Completed MJOLNIR: The minimalistic – but not boring – 9.7L Case

Which MJOLNIR I are you interested in?

  • Standard Version - 299 USD

    Votes: 485 74.4%
  • RGB Version (No controller) - 319 USD

    Votes: 63 9.7%
  • RGB Version (With controller) - 349 USD

    Votes: 104 16.0%

  • Total voters
    652

N9neBreak3r

Airflow Optimizer
Jul 17, 2020
349
468
yeah i found two of those on reddit though, both of the sellers are selling due to the fact they opted to buy another case as the wait time took too long. However They checked the box context to make sure it is still prestine without any marks. They are selling at par vs conversion etc.
Also when you say November its "first KS November" as KS was finished in November of 2019. then B1 was June 2020 (I know your reaction was November new batch 2...)
Gotcha! Yeah I immediately thought November 2020 lol
 

For_Science

Master of Cramming
Feb 16, 2018
447
613
I think its not a really good look if it is safer for the consumer to buy a second hand Mjolnir off Ebay since there will be more protection for the buyer as you can indeed send a product back to the seller for any small amount of issues with the product. I think not allowing for returns because you believe the problem is too small is not a good business strategy unless you really disclose what you consider too small, specified in mm's for example, or that the internal core is not considered defective if not warped. This of course will all hurt the bottom line of the reputation that Thor Zone is a quality producer that stands by its product.

As with any small ebay seller, one must take into account the revenue loss from product returns, and if this wasn't part of the business model and one hopes to get by by simply rejecting RMA claims; the reputation will precede the company.

@beerbuddha I feel you missed the point that @VictorNg was trying to make. Its not that he is expecting ThorZone to be Corsair or LianLi. Its that if Corsair or LianLi acted like how ThorZone is doing at the moment, they will not be able to maintain a customer base due to garnering a poor reputation, and thus even with their current status as a large company, will probably collapse in the long term. I'm thinking Thermaltake is going this direction at the moment.
 
Last edited:

For_Science

Master of Cramming
Feb 16, 2018
447
613
Buy directly from Thor Zone: Wait a few months for the next production round, may contain small blemishes, if so, SOL.
Buy 2nd hand from Ebay: Case probably inspected by previous person, available immediately for shipping, if small scratches present can return through Ebay with no questions asked.

I think if there is a clear imbalance like in this case, a policy change or price change or both, are needed.
 

VictorNg

Trash Compacter
Oct 14, 2019
34
43
Hey Calm down there.

Alex is doing his best especially from a small owner point of view and his first foray into the business DURING covid and stuff. You are comparing Alex to two PC cases companies that has been in the business? You are comparing Thorzone to Corsair with a very very long line up of offering to Thorzone? So far it is one person, and thanks to him he is helping others. Alex is so far trying to resolve to his best to his capabilities. As he has explained all cases are made without spare, if he actually had spares, then November batch would be going already and so forth. This IS his first defect that is severe, therefore let Alex think about the best method AS A BUSINESS to deal with it.

Would I be piss if this was me, yes I would, I'm not disagreeing, however so far he has been explaining his situation on what he can do, what will do and what kind of solutions.

He went from not being to ship (still not pleasant to hear) to having the community backing him up to solve the problem, lets not cut his legs off yet please. There are over 50% of the cases left including yours that is still remain to be shipped out and has been severely delayed too. Let the guy breath a bit, since people have been getting their cases, the company hasn't gone in smokes which was the first worrying thing. Should he have been doing more QC, lets see how many bad cases - if it is ONE single case which is this case, then I do believe he will need to bite the bullet but let him assess the situation overall globally from KS/B1 first.

Beer,

I think the very basic of doing business is still the same whether who I compared Thorzone with. That is to deliver what is promised and to deliver defect free product. Being a Kickstarter product doesnt excuse these two basic conditions. Yes, there are many other KS projects that's screwed. I am happy Thorzone isnt one of these.

Leeway? Benefit of the doubt? Yes of cuz but so far from what his replies on how he is dealing with the first defect, its not nice.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RE4MATT3D

keepcoding

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Apr 16, 2019
121
134
blog.keepcoding.ch
Thing is, making extras doesn’t really guarantee 100% protection against small imperfects like that. We already make extras (30%+ for Dark for example, and scrap the bad ones) and to get from >99% to 100% on such small spots you have to increase scrap-rate for all units dramatically. And if the case has to be replaced at any sign of any imperfect the price needs to be increase 3-4 times.

Now if you want us to just make a new shell, we can make it, but the risk for such small spot is still around <1%, but not 0.
You don't need to change anything about the current scrap policy at the factory, hence the price will stay the same. Now you just assume a certain portion of the shipped cases will have slipped QC and need to be replaced. Of course there is never a 100% guarantee, but even having 1 extra case is much better than none.
At the very least you should clearly define on your website what an acceptable defect is such that buyers are aware before they purchase.
Negative experiences like this might turn many potential buyers in the future... but anyway, it is your business.
 

NotBoringCase

Trash Compacter
May 20, 2021
40
53
It is funny to see that I can buy it from eBay right now and probably receive it earlier than having payed for it on 2019!!! First deliveries were on March and, at around 100 cases per day, it should not take much longer than 10 days to fulfill all shipments (non backers included, of course...). Being from Europe (second largest amount of backers zone) , the same as ThorZone, it is very rare to see that we are still have no ETA. I'm sure there will be lots more of this case on eBay as with this huge delays there should be people who is tired of having their components spread without case.
 

VictorNg

Trash Compacter
Oct 14, 2019
34
43
It is funny to see that I can buy it from eBay right now and probably receive it earlier than having payed for it on 2019!!! First deliveries were on March and, at around 100 cases per day, it should not take much longer than 10 days to fulfill all shipments (non backers included, of course...). Being from Europe (second largest amount of backers zone) , the same as ThorZone, it is very rare to see that we are still have no ETA. I'm sure there will be lots more of this case on eBay as with this huge delays there should be people who is tired of having their components spread without case.

Now what does that say about KS backers? We took the plunge and the accept first mover risks first.. waited months and months... then there's the possibility of damage/imperfect goods when we ultimately recif the package, with all these mentioned still there's no guarantee of getting the product first.

What's the point and incentive of backing KS? Might as well buy from ebay... with zero issues of the above.
 
  • Like
Reactions: thelaughingman

abdulla

Trash Compacter
Oct 11, 2019
50
79
Now what does that say about KS backers? We took the plunge and the accept first mover risks first.. waited months and months... then there's the possibility of damage/imperfect goods when we ultimately recif the package, with all these mentioned still there's no guarantee of getting the product first.

What's the point and incentive of backing KS? Might as well buy from ebay... with zero issues of the above.
That's the nature of Kickstarter: "Backing isn't buying." We take the risk so the project gets off the ground.
 

For_Science

Master of Cramming
Feb 16, 2018
447
613
That's the nature of Kickstarter: "Backing isn't buying." We take the risk so the project gets off the ground.
Agreed!
What's the point and incentive of backing KS? Might as well buy from ebay... with zero issues of the above.
In my opinion the incentive is that you are part of the development process, and overall its a degree of altruism that without it, it wouldn't have happened. if you use Kickstarter with the opinion its a discount shop, then you are likely to be disappointed. Indeed, if you truly think that a product is going to be good and successful, no need to join the kickstarter, wait until it hits "retail".
 

NotBoringCase

Trash Compacter
May 20, 2021
40
53
Agreed!

In my opinion the incentive is that you are part of the development process, and overall its a degree of altruism that without it, it wouldn't have happened. if you use Kickstarter with the opinion its a discount shop, then you are likely to be disappointed. Indeed, if you truly think that a product is going to be good and successful, no need to join the kickstarter, wait until it hits "retail".
Well, I'm not agree with you. The incentives were clear from the beginning:

- "Get your hands on THOR ZONE's MJOLNIR with ALL panel sets - 6 months before non-backers and SEK 600 (~$60) off the retail price."

- TOOLKIT V2

- O2 PANEL

- NOCTUA NT-H2

- SHIELD OF FOUNDERS
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shinken1 and MaZo

NotBoringCase

Trash Compacter
May 20, 2021
40
53
I personally doesn't care much about TOOLKIT and thermal paste (even some LOCTITE would be nice XD), but rest assured I've NOT backed the project if I knew I could wait, buy it from a website or eBay and receive it at the SAME TIME or EARLIER!!!
 
  • Haha
Reactions: douglasjhardie

For_Science

Master of Cramming
Feb 16, 2018
447
613
I personally doesn't care much about TOOLKIT and thermal paste (even some LOCTITE would be nice XD), but rest assured I've NOT backed the project if I knew I could wait, buy it from a website or eBay and receive it at the SAME TIME or EARLIER!!!
That's fair, but perhaps if you hadn't backed it, the Kickstarter may have not been successful :). I've also expressed my dissatisfaction (I believe was one of the louder ones) with respect to the 6 months clause, but I have come to accept that aspect and put it behind me. Just out of interest, would you have personally preferred to get the case as how it was presented at the start of the Kickstarter campaign (i.e. with the line seperations and other features removed) if it meant that it was a Kickstarter exclusive?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Duke_Krieg

NotBoringCase

Trash Compacter
May 20, 2021
40
53
Well, I have not get anything yet, and there is no ETA for Europe (May 28). Don't know what is the point on your question, we are receiving the exact same version as the non-backers. Backed or not, this is the only version and if we start thinking about possible things, I would prefer it with properly glued magnets. If it will ended not being unibody make sure no one will be upset because it was not promised.

Lots of projects evolve during its production, this is not some sort of favor they've made to us. And I have backed lots of projects that had evolved like this, Pebble for example, Pebble 2 too (even it was cancelled at the end with the proper money return) had added features that were not announced at the beginning.
 

For_Science

Master of Cramming
Feb 16, 2018
447
613
Well, I have not get anything yet, and there is no ETA for Europe (May 28). Don't know what is the point on your question, we are receiving the exact same version as the non-backers. Backed or not, this is the only version and if we start thinking about possible things, I would prefer it with properly glued magnets. If it will ended not being unibody make sure no one will be upset because it was not promised.

Lots of projects evolve during its production, this is not some sort of favor they've made to us. And I have backed lots of projects that had evolved like this, Pebble for example, Pebble 2 too (even it was cancelled at the end with the proper money return) had added features that were not announced at the beginning.
If there were no non-backers there likely would not have been funds to implement the evolutions (or perhaps even actually finish the project at all). And don't get me wrong, that's definitely poor management from ThorZone who couldn't specify the budget correctly and stick to it. Having said that, backers still get (part) of the stretch goals that pre-orders do not get, but yes, I do hear you that technically they were "earned" by the backers and so shouldn't be put up on the weighing scale. So at least your opinion that for example, you would have preferred to have a Gen4 Riser with 6 months advance delivery but be fine with non-unibody is valid. I personally would have been more annoyed if we got our cases in that state, and June pre-orders got very nice unibody case 6 months down the line, making the Kickstarter batch immediately obsolete.

Not ruling out that there will be substantial improvements meaning that by the time Batch 2 is produced, our batches will be obsolete 2nd class cases, but we'll have to wait and see for that.
 

AlexTzone

I design minimalistic – but not boring – PC stuff
Original poster
THOR ZONE
Silver Supporter
Sep 23, 2017
1,349
2,825
thor-zone.com
If there were no non-backers there likely would not have been funds to implement the evolutions (or perhaps even actually finish the project at all). And don't get me wrong, that's definitely poor management from ThorZone who couldn't specify the budget correctly and stick to it. Having said that, backers still get (part) of the stretch goals that pre-orders do not get, but yes, I do hear you that technically they were "earned" by the backers and so shouldn't be put up on the weighing scale. So at least your opinion that for example, you would have preferred to have a Gen4 Riser with 6 months advance delivery but be fine with non-unibody is valid. I personally would have been more annoyed if we got our cases in that state, and June pre-orders got very nice unibody case 6 months down the line, making the Kickstarter batch immediately obsolete.

Not ruling out that there will be substantial improvements meaning that by the time Batch 2 is produced, our batches will be obsolete 2nd class cases, but we'll have to wait and see for that.

I don't think B1/KS cases will be obsolete any time soon, as we're planning to support them for a long time and develop new addons etc. I don't own a Dan A4, but is the original one really obsolete today? I know he's been improving the case, but in general it's still a Dan A4. I think MJOLNIR will be the same. Yes there will be improvements or tweaks down the line, but it's hard to see how it can be vastly improved.

For example, for the plastic corner guards, we'll most likely add some sort of small "plunger" on the inside of them (not visible from the outside) so the factory can glue & press them in rather than just glue them. This should make them hold better during transit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: N9neBreak3r

For_Science

Master of Cramming
Feb 16, 2018
447
613
I don't think B1/KS cases will be obsolete any time soon, as we're planning to support them for a long time and develop new addons etc. I don't own a Dan A4, but is the original one really obsolete today? I know he's been improving the case, but in general it's still a Dan A4. I think MJOLNIR will be the same. Yes there will be improvements or tweaks down the line, but it's hard to see how it can be vastly improved.

For example, for the plastic corner guards, we'll most likely add some sort of small "plunger" on the inside of them (not visible from the outside) so the factory can glue & press them in rather than just glue them. This should make them hold better during transit.
I wanted to explain further the screws holding magnet idea I floated earlier. Since you have to CNC the indent for the magnet, can you not just CNC a shelf so that the screw is still flush with the panel?
 

AlexTzone

I design minimalistic – but not boring – PC stuff
Original poster
THOR ZONE
Silver Supporter
Sep 23, 2017
1,349
2,825
thor-zone.com

There are 3 significant problems with this design:
  1. The total machining & threading costs would be very high and we need to use tiny screw (M1 or below) with super flat heads
  2. The space is very small and it's hard to cram all of the above into it
  3. More importantly, this creates quite a bit of air between the magnets, leading to significant decrease in pull force (it drops off exponentially with distance and even small separation can reduce the force a lot).
Now if we loctite the magnets to the shell there's a zero change of removing them without shattering the magnets, so this is a good solution but we've not nailed down the gluing at scale. Neodymium magnets are so fragile and tiny, it's hard to nail down a good alternative. We tried 3M tape but that was a big nono, things fell of really easily.

Now something I did notice when re-watching assembly videos is that the factory appears to apply the glue first to more than 1 shell, then fetch and attach the magnets to each of them. I'm not certain what effect this has, but my gut feeling tells me the glue may dry a bit in that time, hence loose some of its effectiveness. When I personally glued the magnets on the pre-production models (which sit rock solid even now) I applied some glue and then squeezed down the magnet right after.
 
Last edited:

Allhopeforhumanity

Master of Cramming
May 1, 2017
545
534
Now if we loctite the magnets to the shell there's a zero change of removing them without shattering the magnets, so this is a good solution but we've not nailed down the gluing at scale. Neodymium magnets are so fragile and tiny, it's hard to nail down a good alternative. We tried 3M tape but that was a big nono, things fell of really easily.

If you're worried about the magnets shattering, you could look into sourcing rubber or polypropylene coated NdFeB options. Once coated they are pretty hard to break, but you'd probably have to jump up from N42 -> N52 to get the same magnetic force at the holding distance. That said, I directly epoxied a set of uncoated (Ni finish) N52's to my Steck panels and haven't had any issues over the past ~2 years.
 

AlexTzone

I design minimalistic – but not boring – PC stuff
Original poster
THOR ZONE
Silver Supporter
Sep 23, 2017
1,349
2,825
thor-zone.com
If you're worried about the magnets shattering, you could look into sourcing rubber or polypropylene coated NdFeB options. Once coated they are pretty hard to break, but you'd probably have to jump up from N42 -> N52 to get the same magnetic force at the holding distance. That said, I directly epoxied a set of uncoated (Ni finish) N52's to my Steck panels and haven't had any issues over the past ~2 years.

Actually we already use N52, and since they are so small it wasn't feasible to rubber coat them according to the mag supplier :/ Looked into this option before. We still have some air separation between the magnets not (0.1mm) to avoid shatter-risk.

Edit: sorry I misunderstood you. We're not so worried about the shatter, I meant that once they are glued correctly it's very hard to actually remove them without shattering them 🙂
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Allhopeforhumanity