Log N0RDR1- a Custom Cool&Quiet SFF Tower with Wood Front Panel

[REVOCCASES]

----------- OP ----------

I kinda dig the looks of the FRACTAL NORTH, but coming at 45L it's definitely too big for me... I think it would be awesome if they'd make something like a <20L NORTH NANO in the future but until then I've decided to make my own custom case with wooden front...





the design is still not finalized but here's the plan:

• as for the layout I'll go with the same as my TWR1 with I/O at the bottom but enlarging the volume to ~15L for better compatibility
• CPU cooler will be most likely the Noctua NH-P1 which should work great with the open bottom and 140mm exhaust at the top of the case
• to support GPU cooling, I've considered two 140mm fan mounts at the front
• concerning the case material I'm not yet sure if I should go for black coated aluminum or maybe try some rusty-look using Corten Steel

...

 

[Valantar]

I really love wood-fronted panels (my Densium 4+ is so so so gorgeous!), and I love the vented front panel here, but IMO you need to refine the design in one specific way: matching the radii of the outer corners and the ends of the slots. In the current concept render, the much larger radius of the slot ends is quite visually jarring compared to the nearly square corners of the front panel. It would necessitate some extra routing work, but the "simple" solution for this would be to switch to a smaller router bit (on what I assume will be a CNC router) and square off the slot ends slightly so that they more or less match the outer corner radius.

There is also something visually unbalanced about the slot layout currently. I think it has to do with the smaller central gap between the two rows of slots vs. the larger outer solid wood parts. Maybe extend the slots a bit to counteract this? Or you could vary the length of each slot slightly to make for a more staggered look, which would likely look pretty cool.

Other than that, this looks really interesting!

 

[REVOCCASES]

It would necessitate some extra routing work, but the "simple" solution for this would be to switch to a smaller router bit (on what I assume will be a CNC router) and square off the slot ends slightly so that they more or less match the outer corner radius.

Good feedback. I'm planning to use a 4mm bit, so I could still play around with this idea and see how it looks.

There is also something visually unbalanced about the slot layout currently. I think it has to do with the smaller central gap between the two rows of slots vs. the larger outer solid wood parts. Maybe extend the slots a bit to counteract this?

The supports and large slots are a little bit of a compromise between rigidity, appearance and cost (time). Maybe I could do something like this:

 

[robbee]

Another great concept! Wood is such a lovely material to work with.

About that front panel, would it be feasable to recess it into the case like Fractal does? This would give it more of a 'North vibe' imo. The left and right most parts would probably also look better if they were as wide as the bars in the center.

Also, try rotating the wood grain 90 degrees, grain along the longest edge of a wooden piece always looks a lot better imho.

Corten steel is an interesting idea but imo it would take away the focus from the wood as it's more or less the same color so much less contrast.

 

[Valantar]

I like the new render a lot - it's less minimalist, but then that kind of goes out the window with a lot of slots anyhow, and this embraces the inherent aesthetic of that vent pattern in a great way. And it neatly solves the too-round corners issue too (maybe not entirely from the front, but given the recesses I'd guess it'd still be a lot less visually jarring from there). Nice work!

 

[Revenant]

Like it. If not for the wood, it's a pretty brutalist design.

 

[nugentgl]

Have you seen the cubeor vault 2? Maybe a tad bigger than you wanted at 23 L. This is on my short list for my next custom loop.

 

[REVOCCASES]

Have you seen the cubeor vault 2? Maybe a tad bigger than you wanted at 23 L. This is on my short list for my next custom loop.

Yeah, that's also a nice case, especially if you're doing a custom loop. But I think the components I have would look somehow lost in 23L

 

[REVOCCASES]

while waiting for the metal parts I've been working on the wood panel and I think it turned out really nice...



machining of the 20mm walnut wood took about 2h on my budget Chinese router...



looking good!



if someone is interested, I'm using so called "Up&Down Mills" - the biggest advantage is that they produce almost no burr, plus they minimize the stress on the Z axis



also got some other parts that were still missing for the build....



not sure yet what kind of feet (if any) I should go for. still have a few different HiFi feet I'd like to try, otherwise maybe I'll make some wooden feet...

 

[Revenant]

Really liking how this is turning out. Food for thought…Have you considered a mixed wood front?

https://i.etsystatic.com/21430103/r/il/110efa/3610759466/il_340x270.3610759466_sn9a.jpg

 

[REVOCCASES]

Really liking how this is turning out. Food for thought…Have you considered a mixed wood front?

https://i.etsystatic.com/21430103/r/il/110efa/3610759466/il_340x270.3610759466_sn9a.jpg

thanks! oh, that's a nice idea I haven't thought about... given that the front panel can be changed easily I'll probably keep playing around with different styles in the future... e.g. something I wanted to try is split panels in different materials/colors and maybe something like "speaker mesh"...

 

[Revenant]

thanks! oh, that's a nice idea I haven't thought about... given that the front panel can be changed easily I'll probably keep playing around with different styles in the future... e.g. something I wanted to try is split panels in different materials/colors and maybe something like "speaker mesh"...

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That's an interesting speaker mesh. Almost like a retro throwback look. Like a vintage 1970's BOSE speaker grill.

 

[Ameubius]

This is def down my alley

Looking forward to the result.

Andy

 

[REVOCCASES]

time for a short update...

I've send the metal parts out for powder coating but unfortunately this takes much longer than I'd like... seems the shop is too busy at the moment so I just have to wait...

while waiting for the parts and browsing for some good hardware deals, I managed to find a second-hand MSI Z690i UNIFY which is a nice upgrade to the B660T which I originally wanted to use...



unfortunately I had to find out that the Noctua P1 does not fit as planned... no matter in which orientation, the heatsink either blocks the PCIe slot or protrudes the motherboard so that it would not fit in my case...





luckily Thermalright has a great looking and well performing tower cooler <160mm that works excellent with the Z690i and my case design...



given that I'm only using an i5-12400, the Peerless Assassin 120 Black gives me enough headroom for a quiet semi passive setup at stock power levels /or/ overclocking the 12400 via BCLK for some extra performance...



stay tuned for the final build update - hopefully soon ...

 

[REVOCCASES]

finally! parts came back from powder coating and everything worked out as planned... well, almost... I should have left some more space behind (under?) the PSU to hide away that cable mess and the cooler is blocking the USB header for the rear facing USB I had planned to use... but apart from those minor issues I'm very happy how it turned out...

enough talking, here are some pictures for you:















if someone is interested, I can share the CAD files for the case here ...

 

[M_wizzard]

finally! parts came back from powder coating and everything worked out as planned... well, almost... I should have left some more space behind (under?) the PSU to hide away that cable mess and the cooler is blocking the USB header for the rear facing USB I had planned to use... but apart from those minor issues I'm very happy how it turned out...

enough talking, here are some pictures for you:

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if someone is interested, I can share the CAD files for the case here ...

Nice work as usual! CAD would be great!

 

[Mr_Pengin]

Hello! Same guy from Reddit, but just wanted to say the case looks great! Do you think you will make lighter and darker wood options? Thanks!

 

[REVOCCASES]

Nice work as usual! CAD would be great!

Thanks! I've attached the CAD files to the first post. Feel free to use them for your own personal build.

Hello! Same guy from Reddit, but just wanted to say the case looks great! Do you think you will make lighter and darker wood options? Thanks!

Oh, this was more of a project just for myself, I didn't actually plan to sell this. If you don't want to use the CAD files to get my case manufactured locally, I could probably help you out if you're interested...