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

[For_Science]

I encourage everyone to laugh at me for this idea, my drawing skills, or both, but I thought of an QUOTE]

I've floated this idea before, I even thought it could be extra to have a Qi charger on the front base . I think a custom 3D printed solution would be the most practical way to achieve this since I think it would be too much at this point in the project to engineer.

As a complete side crazy thought, if there was a way to put feet on the back (motherboard I/O side) then a stylish tower style chassis is already there too The front bezel could be a good location to have a Qi charger.

 

[AlexTzone]

I know that it is difficult to change the design at this point.

I would like to comment on the improvements to the next version.

The gap between the current version of the side panel and the unibody has sufficient tolerances.


However, I think it is not good for beauty to see LED light coming out through the cracks.

Is it impossible to process stairs on the outside of the side panel and to assemble them with the steps of the unibody?

If you secure the panels correctly, there is basically no RGB bleed from the 0.125mm cracks. Remember that the panels are 5mm thick and you have to look spot on to see any bleed.

I encourage everyone to laugh at me for this idea, my drawing skills, or both, but I thought of an accessory that could come out at a later date.


Probably an impracticle idea because of how much height would need to be added to allow the cables to bend safely, but I thought I'd take a second to illustrate it and throw it out to the world for ridicule. I just think the Mjolnir would look pretty cool vertical.

Love it! It has been brought up before by @For_Science . Definitely something I would like to check out closer

Hey, not a bad idea at all, I support it. Height would not need to be that large given the right cable types / adapters, you could realistically get away with around 30mm extra height from table + whatever footprint the base will leave you.

90 degree adapters / cables to display port, HDMI port, power cable, network cable and usb cables exist already and those should come with the accessory upon purchase (or better yet - offered as an option) IMO.

Only problem then would be wifi antennas, but this could perhaps be solved with either having gaps in the shroud, or through an antenna extender connector, possibly also an optional part of the package? You should also perhaps include a USB hub in the stand for some extra front I/O greatness, since the back will be hard to access properly for USB sticks and the like.

In keeping with norse mythology perhaps call it Sleipner, I know it isn't technically correct since it's Odins horse, but whatever

Oh Sleipner, adding that name to our list of future stuff!

I like the idea behind the new logo keeping the Norse theme. For me the old logo fit the sharp design of your case & was very easily recognisable, the new logo looks a bit complicated.

Your water cooled GPU case looks awesome by the way!

Thanks man! Wish the founders edition GPUs we're more easily available in Sweden. Right now the GPU side doesn't look as cool as it could be ?

 

[AlexTzone]

? ON NOVEMBER 26:th — AT 4:00 PM CEST — MJOLNIR WILL LAUNCH ?

Heey guys, you heard it here first — it's time to take all that hard work that we've (that includes all of you too, not just the THOR ZONE team) been on since 2017 and make it pay off! Looking back through this thread, it's a prime example of how a community & an eager startup can take an initial idea and improve it on every front.

We're working full horse on the campaign as we speak; snapping pics, shooting videos with the team, writing stuff, etc. All YouTube reviewers are expected to receive their cases by the end of October, so they have plenty of time to make detailed reviews before the launch. Here are the rewards, hope you guys like'em:

Note: shipping includes import fees & sales tax / VAT.

Another note: MJOLNIR S is Standard Edition, while MJOLNIR R is RGB Edition. Performance panels are the vented/slotted aluminium panels.


MJOLNIR S
Color choice: Steel / Dark / Stealth
Panel choice: Performance Panels / Tempered Glass Panels
Lighting: none
Limited: 200 units
Pledge: $299 ($50 off MRSP $349)


MJOLNIR S + 2X Panel Sets
Color choice: Steel / Dark / Stealth
Panels: Performance Panels + Tempered Glass Panels
Lighting: none
Limited: 50 units
Pledge: $339 ($60 off MRSP $399)


MJOLNIR R
Color choice: Steel / Dark / Stealth
Panel choice: Performance Panels / Tempered Glass Panels
Lighting: RGB
Limited: 200 units
Pledge: $349 ($50 off MRSP $399)


MJOLNIR R + 2X Panel Sets
Color choice: Steel / Dark / Stealth
Panel choice: Performance Panels + Tempered Glass Panels
Lighting: RGB
Limited: 50 units
Pledge: $389 ($60 off MRSP $449)


MJOLNIR — Duo

• MJOLNIR R
• MJOLNIR S

Color choice: Steel / Dark / Stealth
Panel choice: Performance Panels / Tempered Glass Panels
Limited: 15 units
Pledge: $644 ($100 off MRSP $744)


MJOLNIR — Trinity

• MJOLNIR R
• 2x MJOLNIR S

Color choice: Steel / Dark / Stealth
Panel choice: Performance Panels / Tempered Glass Panels
Limited: 10 units
Pledge: $919 ($150 off MRSP $1069)


MJOLNIR — God of Thunder
This one is really special You will be able to choose your own custom color and custom design for the Performance panels & Tempered Glass panels!
Lighting: RGB
Limited: 5 units
Pledge: $1499 (No MRSP — Kickstarter exclusive)


We're also it talks with bunch of cool companies (like Noctua) to bring you some awesome add-on's when we hit different stretch goals (one of which I think we'll hit the first day)! But more on that later If you want to know shipping cost to a particular country & reward (incl. VAT, sales tax and import fees), just ask me and I'll look it up in our spreadsheet ?

Man I'm so excited and happy, both because we're getting closer to launch...but also because of all the awesome support you guys have given us. If it's possible to continue developing stuff like this, I would love to do it all way till Ragnarök.

As always, let me know what you guys think!

Best,
Alex

 

[Shinken1]

That is awesome news!!
Would you be able to give me an idea of the full price for the R + 2 panel set when shipping to the UK?
Any rough idea when the cases will actually ship to buyers?
Are the reviewers getting uni body versions of the case?

Excited for you guys!!!

 

[AlexTzone]

That is awesome news!!
Would you be able to give me an idea of the full price for the R + 2 panel set when shipping to the UK?
Any rough idea when the cases will actually ship to buyers?
Are the reviewers getting uni body versions of the case?

Excited for you guys!!!

Epic!!! ??

MJOLNIR R + 2 panel sets to UK
- $389
- Shipping & all fees: $114.84
* It's that horrendous 25% Swedish VAT that makes shipping that high to the UK, sorry man...*
Estimated delivery: May 2020

Regarding unibody
I have inspected samples from both standard investment casting and silica-sol investment casting (the one we wanted to use for MJOLNIR). However, while the samples are nice they are far off from the tolerances and surface quality of CNC machining. More, the aluminium used in casting (both investment casting and die casting) produces bad anodizing finishes (or at least not up to the standard we want). So we had this choice to make:

• Take the blue pill: High-end machined panels and core — but uglier unibody enclosure with sub-standard finish
• Take the red pill: High-end machined panels and core — and high-end enclosure with tiny smooth (and pretty cool) seams.

I mean check this out, the seams are practically invisible.

What would you choose?

 

[For_Science]

Of course ultimately it is up to you (although honestly, sounds like you already have made the decision ). For me, knowing that this was supposed to be unibody and being assured prior that the split design was exclusively for the prototypes I have to admit that I would be slightly dissappointed that we are reverting to the split design.... Having said that the case still looks "nice" just that I guess the thought of "what could have been" does linger for me. How do the three parts stay together?

However if you've seen the cast and ultimately if that doesn't look good then I guess then I will just have to swallow it.

 

[Aviswa]

I hope there won’t be any anodizing inconsistencies between pieces, like with the Ghost S1

 

[AlexTzone]

Of course ultimately it is up to you (although honestly, sounds like you already have made the decision ). For me, knowing that this was supposed to be unibody and being assured prior that the split design was exclusively for the prototypes I have to admit that I would be slightly dissappointed that we are reverting to the split design.... Having said that the case still looks "nice" just that I guess the thought of "what could have been" does linger for me. How do the three parts stay together?

However if you've seen the cast and ultimately if that doesn't look good then I guess then I will just have to swallow it.

Yeah I definitely understand that :/ But I think this is the best decision in the long run. It is possible to get very nice casting, but not realistic to get that in China...and definitely not for a realistic price anywhere else (think more like $200 for each enclosure part — without anything else — and $100.000+ for the mould). Still, even that would not match quality of nice machining. Originally we thought that such casting quality would be realistic, but we have more experience now.

The parts will be pressed together with dowel pins, you will not be able to separate them later.

 

[AlexTzone]

I hope there won’t be any anodizing inconsistencies between pieces, like with the Ghost S1

They will be made from the same ingots, bead blasted at equal distance and anodized together. There will not be any differences.

 

[DmanX]

Let me understand...

The picture in post #1042 above is what we are to expect? If so... GREAT!

 

[For_Science]

I think as long as this is made very clear and transparent in the kickstarter campaign (since people may just think its the same as before) this is fine. In fact in the grander scheme of things I guess it is better that the youtube reviews will be of the actual case. I guess you have re-communicated to the influencers that the tri-design is now going to be in the production model as well?

 

[Sharknose]

Of course ultimately it is up to you (although honestly, sounds like you already have made the decision ). For me, knowing that this was supposed to be unibody and being assured prior that the split design was exclusively for the prototypes I have to admit that I would be slightly dissappointed that we are reverting to the split design....

I'm inclined to agree - part of the draw of this case was always its cast unibody. Understand your decision, but this is a big change from what was planned.

They will be made from the same ingots, bead blasted at equal distance and anodized together. There will not be any differences.

Will the parts be assembled before or after blasting/surface finishing? Not only will there be a (minor) joint visible, but even slight differences in surface alignment or finishing between mated parts will stand out more.

Would really like to see high-quality photos of the final production parts to see how the new assembly will look.

On the plus side, this means that reviewers receiving the machined and joined prototypes will be reviewing a case closer to the actual production model (assuming you don't find a way to go back to the cast unibody).

 

[AlexTzone]

Let me understand...

The picture in post #1042 above is what we are to expect? If so... GREAT!

Yes sir! ?

I think as long as this is made very clear and transparent in the kickstarter campaign (since people may just think its the same as before) this is fine. In fact in the grander scheme of things I guess it is better that the youtube reviews will be of the actual case. I guess you have re-communicated to the influencers that the tri-design is now going to be in the production model as well?

Yeah, going to announce this change on all other forums / social media as well

I'm inclined to agree - part of the draw of this case was always its cast unibody. Understand your decision, but this is a big change from what was planned.



Will the parts be assembled before or after blasting/surface finishing? Not only will there be a (minor) joint visible, but even slight differences in surface alignment or finishing between mated parts will stand out more.

Would really like to see high-quality photos of the final production parts to see how the new assembly will look.

On the plus side, this means that reviewers receiving the machined and joined prototypes will be reviewing a case closer to the actual production model (assuming you don't find a way to go back to the cast unibody).

Look at the pic in post #1046, it's bead blasted with pretty much no differences in surface. They will be pre-assembled, blasted, disassembled, anodized and then finally fully-assembled again. We expect pretty much no differences at all, better than the prototypes even. Look, I understand that this feels like a big change and all...and I thought so as well at first. But having the actual MJOLNIR here on my desk, I'm 100% sure that this was the right decisions and that you guys will appreciate this over the cast versions. The quality of machining is just better, plain and simple. The minor seems (IMO) make for a minimalistic detail that actually looks pretty cool.

Another test we had was precision-welding the parts together. But even then, the minuscule differences in anodizing tone made it a LOT more distracting than super-clean precise seems. The former make it looks like dirt on the case, while the latter makes it look like the case was cut clean by Thor & Stormbreaker á la Thanos head ?

 

[thekinghippo]

I really want to be nothing but supportive because you've been great and I love the project, but I'd be lying to say this update isn't really disappointing. The unibody was the marquee feature IMO. The tagline just moved from "precision cast unibody enclosure" to "well it's a nice case". I'm glad to hear the final results will be better because IMO there's a noticeable color difference between pieces in the pictures on post #996. I still love the case, but man that's rough.

 

[AlexTzone]

I really want to be nothing but supportive because you've been great and I love the project, but I'd be lying to say this update isn't really disappointing. The unibody was the marquee feature IMO. The tagline just moved from "precision cast unibody enclosure" to "well it's a nice case". I'm glad to hear the final results will be better because IMO there's a noticeable color difference between pieces in the pictures on post #996. I still love the case, but man that's rough.

Precision machined enclosure!

 

[thekinghippo]

Precision machined enclosure!

That's the spirit! ?

 

[Shinken1]

Moving from a unibody design doesn't effect the look of the case much IMHO - it still looks gorgeous!
I did use the "unibody" fact as a way to justify the relatively high price of this case though.
I just wish those seams came with a reduction in price too ?

 

[AlexTzone]

Moving from a unibody design doesn't effect the look of the case much IMHO.
I did use the "unibody" fact as a way to justify the price of this case though.
I just wish those seams came with a reduction in price too ?

Actually, the machined enclosure is much more expensive than a potential cast enclosure. But because we lowered the number of parts on the core (the redesign from the oooooold version) + skip the costly investment casting die + redesigned the tempered glass panels + improved logistics + cut a bit more into our margins = it became possible.

Since we don't need to buy a investment casting die it's also possible to set the Kickstarter goal much lower than originally. Previously the goal was SEK 1.500.000, now it will be SEK 585.000 for a minimum of 150 units. We have confirmed with manufacturers regarding the 150 units and it all pans out. Given that our email list is more than 3x as big as originally + the effect of YouTube reviews (close to 4 million subs together) = I'm pretty sure that we'll break past the goal in the first day & you guys will unlock the first stretch goal. Am I sounding overexcited yet? ?

 

[AlexTzone]

I really want to be nothing but supportive because you've been great and I love the project, but I'd be lying to say this update isn't really disappointing. The unibody was the marquee feature IMO. The tagline just moved from "precision cast unibody enclosure" to "well it's a nice case". I'm glad to hear the final results will be better because IMO there's a noticeable color difference between pieces in the pictures on post #996. I still love the case, but man that's rough.

The color difference is actually not so much in the tone itself, but in the fact that the manufacturers used different bead blasting sizes. It was a huge PITA to fix this and make it look even, the slight differences are due to bead blasting re-finishing. The corner parts are just a tad bit less matte than the front and back, that's why some parts look brighter / dark in one light, and vice versa in another light (that is, nothing is consistently darker or lighter than something else). All this will of course be avoided in the production models.

 

[PBJ]

Hi @AlexTzone ! How will quality control be handled? Will one of you guys be supervising at the factory?

Also, anything you can say about the power button? Will the quality/feel be on par with the rest of the case?

Congratulations on your milestone!