Concept Modular and Watercooling friendly SFF cases...

[royalba94]

I think you've got a lot of good ideas going into this and I'm just half wondering if you'd find it worthwhile to sit and reflect on what you really need to make it work

thanks!

yeah, I've already put a good amount of thought into the removable 'expansion' rear chamber and how to be able to support so many different rads and drives and such. Now I just gotta do the work of actually designing it in 3D..

 

[royalba94]

very late/very early update for today:

Got v0.1 of the main Motherboard tray built in Inventor. Took me longer than expected to figure out the mounting holes and needed sizes for the Motherboard and PCIe Slots, still more work to do on it but it's looking good for today imo.


Currently designed for 2mm aluminum. Theoretically it shouldn't be too terrible to change the material later on if need be...

 

[Biowarejak]

very late/very early update for today:

Got v0.1 of the main Motherboard tray built in Inventor. Took me longer than expected to figure out the mounting holes and needed sizes for the Motherboard and PCIe Slots, still more work to do on it but it's looking good for today imo.


Currently designed for 2mm aluminum. Theoretically it shouldn't be too terrible to change the material later on if need be...

Looks good is the PCI-e slot screw-in flange supposed to have that much curve to it? Or maybe it's just the perspective.

 

[royalba94]

Looks good is the PCI-e slot screw-in flange supposed to have that much curve to it? Or maybe it's just the perspective.

The curves/bends are automatically calculated by Inventor. Here is a detail shot of the flange curve:

as you can see it's 0.079 in or 2mm from where the curve starts to the outside of the panel or 0.157 in or ~4mm from the inside of the panel to where the curve ends. This might not work since from my measurements it'd need to be 3.5mm from the inside of the panel in order to have the threaded hole for the PCIe bracket screw but there seems to be about .5mm of leeway in the bracket itself so it might work (doubtful). I might actually need to reduce the Aluminum thickness :/ Thing is that Josh said he used 2mm aluminum for the S4 Mini's inner frame and his obviously works...

 

[Biowarejak]

Ah I see. I love inventor but I've never used the sheet metal feature. Perhaps Josh has some insight for you?

 

[royalba94]

Perhaps Josh has some insight for you?

Yeah that's what I was hoping so I'll see if I can ask him

 

[iFreilicht]

You can either reduce the bend radius if your manufacturer allows it, or create a cut-out feature so the threads stay on a horizontal plane. I don't know what they are called, but @Aibohphobia showed how they work in his STX160.0 project.

Additionally, some manufacturers allow threaded holes to be closer to bends than others, that depends on the tooling they have.

 

[royalba94]

You can either reduce the bend radius if your manufacturer allows it, or create a cut-out feature so the threads stay on a horizontal plane. I don't know what they are called, but @Aibohphobia showed how they work in his STX160.0 project.

Additionally, some manufacturers allow threaded holes to be closer to bends than others, that depends on the tooling they have.

Thanks! I actually somehow forgot about that project so I'll definitely go read up on that again.

 

[Biowarejak]

Thanks! I actually somehow forgot about that project so I'll definitely go read up on that again.

Feel like we need a "Notable Builds" Tab if we don't already let us keep track of the ones that really push the limits and contain useful tips and such

 

[royalba94]

Feel like we need a "Notable Builds" Tab if we don't already let us keep track of the ones that really push the limits and contain useful tips and such

I agree with this statement

 

[Biowarejak]

I agree with this statement

Well, I sure appreciate that

 

[|||]

Feel like we need a "Notable Builds" Tab if we don't already let us keep track of the ones that really push the limits and contain useful tips and such

I'll pass this on to the admins, but for future reference, there is a thread on the subject of site suggestions in the Feedback section of the forum.

 

[Biowarejak]

I'll pass this on to the admins, but for future reference, there is a thread on the subject of site suggestions in the Feedback section of the forum.

Thank you! I was thinking about putting it there also, just had the initial thought while reading this thread

 

[owliwar]

watching

 

[royalba94]

watching

Thanks! I've been pretty busy with Cable orders and other stuff this week so I haven't had much time to work on it :[

Hopefully I can post another update later on today

 

[Pendra]

I'm probably missing something, but what is modular about this?

 

[royalba94]

I'm probably missing something, but what is modular about this?

The whole back section where the radiators and hard drives go is the main modular part of it along with the fact that you could get it without the back section.

Those are the main modular bits at the moment and I know I haven't really detailed out how it will all work yet so I understand your confusion. I'm going to try and explain this more in my next update.

 

[royalba94]

Terribly sorry for the lack of updates everyone. I was trying to get an update done yesterday but since my 3D Modeling skills are still in the works I wasn't able to get a good update made yet.

Still working on it tho and I should have a bit more time to work on it this week.

As proof here is a screenshot of one of my first feeble attempts at the front panel:
I did manage to find a solution for Front I/O that is 2x USB 3.0 ports with a low-profile header connector that I can even get in custom lengths which is nice since that means I don't have to settle for extra-long and bulky USB 3.0 cables. Oh, and it's black too so that's another bonus

As I said in my previous post I'm going to try and show more about how the case will be modular so that is what I am working on modeling up currently.

Hopefully that wasn't too disappointing and here's hoping the next update comes soon!

 

[Biowarejak]

Terribly sorry for the lack of updates everyone. I was trying to get an update done yesterday but since my 3D Modeling skills are still in the works I wasn't able to get a good update made yet.

Still working on it tho and I should have a bit more time to work on it this week.

As proof here is a screenshot of one of my first feeble attempts at the front panel:
I did manage to find a solution for Front I/O that is 2x USB 3.0 ports with a low-profile header connector that I can even get in custom lengths which is nice since that means I don't have to settle for extra-long and bulky USB 3.0 cables. Oh, and it's black too so that's another bonus

As I said in my previous post I'm going to try and show more about how the case will be modular so that is what I am working on modeling up currently.

Hopefully that wasn't too disappointing and here's hoping the next update comes soon!

Actually looks pretty awesome IMO! I like that color

 

[royalba94]

So just as an update everyone, I'm still planning on working on this but things got a little crazy mid-june so I haven't had much time at all to work on it :[

Things are settling in better now so hopefully I can start back to working on this soon!