Completed Kibo K1 | 3D printable Case | customizable & expandable | 60h | 10L |

[Kiborato]

Result: K1 Max v1​

Back-Bone​

The whole Assembly got moved down for about 10mm to get more headroom for GPU and Powerplug relocation above the Motherboard-Cut-out.
The Back-Bone had to be thickened to 8mm to adjust to the demanding thin parts between the cut-outs.

Motherboard/Riser Beams​

Aside from changes on the Back-Bone, the Beams for mounting GPU and Motherboard got improved functionality and space efficiency.
The most significant change will be the elimination of the need for 6mm standoffs, resulting in an increase of 6mm playroom between GPU thickness and CPU cooler height.
Another Idea I wanted to try out was the automatic alignment of Motherboard through pre-defined imprinted corners.
So that the Motherboard can get laid into place with the screwholes perfectly aligning to the inserts on the Beams.

Mid-Bone​

The Mid-Bone got split into two functional parts.
The PSU-Bone serves the sole purpose of maintaining the PSU placement.
While the New-Mid-Bone needed to be created to offload the weight-load from the GPU at an earlier distance from the PSU-Bone.

Files?​

Files will be uploaded shortly after adding following missing feature:

1. Support Bracket for oversized GPUs to strap them into place, considering their cooler weight.

Note: that K1 Max v1 will only support dual-reversed risers

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Sidepanels:​

The Sidepanels are sized at 360x200x3mm so that the 180x200x3mm Sidepanels from the regular K1 can be used without further modification.

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K1 Model Reached 100 downloads on printables Yay!! ​

in a blink of an eye it reached 120 lol from saturday to monday, looks like some printables-mod boosted the model to the front page.

Another Funny Fact: I am not surprised to find out, that my main audience are Middle-aged-Males...


Shall I make a more girly themed K1 Max to get some female audience? Or am i expecting too much?

Did a little overdue timelapse of the current build​

I am slowly starting to assemble a screw set for K1 including Screws and Magnet kit aiming for April

 

[Kiborato]

Patreon & K1 Max Launch​

Creating these modular and versatile ITX PC cases takes a lot of time and effort.

But hear me out!

It all started with the Kibo K1 240 as an novelty project, bringing modularity and design together to create a 3D-printable Competitor to the Boutique ITX Case Scene(e.g. T1, Wintercase, louqe S1, etc.), that were at the time (2021) not broadly accessible.

As time moved on, newly released GPU sizes grew, resulting in a new demand for cases for those larger GPUs. Thus a new dream was born, to create a fully 3D-printable Mainstream ATX Tower. And the first step for me was to adapt the old K1 240 to the current demands:

Fitting an oversized GPU in an ITX Case, while preserving the same space efficiency is hard!

If you find value in the K1 concept and want to support me on these projects you will find me at my Patreon page, offering membership rewards such as the Files of the K1 Max.

If you want to make a purchase instead of joining a membership, I also have set up my Ko-Fi Shop.

Thank you for the support!

PCIE Riser length​

The minimum length of the dual reverse riser will be 190mm, as my ssupd 185mm one is a bit short to be mounted into place.

GPU MTB Gap​

I hope that an 8mm gap between GPU Backplate and Motherboard will be enough to avoid shorts or any unforeseen electrical issues. If so pls „mach mich schlauer!“ fill me in.

 

[Kiborato]

Back to the drawing board​

You may have been under the imppression, that this Concept has been turned into an aimless drunkards driving lesson .
So I am taking some time to do some experimenting with the following two Topics.

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K1 Concept Ambition​

Expanding the K1 Concept to an Family of interchangeable parts​

At this stage of prototyping I realize that with the accessibility of the 3D printer
A 3D printed PC Case shall not be limited by anything such as Dimensions and written down specs,
as the Case you are printing can be truly made to size to your needs and tastes.

The Family of Interchangeable frame parts​

What parts will be interchangeable?

• Beams to change the Case Length
• Spine(back/mid/front) changing case height and Format(Sandwich <-> Normal)

What are the limiting factors after this change?

• Width of Case is locked (e.g. at 145 or 165 for correspondingly Fan sizes 120&140)
• Printsurface size (80-90% of all consumer printers have 21x21cm printsurface)

What am I expecting from these changes?

1. More Hardware Compatability
2. Expanding the potential use-cases(NAS, APU-Case, ATX-Tower)
3. Gaining Mainstream status as the "3D Printable Case"

What challenges will there be?

• many, i dont want to think about yet
• but will propably find a solution to eventually

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Monetization Strategy​

This part is a bit of an experiment-and-learn part for me, as i didnt really study this topic enough.

Community-Plattform limits​

Monetizing digital files are tough and not all 3Dprint-files-sharing plattform accept monetization /profit-oriented-Projects.

At one end there is Thingiverse having the tough stance of no monetization accept through any form [i got suspended].
At the other end there is cults3d and minifactory having healthy 3D print economies going on with plattformfees such as Steam and co..
Printables is orienting itsself in between, accepting the implemetation of thirdparty paywalls for additional parts or accessories.

Previous naive Monetizing Strategy​

Create a free version appealing to majority of Enthusiasts,
while limiting its hardware compatibiity to create a need for more custom solutions,
locked behind memberships and paywalls, peatreon & co.

Current much more naive Monetizing Strategy​

I wouldnt want to change much in that,
except for improving the microtransaction-funnel,
building up the offerings and expanding the pricerange of the offerings.
Making full length build videos to gain a broader audience, we will see if this will fail or succeed.

What will be freely accessible?​

I had to think about this one a lot,
because the main strategy is limiting the free stuff
so you will be incentivised to buy premium stuff to expand/ customize.

The biggest change will be that all different beams and corresponding spines will be freely accessible.

Let's hope that my greed doesnt pend up and does something random.

Moving on​

I came to the conclusion that I will close this K1 Concept Thread and mark it as completed,
And I will open a new thread "K1 Modular System" for the further ambitions.

Thank you!

K2 will be the next productline after K1 Modular System.
As there will be much more problems to come.