Completed Jeffinslaw's Trials and Tribulations of Designing a Case

[Jeffinslaw]

Cases are shipping!​

Now that I have caught your attention with the thread title, let's get down to business. I am in the process of not only designing my own custom case, BUT teaching myself SolidWorks at the same time. (Full build log can be found at overclock.net, called "Project mATX") This thread is for showing off my progress and asking questions about SolidWorks. I hope you guys enjoy and help me out with questions as I will greatly appreciate it! ​

Here is the current state of the case:

Things up to this point have been going well enough. Had to redesign a few things thanks to the way SoildWorks handles dimensions and all the oddities associated with them. Also, I really dislike how when you change the dimension of something, it "deletes" it from the top or the right. Very frustrating. I wish you could select which way to dimension the object.

Anyways, rant over for now. Thanks guys!

-Jeffinslaw

 

[jeshikat]

I don't mind people linking to other forums from here, I just don't want people spamming links to here on other forums for the sole purpose of recruitment because that's rude.

Here's the link for anyone too lazy to search for it: http://www.overclock.net/t/1551825/scratch-build-project-matx-i7-skylake-sli-gtx-970s-in-20l/0_20

Anyway, can't help you much since I don't use SW myself (my workflow is too unorganized for parametric modeling) but best of luck.

 

[WiSK]

Hello! Looking forward to seeing how this turns out

 

[Phuncz]

Nice project ! I was never a fan of the slotted cooling but the ODD slot fits very nicely with this design. Between the power button and the ODD slot, you seem to have enough space for USB and audio front ports, which would work well I think. Since you'd lose that space otherwise.
EDIT: ah I see on OCN you mentioned you don't want front I/O.

How about you add 140mm x 280mm for the top ? It would be possible while retaining the 120mm holes too. It might hit at the front top with the 240mm radiator (I'm guessing that's the plan) but you could maybe move the front mounting a little downwards to clear that ?

 

[Jeffinslaw]

I don't mind people linking to other forums from here, I just don't want people spamming links to here on other forums for the sole purpose of recruitment because that's rude.

Here's the link for anyone too lazy to search for it: http://www.overclock.net/t/1551825/scratch-build-project-matx-i7-skylake-sli-gtx-970s-in-20l/0_20

Anyway, can't help you much since I don't use SW myself (my workflow is too unorganized for parametric modeling) but best of luck.

Okay, I will be careful about linking between the different forums!

Hello! Looking forward to seeing how this turns out

Hey Wisk! Thanks for the comment!

Nice project ! I was never a fan of the slotted cooling but the ODD slot fits very nicely with this design. Between the power button and the ODD slot, you seem to have enough space for USB and audio front ports, which would work well I think. Since you'd lose that space otherwise.
EDIT: ah I see on OCN you mentioned you don't want front I/O.

How about you add 140mm x 280mm for the top ? It would be possible while retaining the 120mm holes too. It might hit at the front top with the 240mm radiator (I'm guessing that's the plan) but you could maybe move the front mounting a little downwards to clear that ?

I don't recall mentioning no front I/O? I'll have to go review my build log lol. That actually is where I'll be putting some USB and audio connectors, specifically this one: link.

Due to how small the case is, the radiator and fan combo will sit down "in front" of the motherboard if you use thick enough radiators. Because of that, I'm keeping this version of the case at 240MM radiators only. Also, the way I have it now, the ports of the top radiator are orientated to the front of the case while the ports for the front radiator are orientated towards the bottom of the case. This allows you use up to 45MM thick radiators in each position without getting too cramped.

However, thank you for the suggestions Phuncz! I will be making a V2 of the case with support for full size PSUs, 280MM radiators, and tall cards like the Matrix, Classified, K|NGP|N, and Lightning.

-Jeffinslaw

 

[Phuncz]

I don't recall mentioning no front I/O? I'll have to go review my build log lol.

I read it in this post: http://www.overclock.net/t/1551825/...-i7-skylake-sli-gtx-970s-in-20l#post_23828457

Those are just the biggest things that I have come up with to set the case apart from Compact Splash. Some other small ideas:
• eliminating the front I/O completely

That Brando I/O cluster seems like a good choice !

 

[Jeffinslaw]

I read it in this post: http://www.overclock.net/t/1551825/...-i7-skylake-sli-gtx-970s-in-20l#post_23828457

That Brando I/O cluster seems like a good choice !

Lol you are right! I completely forgot about that! That was before I found that front panel connector and I really liked it so I decided to go ahead and throw it all in a line with the power button and optical drive on the right hand side of the case.

-Jeffinslaw

 

[Phuncz]

OK that's cleared up ! Keep us updated with your project and feel free to engage in the interesting discussions here !

 

[Jeffinslaw]

OK that's cleared up ! Keep us updated with your project and feel free to engage in the interesting discussions here !

Oh absolutely! Here's a picture of today's work:

I had to completely redesign the back panel due to error in measurements. The new one should be spot on, accurate to within 0.25MM. Motherboard mounting should be very accurate as well. I'm almost done with the case! Very excited!

-Jeffinslaw

 

[jeshikat]

Like @4RTEX said on OCN, the joggles will be difficult. Why not shift the rear cutouts over slightly so the motherboard tray is on the inside of the frame flanges?

Also:

If you have removable standoffs you'll want both locations but if you can only have one you need the lower one.

Here's a drawing for a slot-load DVD drive: http://teac-ipd.com/resources/print/dv-w28ss-v/dv-w28ss-v.pdf

You may think you're almost done but the devil's in the details

 

[Jeffinslaw]

Like @4RTEX said on OCN, the joggles will be difficult. Why not shift the rear cutouts over slightly so the motherboard tray is on the inside of the frame flanges?

That would work except then the side panel wouldn't be able to attach in the back. There would be a few MM gap on the back preventing the side panel from sitting flush. I could change the side flanges to "material on inside" but then I would have those ugly relief points on the main case panels.

Also: If you have removable standoffs you'll want both locations but if you can only have one you need the lower one.

Had to go and look that up! Yes, you are correct... I even have a broken ASUS Gene V sitting in front of me and just now noticed that that bottom mount point is not aligned with the one at the rear of the case. Thanks!

Here's a drawing for a slot-load DVD drive: http://teac-ipd.com/resources/print/dv-w28ss-v/dv-w28ss-v.pdf

How do you find all this stuff?? Thanks again!

You may think you're almost done but the devil's in the details

Oh but I've been going slow and making sure all the details are correct the first time around. I'm pretty confident I don't have much left to do.

-Jeffinslaw

 

[jeshikat]

That would work except then the side panel wouldn't be able to attach in the back. There would be a few MM gap on the back preventing the side panel from sitting flush. I could change the side flanges to "material on inside" but then I would have those ugly relief points on the main case panels.

Don't the panels attach to the flanges though?

How do you find all this stuff?? Thanks again!

Evernote. Whenever I come across useful tidbits like that I file it away.

Oh but I've been going slow and making sure all the details are correct the first time around. I'm pretty confident I don't have much left to do.

Famous last words

 

[Jeffinslaw]

Don't the panels attach to the flanges though?

They do, but here is a picture to help me explain it more. That motherboard tray is essentially a long flange. The case side panel will attach to it in the back. Here are some pictures:

I've highlighted the areas where the flanges are. You can see in the top circle, the flange from the top panel and the motherboard tray (long flange). If I were to move the motherboard tray in so that I wouldn't need the jog, The side panel wouldn't sit flush, there would be a >4MM gap in the back.

In this picture, I have highlighted the areas where the side panel will screw into the case (haven't made the screw holes yet) but do you see what I mean now? So it wouldn't look very good if I had the tray go on the inside of the flanges. I do really appreciate the ideas though!

--------------------------------------------

I was able to add an extra 5mm on to the case so now you will have NO problems fitting a 45MM radiator + 25MM fan up top!

-Jeffinslaw

*EDIT* How important do you think it is that I include that missing motherboard mount point? If I include it, it would be off the motherboard tray and on the side flange which won't look good. If I add an extra ~5mm to the case, I think I will be past the 20L mark...

 

[jeshikat]

Ok, I see what you're going for now.

I'd say that standoff is pretty important. Since there isn't a standoff at the bottom right it's the only thing supporting the entire bottom-right quarter of the motherboard.

 

[4RTEX]

General rule of thumb for selecting the size of v-shaped die like this: material thickness x 8 (you can push it to x6)
This defines the width of V. Then half of that value (plus 4mm/5mm) is he minimum length of leg you can bend, measured from the bend line to edge of your flange or cut-out in your leg.

Assuming you use 0.9mm thick mild steel, I would use 8mm die, which means you can bend 4mm+4mm long leg (internal dimension = from bend line to edge).

I hope that helps with your design (referring to your pump mount).

 

[Jeffinslaw]

General rule of thumb for selecting the size of v-shaped die like this: material thickness x 8 (you can push it to x6)
This defines the width of V. Then half of that value (plus 4mm/5mm) is he minimum length of leg you can bend, measured from the bend line to edge of your flange or cut-out in your leg.

Assuming you use 0.9mm thick mild steel, I would use 8mm die, which means you can bend 4mm+4mm long leg (internal dimension = from bend line to edge).

I hope that helps with your design (referring to your pump mount).

So if I'm understanding you correctly, since I'm using 2mm cold rolled steel, I need to have at least 8mm of material before a bend can happen, correct? So I should increase the side with the bend (pump mount) to be at least 8mm from the screw hole opening? Lol as I reread what I just put, that makes no sense without pictures, let me get you some...

*EDIT* Here is the revised version:

Does this look like it will work now? It should. The height of that piece is 12mm so there should be plenty of material to form the bend now.

 

[Jeffinslaw]

Thoughts? Opinions?

 

[4RTEX]

I would put that image in perspective personally - it would look more life-like.

I would recommend those sizes to avoid running into too many problems with your design. Pump mount:


Other than that 2mm seems like a lot for a solid unibody case. Have you thought about the weight? I would estimate your case to be around 15kg on it's own.

Edit:
I think I went a bit over-board with that 15, more like 7kg

 

[jeshikat]

I second using perspective. Some people literally get headaches from looking at non-perspective images.

 

[Jeffinslaw]

I would put that image in perspective personally - it would look more life-like.

I would recommend those sizes to avoid running into too many problems with your design. Pump mount:

Other than that 2mm seems like a lot for a solid unibody case. Have you thought about the weight? I would estimate your case to be around 15kg on it's own.

Edit:
I think I went a bit over-board with that 15, more like 7kg

Alright, will re-render with perspective view. Will fix the pump mount as well. Yes, 2mm is the thickness I will be going for. It is designed after the Compact Splash case by She Loved E over on OCN and that was the material thickness he used along with cold rolled steel so I decided to keep those two things the same. It will be a heavy case but I'm fine with it.

I second using perspective. Some people literally get headaches from looking at non-perspective images.

Interesting! Didn't know that. Will re-render then.