!nverse: A Highly Versatile Steam-Box Design

[esplin2966]

In China I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as intellectual property rights anyhow. I guess since you were at the prototyping stage I assumed you were using a western manufacturer. I think that we're you to take a look at all of the Ncase M1 rip offs floating around you might be a little more concerned.

I didn't know there were ncase m1 clones in China. Link?

Would it be a big cost difference to go with a Taiwanese manufacturer vs. Chinese?

I think esplin2966 used the same manufacturer all throughout the development of the case. But I stumbled across a thread on /r/customcases that revealed to me that his design process was longer than I thought. I'm not sure why these designs weren't posted here but I like seeing that very first prototype going back to a shorter case. Was your pre-prototype home made?

Taiwanese manufacturers are actually around the same price as US manufacturers, which is kinda crazy because Taiwanese people make way less money.

My pre-prototype was indeed home made It was fun, but it helped me realize that prototyping a case is not something that I can do at home. And yes, I used the same manufacturer the whole time.

 

[cmyk78]

How much thickness is there for a radiator+fan?

 

[esplin2966]

How much thickness is there for a radiator+fan?

The maximum thickness for radiator + fan is 60mm.

 

[iFreilicht]

I didn't know there were ncase m1 clones in China. Link?

There were some shown in this thread, don't have time to search for the specific post right now.

 

[cadiguno]

Sorry for necro-ing. This project is one of my favorites, and I haven't heard any news about it for the last few months. Is this project still ongoing? Any updates on the new manufacturer?

 

[esplin2966]

Sorry for necro-ing. This project is one of my favorites, and I haven't heard any news about it for the last few months. Is this project still ongoing? Any updates on the new manufacturer?

Hey! Yeah the project is ongoing. We found a new manufacturer after some down selection and recruited someone in China to physically be present to work with our new manufacturer. As a result, I'm feeling much more confident with our manufacturing this time around, and will have more updates once they finish a new prototype for us

 

[cadiguno]

Sounds great, I hope things will turn out well

 

[CC Ricers]

I bumped this topic to let you guys know that the case project recently went live on Indiegogo. You still have plenty of time left to back the project if you're interested in the case.

 

[K888D]

Wow, they kept that quiet!

 

[cmyk78]

Good luck on the campaign!!

 

[confusis]

News post here: https://smallformfactor.net/news/nverse-launches-indiegogo

 

[Ceros_X]

Edited: Emailed Ray and he confirmed he launched the campaign. Wish him the best of luck!

 

[Kmpkt]

Timing also isn't the best with the Zaber Sentry only being released 10 days ago. The cases are similar enough they kinda fill the same niche.

 

[iFreilicht]

Somewhat weird that they wouldn't try to build up a little bit of hype beforehand, either. They've been silent on [H] as well.

 

[esplin2966]

Thank you for the news post! You guys definitely beat me to the punch line. We have limited manpower when it comes to marketing, so we've dedicated the launch yesterday to reddit and email subscribers, and then hit the forums today. The news definitely spread fast though. Let me give you guys the follow-up to my last update:

We have found a manufacturer and gotten a prototype from them. First and foremost, I should say that their workmanship is MUCH better than our previous one. Dimensional accuracy is much better, and the glass bead-blasted finish is much finer. The price isn't that much worse too. Secondly, I should say that so far they seem responsible and responsive, giving us a list of things they need to improve on for production before we even have the chance to ask. To make sure that there aren't any more delays like with our previous manufacturer, I have recruited a good friend of mine (who lives 15 minutes away from the factory) to be our contact in China.

We have been constantly working on our crowdfunding campaign for the past few months, so we were basically ready to launch as soon as things are looking good on the manufacturing end. I will be posting photos of the new prototype on Monday.

 

[CC Ricers]

Timing also isn't the best with the Zaber Sentry only being released 10 days ago. The cases are similar enough they kinda fill the same niche.

Actually I think they can reach different audiences. Both would still be looking for a slim case, but !nverse would be better for people that still use 3.5" hard drives and an optical drive, and be more accessible for watercooling. People that want watercooling in a compact rig would probably not want the Sentry.

 

[esplin2966]

Actually I think they can reach different audiences. Both would still be looking for a slim case, but !nverse would be better for people that still use 3.5" hard drives and an optical drive, and be more accessible for watercooling. People that want watercooling in a compact rig would probably not want the Sentry.

I agree, though I have gotten a few comments saying that the timing could be better. Our timing has the added complexity of needing to deal with chinese new years and the manufacturing rush afterwards, which is one of the reasons why we ended up choosing this time frame.

Edit:
On a different topic, I've decided to post some of the shitty pictures of the new prototype.

It's difficult to see the difference in surface finishing, but you can tell from the seams that the dimensional accuracy has improved greatly.

 

[danger]

The 2.5"/3.5" drive options and water cooling support make this case very interesting for a 10L chassis. I hope you reach your funding goal!

Is there any way to install a fan over any of the 3.5" drive areas?

 

[esplin2966]

The 2.5"/3.5" drive options and water cooling support make this case very interesting for a 10L chassis. I hope you reach your funding goal!

Is there any way to install a fan over any of the 3.5" drive areas?

Thanks! You can install 120mm fans where you would normally install the AIO cooler radiators, which is overlapped with the area for some hard drives. There is also space for 120mm fans over the GPU area, which is also a hard drive area if you're not using GPU.

 

[esplin2966]

Hey everyone, just want to quickly update with a render of the case stand. Please let me know what you think!