Monolith - 8L Micro-ATX Case

[Josh | NFC]

Looks sweet, and CONGRATS!

One thing to think about as a last min double-check. I like to space my panels apart before the final render so I can get a visual "feel" for which edges are going to be exposed. Afterall this is acrylic, and the edges will dramatically impact the look.

Sharp design and I hope everything goes smoothly putting it together!

Peace.

 

[Colinreay]

Looks sweet, and CONGRATS!

One thing to think about as a last min double-check. I like to space my panels apart before the final render so I can get a visual "feel" for which edges are going to be exposed. Afterall this is acrylic, and the edges will dramatically impact the look.

Sharp design and I hope everything goes smoothly putting it together!

Peace.

Thanks Josh, this means a lot to me coming from you, huge fan of the work you do here and on youtube. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll definitely space the panels apart before I cut, definitely one of the drawbacks with rendering like this is that you can not see the individual panels and if the have conflicts.

 

[Colinreay]

Quick update, got some of the UPC Aegis in, this stuff looks great when used with UL1015 18AWG wire, fills up the sleeve really nicely, yet is still way more flexible than the 16AWG that I've worked with. I was kind of bored, and just threw together a quick Molex extension.

Spoiler: Pictures

BTW, sorry for the uber saturation on the red, my little camera is not a fan of vibrant colors.

 

[Boogle]

Really cool project. I just registered to express my interest!

I think it's great that you plan to release the CAD files for free, it would be awesome to customise my own personal version of the Monolith. For me I would chose to print in all clear acrylic like some of MountainMods stuff. I think that looks totally awesome.

Super excited to see a prototype, I hope you can progress quickly!

 

[Colinreay]

Really cool project. I just registered to express my interest!

I think it's great that you plan to release the CAD files for free, it would be awesome to customise my own personal version of the Monolith. For me I would chose to print in all clear acrylic like some of MountainMods stuff. I think that looks totally awesome.

Super excited to see a prototype, I hope you can progress quickly!

Thank you sir! I still have to wait one more week to get a membership to my local hackerspace (have to wait for school to end.) When I'm there, I'll have access to Laser machines, CNC milling machines, sheet metal brake/benders, and waterjets, so I'm planning to just let my imagination run wild, I love to see what other people are doing, and also take inspiration from that as well. Of course - I'll try to document and upload everything for free whenever possible!

 

[Boogle]

Did you find a chance to make anything neat Colin?

 

[Colinreay]

Did you find a chance to make anything neat Colin?

Hi Boogle, I actually get access next weekend to the laser cutters, unfortunately it's been super busy in school lately, and I haven't had much time to work on other stuff. I have no idea what my schedule is until summer, but I'm going to try to be as active as possible!

 

[Colinreay]

TIME FOR A REVIVAL GUYS.

I'm so sorry about the lack of updates - school was busy, was sleeving a lot of cables, and just didn't have time to work on the case for a while there. Well, I cut everything tomorrow and here are some final renders! I don't have much time to write this (need to get to bed ASAP), but figured I would throw in a little update.


Also, here are the 3d printed parts I'm planning on using. It's pretty basic, just an anti-sag gpu brace, a rear PCIe bracket for the gpu, and a ssd mount for the front of the case. However, I'm probably going to change the last piece (ssd mount), due to a different vision than the one I had when I first designed it. Instead of putting acrylic behind the ssd and lighting it, I probably will just make a clean and simple mount that shows off the ssd.


I'll probably print these off of 3d Hubs, still trying to decide between cured UV resin ($33) and just normal FDM on a Prusa i3 Mk. II ($18). If you guys have any suggestions, would love to hear them! I'll work on uploading all of the different files if you want to make your own or just have a look, but I need to build the case first and ensure everything works. Cheers!

 

[Ceros_X]

I think this is the only mATX case I have ever been liked the looks of!

 

[Colinreay]

Sorry for potato photos guys, but the laser cuts today went great! Just have to finish a little more tomorrow, and then I'll be done! However, I did forget one huge thing. A POWER BUTTON. Will have to use a drill press at some point to cut out a clearance hole, maybe a little @iFreilicht RGB Vandal action?

Anyways, I have next week off, which will be spend finishing the case cuts, 3d printing the needed parts, and sanding and painting everything. I'm leaning towards either plasti-dipping the panels, or sand/spray/matte clear coat. As for the 3d Printed parts, and recommendations would be awesome, maybe Bondo + sand + paint? I've read that the stuff gets everywhere though, so maybe not.

I'll also mount an rgb led strip controlled by a little Arduino, and laser cut some frosted acrylic diffusers to even out the light distribution.

Anyways, good night!

 

[Phuncz]

Well done on reaching this milestone, it looks amazing !

 

[Ceros_X]

Dumb question - will you be able to pit the 24 pin power connector cable through the built in cabe comb? Looks like it is just big enough for the cables and you'd have to run them through then terminate.

 

[Colinreay]

Dumb question - will you be able to pit the 24 pin power connector cable through the built in cabe comb? Looks like it is just big enough for the cables and you'd have to run them through then terminate.

Not a dumb question at all! For the 24 Pin, I am going to sleeve each wire individually, and then route them through the comb into the motherboard. I'm just going to make extensions for that as it is really complex, and then sleeve some really short wires coming from the PSU. It'll be much more apparent when I get started on it in a few days!

 

[Ceros_X]

Could you do a cutout and then a thicker piece that slides down and sandwhices it on both sides of the panel? Would keep you from having to do an extension and would be a much better option if you ever scale up for manufacture.

The thicker piece could even have half of the comb cut into it to replicate the current design.

 

[Colinreay]

Could you do a cutout and then a thicker piece that slides down and sandwhices it on both sides of the panel? Would keep you from having to do an extension and would be a much better option if you ever scale up for manufacture.

The thicker piece could even have half of the comb cut into it to replicate the current design.

Ooh, that's a really good idea! I'm definitely not going to manufacture the case, now that I finally have access to some machinery/tools I just want to go wild with ideas, but I will make all of the files available for download/making in case someone else is interested and wants to develop the case and run with it!

The half cut and screw-on piece for the 24 pin cutout is a great idea, I'll implement that before I publish the files.

 

[Colinreay]

Just a quick little update - here are some better photos of the case. Still have the protective covering on, but really pleased with how it has turned out so far. I'll be sure to take some better photos this week and explain how everything goes together and functions.

 

[Ceros_X]

Can't wait until the protective sheets come off. I left the protective coating on my laptop screen conversion for quite a bit, know the feeling of not wanting it to get scratched up lol.

 

[confusis]

I want one!

 

[Curiosity]

I really like this design, seeing all that mobo is awesome!

 

[iFreilicht]

Good progress, looks very nice! Why is the cable comb for the motherboard that far down? Wouldn't it look better if it was directly in front of the ATX24pin socket?