Concept Project Simplicity

[Phuncz]

That also looks very awesome ! But isn't speaker cloth very airflow-resistant ? Maybe you could look at a screen of horizontal or vertical aluminium strips. Or really retro, having them horizontally but rotated at a 45° angle like louvres they put on car rear windshields and houses.

Or something like this:

I also like the red colored wood much better, is it cherry ?

 

[iFreilicht]

Man you've got so many designs in this thread I can't give feedback on all of them, but the smaller closed frame one is looking very nice. I like the concept of having that single fan blow through the case, and the blend of wood and glass.
I think with windowing you could go a different way, though: Make the bottom, back and front out of wood with wooden shades like Phuncz has shown and then make the window out of a single, bent sheet of smoked acrylic glass that covers both sides and the top. That would look extremely awesome, I would think.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

That also looks very awesome !

Man you've got so many designs in this thread I can't give feedback on all of them, but the smaller closed frame one is looking very nice.

Thanks a lot ! I tend to model / draw every single idea that comes by. I wanted this thread to be less messy, but again I failed . I think this is how I progress and refine my designs lol.

But isn't speaker cloth very airflow-resistant ?

I don't know to be honest, but I thing it is not as speakers basically move air to create sound.

I also like the red colored wood much better, is it cherry ?

Yes, I'm heading toward cherry or wallnut. Not yet really fixed on that point but I like red / brown solid wood.

I like the concept of having that single fan blow through the case, and the blend of wood and glass.

I want something minimalist with as few element as possible.

I think with windowing you could go a different way, though: Make the bottom, back and front out of wood with wooden shades like Phuncz has shown and then make the window out of a single, bent sheet of smoked acrylic glass that covers both sides and the top. That would look extremely awesome, I would think.

I've been testing a front made out of lighter colored wooden blades.

Also, I'm still hesitating between 1x 180mm front fan with passive HR-22 or a Noctua tower with 2x 120mm (but no 180mm front fan). I already have a spare Noctua NH-U12P from my previous Intel Q6600 and I have 2x 120mm Noctua PWM fans. Reusing them would lower the final bill and I'd have more to throw at the material (wood, alumiinum sheet, thoughed smoked glass, etc.).

 

[Phuncz]

I don't know to be honest, but I thing it is not as speakers basically move air to create sound.

We may need a physicist in here to confirm, but I believe sound travels as a wave of vibration and air allows it to travel (hence why there is no sound in space or a vacuum) but even with no air movement, sound can still be heard. Speaker cloth is engineered to be transparent to the sound it resonates but airflow is not one of it's design objectives. Often this is still possible with vents on the side.

I've been testing a front made out of lighter colored wooden blades.

Looking very nice ! Personally I prefer the single 180mm fan design but I don't see why the dual 120mm setup couldn't work just as well.

 

[jtd871]

Speaker cloth is porous to air, but like a dust filter, will tend to act as a block to natural convection and even forced airflow. You're very likely going to need some dedicated venting. That being said, run an experiment (or two!) and get back to us.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

We may need a physicist in here to confirm, but I believe sound travels as a wave of vibration and air allows it to travel (hence why there is no sound in space or a vacuum) but even with no air movement, sound can still be heard. Speaker cloth is engineered to be transparent to the sound it resonates but airflow is not one of it's design objectives. Often this is still possible with vents on the side.

Yes, you are very right. I did a terrible shortcut. Sound is indeed the result of the mechanical vibration of a fluid.

Looking very nice ! Personally I prefer the single 180mm fan design but I don't see why the dual 120mm setup couldn't work just as well.

The design can accommodate both solution. I already have the parts for a tower cooler equipped with 2 fans, cost reduction. In this setup I won't need the front fan.

Speaker cloth is porous to air, but like a dust filter, will tend to act as a block to natural convection and even forced airflow. You're very likely going to need some dedicated venting. That being said, run an experiment (or two!) and get back to us.

I've been experiencing that with my PC-V353. Removing the dust filters from the front fans greatly improved airflow and temperatures.

 

[jtd871]

This is one reason that I'm excited about case designs like the A4 - there's so little internal "dead" volume that dust should have a hard time settling in while the fans are going. Plus it's so small that it would be easy to open the case and use pressurized air to clean periodically.

 

[jØrd]

@GuilleAcoustic to clarify, is the design open back??

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

@GuilleAcoustic to clarify, is the design open back??

Honestly, I don't know. I guess it would prevent stagnating hot air and improve the air flow. At the moment I am working on the inner shell.

I'd like to have a fully modular chassis, with easily removable side panels and front to match everyones tastes. The design can now accomodate 120mm, 140mm and 180mm fans at the front.

 

[jØrd]

if there is a back panel then would attaching an exhaust fan to the back improve temps or worsen them?

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

if there is a back panel then would attaching an exhaust fan to the back improve temps or worsen them?

I'll have to run several experiments, including smoke generator. My guess is that exhaust should pump at least as much air than what the intake push inside the case. I'd prefer a highly vented back panel if that's enough.

 

[iFreilicht]

I like the shades in the front, but I think they would look better horizontally. Not only would that make that mounting the shades easier and cleaner looking, it will also hide the fan better because you'll be looking at the case from slightly above most of the time.

And yes, while speaker cloth might not block soundwaves, it could very well block airflow. As a more extreme example, take plastic wrap: If you wrap your speakers with a layer of those, it will worsen the sound, but not the loudness of the speaker, because the plastic wrap is able to vibrate, which allows the sound waves (which basically are waves of compression) to be forwarded through it. It will absolutely suffocate a fan, though, because it blocks any form of airflow.

 

[EdZ]

Speaker cloth may not be the best choice for airflow, but speaker foam is relatively nonrestrictive. The same open-cell foam is also used for HVAC filtering, and it derives its filtering properties from its thickeness (particles bounce along inside and get stuck) rather than tightness of weave. Admittedly not as attractive as a cloth covering though.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

I like the shades in the front, but I think they would look better horizontally. Not only would that make that mounting the shades easier and cleaner looking, it will also hide the fan better because you'll be looking at the case from slightly above most of the time.

I agree, been playing with shapes and orientation the whole night (got cought away by the excitation and completely forgot the time). I'm moving toward an inner frame / chassis on which you attach side and front panels, panels that are easily swapable and available in different material or color (Aluminium, glass, wood, 3D printed, etc.).

This way, I should be able to scale the design with the minimum of effort. Not like I'm planning to build more than a single case, but Life has a far superior imagination .

And yes, while speaker cloth might not block soundwaves, it could very well block airflow. As a more extreme example, take plastic wrap: If you wrap your speakers with a layer of those, it will worsen the sound, but not the loudness of the speaker, because the plastic wrap is able to vibrate, which allows the sound waves (which basically are waves of compression) to be forwarded through it. It will absolutely suffocate a fan, though, because it blocks any form of airflow.

Speaker cloth may not be the best choice for airflow, but speaker foam is relatively nonrestrictive. The same open-cell foam is also used for HVAC filtering, and it derives its filtering properties from its thickeness (particles bounce along inside and get stuck) rather than tightness of weave. Admittedly not as attractive as a cloth covering though.

I have that kind of foam on my old Lian Li PC-V1100 chassis. It is very efficient and easily washable, unlike the new filter they use that kills the air flow.

Edit: Little preview of the inner frame with two different heatsinks fitted (Noctua NH-U12P and Thermalright HR-02), 180mm front fan and 120mm exhaust fan.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

New revision of the design:

• Front fan is mounted inside the chassis now
• Viablue HS Silver spikes are now modeled

I have to work out a way to attach the side panels to the chassis. The spiky feet is a platform as I'd like the chassis to be stackable if you don't use the platform. Been thinking about adding a cork layer under the chassis to reduce vibrations.

Again, all comments are welcomed .

 

[iFreilicht]

I liked the wooden design better, to be perfectly honest. Attaching sidepanels would be easier if they were one with the top. As it looks right now, front, top, back and bottom are always attached to each other. Is there a specific reason for that?

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

I liked the wooden design better, to be perfectly honest.

Same here, but at the moment I'm just playing with shapes, color and layout. The red color is cherrywood color. Been trying walnut and light oak too. I don't like the way textures work on Sketchup, I'll do proper texturing and render on Blender once I'm done modeling on Sketchup.

I'd like the front shades to be detachable to remove and clean the dust filter (open cell foam).

Attaching sidepanels would be easier if they were one with the top. As it looks right now, front, top, back and bottom are always attached to each other. Is there a specific reason for that?

They are not only attached to each other, but they are a single piece of aluminium folded into that shape. Not modeled yet, but rivets keep it closed at the back.

This is my first attempt at building a chassis, so this might not be the best approach .

 

[iFreilicht]

They are not only attached to each other, but they are a single piece of aluminium folded into that shape. Not modeled yet, but rivets keep it closed at the back.

This is my first attempt at building a chassis, so this might not be the best approach .

Well it's certainly a cool idea, and if you make the case yourself, including the bends, it won't be a problem at all. It could actually help the rigidity a great deal.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

Well it's certainly a cool idea, and if you make the case yourself, including the bends, it won't be a problem at all. It could actually help the rigidity a great deal.

That's what I guessed but I was unsure if it was a good idea or not. My goal is to waste as much material as possible. With this I only need a rectangle of metal that I'll fold into a square shape.

I also added a real wood texture to the side panels, this looks way better than the proxy color.

[Cherry wood]

[Chestnut wood]

[Oak wood]

 

[jeshikat]

Typically with sheet metal you're limited to a |_| shape because there has to be an opening for the punch to come down: http://sheetmetal.me/tooling-terminology/brake-press-tooling/