSD is from one another
      1. There are some thing you can only realize during building. The SSDs were far too close to one another and the SATA power cable i had refused to bend that much. With this massive increase in space,they should be just fine now.
10. JULY 23,2020
    1. Added Black powder coat option
    2. Price remains at $150 plus $25 shipping (will adjust shipping costs closer to launch day)
    3. Tested prototype
    4. Added option to buy without PCIE cable
    5. Changed SSD location (will update with picture later)

As of 07/23/2020, the first true prototype of the Sion case has been received and built in.

1. Misaligned Holes
   1. If you noticed,the left panel wasnt on in most of the pictures. Thats because the new support bracket i designed has the holes 2.54mm off,so it wont attach properly. For the testing i was able to hold it on with a some improvising but thats something i refuse to let slide.
2. Horrible GPU Placement
   1. I honestly dont even know where to start with the GPU. I need to figure out exactly how other case manufacturers design that area because it honestly took me 20 minutes to get the GPU attached "properly". It'll support its own weight mostly but i still need to fix that especially since im using slim fans and it wanted to try to touch them when i lay it horizontally.
3. SSD Placement
   1. There'w two things wrong with the SSD placement right now
      1. Actual mount is off by 1.5mm so i can only attach one set of screws to hold it in place
      2. PSU Cables completely fill the other two slots for SSDs.
         1. Im not sure how i was to take case of that honestly,maybe ill remove the fan mounts and put the SSDs behind the GPU or I'll attempt to reroute my PSU cables somewhere else.
4. Cable Management
   1. There alot of areas where i think i can improve cable routing but that may just be me and not the case iteself.

Im actually typing this up using the PC right now so i can tell you it looks rather nice. I'll be painting and modding the case at some point in the next 2 months and im pushing the launch date to November since i believe its not ready just yet. I'll include an edit a bit later on whether or not it passes the backpack test.

1. July 25,2020
   1. Good morning everyone, after building and rebuilding my case i came to a few conclusions. Theres alot of little things within the case that annoyed me to death while i was using it. The number 1 biggest thing was the small L-Brackets that i had to constantly keep track of,or risk them coming loose or falling off on me. This prompted me to rethink the design a bit and i came up with this.
      
      The entire right side has been redone. I fused the L-Brackets and top panel to the right panel that way everything you need to attach (minus the GPU) will go on here. After attaching everything,the front and back can be attached only by lining up the holes on the right panel. NO MORE separate Brackets needed. With that changed,the next question is what happens to the left panel.
      
      
      Here the left panel is smaller and can slightly swivel open,should you need to just slightly open the case. There are 1.5mm gaps between the front/back and side panels for more air and to allow this swivel. Video here.
      
      
      The last update was the GPU hold-down bracket and the SSD cage. The reasoning here was that since i couldnt stop the power supply wires from going through the SSD are and making them a bit unstable,I'd make an actual cage and reduce the SSD capacity to 2 here...or 4 if you want to deal with the cable clutter. Now they will be more stable and i can use the cage as a tiedown point for the other cables. Next,the GPU holder, its just a small piece of metal that'll hold the GPU straight against the backpanel. No much to say there.
      
      
      Little things like the PCIE cable i have being a little stiff isn't something i can fix. Fan cables getting caught in the fan is a cable management problem i should've noticed.
2. August 03,2020
   1. Moved GPU Placement up by 12.5mm
      1. Gave more room for PCIE cable and SSDs
   2. Moved Fans and SSDs up by 7.5mm
      1. Gave more room for Power Supply wires
   3. Expanded SSD cage by 10mm.
      1. This should allow power supply wires to slide between the ssds and allow better cable management while also keeping the 4 SSD slots that i wanted.

I very excited to hear your feedback.

Thank You,
Shuaib

 

[Shatrod]

Why not prototype out of acrylic or mdf to test real world fitment, and then once you're happy with it and everything fits the way you want move up to the aluminum?

 

[Sorakamii]

Why not prototype out of acrylic or mdf to test real world fitment, and then once you're happy with it and everything fits the way you want move up to the aluminum?

Ya see,I'm stupid and since its Ramadan for me, I don't have the energy for higher brain functions.

 

[Sorakamii]

Irrelevant

 

[Sorakamii]

Irrelevant

 

[Sorakamii]

Got some good quotes,so expect prototype pictures in the next few weeks

 

[Sorakamii]

What are some color options that you guys would like?

 

[Shatrod]

I think white would look nice. Especially on a colored base, like an orange one. Looking at your renders it does have a flat base right?

Have you considered getting rid of the ssd cage behind the GPU and making the whole thing significantly narrower? 8ssds is kind of excessive in my opinion and I think you could make that 368 dimension more like 336. Smaller and a little more space efficient

 

[Sorakamii]

I think white would look nice. Especially on a colored base, like an orange one. Looking at your renders it does have a flat base right?

Have you considered getting rid of the ssd cage behind the GPU and making the whole thing significantly narrower? 8ssds is kind of excessive in my opinion and I think you could make that 368 dimension more like 336. Smaller and a little more space efficient

Yes it is a flat base, might make that out of acyrilic for color options. 8 ssds is excessive yes,but the main reason its that long is that i was thinking of triple fan gpus. I'll still look into it though. I always welcome ideas especially since im starting this case line solo

 

[Shatrod]

Yes it is a flat base, might make that out of acyrilic for color options. 8 ssds is excessive yes,but the main reason its that long is that i was thinking of triple fan gpus. I'll still look into it though. I always welcome ideas especially since im starting this case line solo

I understand wanting maximum compatibility but there are few gpus that are that big. Like with 315mm clearance you can likely still fit quite a few models of the flagships? I'm just saying maybe it would be an okay compromise especially since the airflow design looks good

 

[Sorakamii]

I understand wanting maximum compatibility but there are few gpus that are that big. Like with 315mm clearance you can likely still fit quite a few models of the flagships? I'm just saying maybe it would be an okay compromise especially since the airflow design looks good

I'll keep that in mind, thank you for the ideas. It means alot to me that someone else is interested in this project

 

[Sorakamii]

I understand wanting maximum compatibility but there are few gpus that are that big. Like with 315mm clearance you can likely still fit quite a few models of the flagships? I'm just saying maybe it would be an okay compromise especially since the airflow design looks good

Looks like the max i can get it with enough space to work around with on the inside (to my liking) is 325mm so that brings it down to 9.945L in volume.

 

[Shatrod]

Have you considered other vent patterns? How will you color the aluminum? Paint? Powder coat? Anodized?

 

[Sorakamii]

Have you considered other vent patterns? How will you color the aluminum? Paint? Powder coat? Anodized?

I did 3 different vent patterns. The angular one,bars and circles. The angular one is mostly for me since i really like it but hey should someone else want it,im not going to stop them. I plan to powder the aluminum flat colors. Anodizing is also something i may play with.

 

[Sorakamii]

Irrelevant

 

[Sorakamii]

Been a while since i been this excited. Placed the order this morning.
Order:

• White Metalic Powder Coat on my Aluminum
• Orange/Yellow Power Button.

I'll end up modding this case down the line but this is a great start.

 

[Sorakamii]

Irrelevant

 

[SplittingHUNTER]

Been a while since i been this excited. Placed the order this morning.
Order:

• White Metalic Powder Coat on my Aluminum
• Orange/Yellow Power Button.

I'll end up modding this case down the line but this is a great start.

any pictures of the white case??

 

[Sorakamii]

any pictures of the white case??

Order will be coming in around the 1st of next month. I will upload all of the pictures as soon as i get it.
Thank you for asking

 

[Sorakamii]

Went ahead and updated the Original Post to clean up this thread a good bit