Completed S401: Salvo Studios <8L mITX Steel Unibody Chassis w/ GPU & CPU fans in same direction

[grsychckn]

Also, I bought bamboo and it should be here next week for me to test with. There's enough of it that I will make them available to purchase assuming I can figure out an efficient way to clean them up before shipping. They will smell like a campfire - probably make whatever room they're in also smell. I'm guessing after cleaning them up and airing them out it shouldn't be an issue but be forewarned.

BTW, the red looks REALLY good - not done yet or I'd have a picture.

 

[grsychckn]

 

[annasoh323]

Well, shucks, that's neat. This would be amazing in an AMD build! <cue me with my Intel+Nvidia computer>

 

[papayo]

Only issue that catches my eye is that the Salvo logo is gonna be sideways in the "console"/horizontal position, but damn do those panels look good enough to ignore that fact.

 

[grsychckn]

Only issue that catches my eye is that the Salvo logo is gonna be sideways in the "console"/horizontal position, but damn do those panels look good enough to ignore that fact.

Good news is that you can choose not to have any logo on the side panels when you purchase them. The logo on the vented panel as seen above will only be a $2 additional fee.

 

[grsychckn]

Other side of red panels:

Well, shucks, that's neat. This would be amazing in an AMD build! <cue me with my Intel+Nvidia computer>

Whose to say you can't do an Intel or Nvidia-themed one either?

Ha - I just realized the panel was on backwards.

 

[papayo]

Great work! Looking forward to the go live on your site

 

[grsychckn]

Great work! Looking forward to the go live on your site

Thanks, too bad I'm still waiting for the sample unit so I can take marketing photographs. Until then I'm in a waiting pattern and can pretty much only work on improving the side panel process. Hopefully I'll hear something today from the fabricator so I know when to expect the sample unit and then I can get pictures and open up the website for pre-orders.

 

[Thehack]

This is shaping up to be quite the customizable case!

 

[grsychckn]

This is shaping up to be quite the customizable case!

Thank you. Update: I will receive my sample unit tomorrow so hopefully I'll be able to get some professional pictures taken this upcoming week.

 

[grsychckn]

I'm ordering more acrylic. Question: What colors would you want? I need to make sure I have in stock products that reflect what users want. Thus far I've only done transparent, but I can do opaque as well.

 

[annasoh323]

I'm ordering more acrylic. Question: What colors would you want? I need to make sure I have in stock products that reflect what users want. Thus far I've only done transparent, but I can do opaque as well.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything to suggest right off the bat since I don't really have a particular color theme in mind. Is there a link or something you can send us to see examples of material? That might give me a better idea of what is possible. That said, a royal purple color comes to mind.

 

[grsychckn]

Unfortunately, I don't have anything to suggest right off the bat since I don't really have a particular color theme in mind. Is there a link or something you can send us to see examples of material? That might give me a better idea of what is possible. That said, a royal purple color comes to mind.

Here is my current source for acrylic. Thanks for asking! Of course, some of those are quite pricey (like the opaque matte sheets) so I'd have to adjust pricing to reflect that.

 

[papayo]

Clear colorless, frosted satin, and gray smoke caught my eye. Transparent is more interesting to me than opaque.

 

[Poblopuablo]

I'm a huge fan of orange. But I probably wouldn't get the acrylic. (Don't like it scratching. And I plan to use it like my current one... As a headphone stand)

 

[grsychckn]

Clear colorless, frosted satin, and gray smoke caught my eye. Transparent is more interesting to me than opaque.

Thank you! You think like me as those were the first panels I purchased as well. Unfortunately, they didn't turn out as well as I hoped because I hadn't made a jig for the laser cutter yet and got a lot of reflection distortion and smoke stains on the first sets. I'll try to share the pictures I have now but I'm confident I've figured out all the issues that caused my initial problems.

 

[grsychckn]

I'm a huge fan of orange. But I probably wouldn't get the acrylic. (Don't like it scratching. And I plan to use it like my current one... As a headphone stand)

Even though you wouldn't use the acrylic, every opinion helps because I don't have a large base to generate answers to these questions. I may try to setup a survey on my site and link to it from my next newsletter.

 

[grsychckn]

The samples came, but only part of the handle and the PSU mount I requested. I'm still waiting on the hex bar to come so the handle is complete and I'm still waiting on the unibody part (where all the mounts are). I was told I'd be getting them this week though so hopefully before Friday as I tentatively have an appointment with my photographer scheduled - and I might have to cancel.

 

[annasoh323]

I'm a huge fan of orange. But I probably wouldn't get the acrylic. (Don't like it scratching. And I plan to use it like my current one... As a headphone stand)

BB-8! I'd love to see him etched into a frosted orange. Selfishly speaking. Of course, that'll be three and a half seconds before Salvo Studios gets a cease and desist from the Mouse™.

Here is my current source for acrylic. Thanks for asking! Of course, some of those are quite pricey (like the opaque matte sheets) so I'd have to adjust pricing to reflect that.

Eyeballing the width, I started looking into the options in 1/4" thickness. I noticed they did have a purple option and since those are both my high school and church colors (currently), I could envision decking it out in that color. I was thinking a lighter color with a frosted finish might be nice. The thing that draws me to the smoke gray, red, and blue over the orange is that, since they are already darker, they have that light diffusing property that adds a bit of character to the panel.

 

[grsychckn]

Update: I'm working on getting the pre-order page ready on my website. Shipping is going to be a struggle as the quoted shipping rates (using my FedEx/UPS accounts BTW) differ from the "real-time" quotes and the actual prices I receive when I attempt to print out a shipping label. On top of that, my host (rebel.com) wants me to connect my already linked shipping accounts to shippo so I can have a service print the label (additional charges apply). I'm most likely going to limit the shipping choice to either UPS or FedEx - I don't want the hassle of different accounts and different drop off locations. If someone needs one or the other I can ship with either but I'm leaning FedEx now because I'm familiar with their website and process.

I'm currently working with UPS to see what kind of rates they can give me as a small business but it doesn't appear so far to justify switching over from FedEx. What I am most likely going to have to do is take the real-time quotes and add a flat rate on top of them to reflect my actual costs. It will be a small fee added in to help average my actual costs to even.

I still haven't received the sample unit from the fabricator and I'm quite frustrated. I'm receiving another package from them tomorrow that hopefully will have the main unit so I can get photographs taken and update the website.

Lastly, I want to say thanks to everyone for their support and enthusiasm as I know there have been delays (par for the course) and challenges along the way. With that said however, I've experienced a few unforeseen expenses in the last week or so that I didn't account for when calculating the final cost of the S401. I will not be raising the price from $165.00 but I wanted to be on the record that I'm officially negative some small amount of money on each unit. I'm hoping there will be enough custom side panel work to help me offset the losses because the margin on the custom work is much greater than that of the standard case. The removable handle will also be selling at a loss because of a communication problem between myself and the fabricator on how much in total it would cost to produce. The short of it was that I didn't communicate to them the need to have the hex bar cut, drilled, and tapped to fasten to the bracket they made and so I only factored in the cost of the bracket, fasteners, and raw hex stock. Having the shop cut, drill, tap, and paint each hex bar added over $9/ea to the cost. I only had 60 units made so once they are sold out, I probably won't be selling any more.

The next newsletter will mark the opening of the pre-orders. I will have at least 3 different packages to choose from (Basic, Custom 1, and Custom 2) with varying accessories and options to choose from.

Thanks for reading this wall of text, but things are progressing and as a reminder, according to the PO I sent to the fabricator the first shipment of cases will arrive the week of September 10. After that, it will be mayhem for me as I try to keep up with orders. I'm looking forward to it.

P.S. I need someone to give me feedback on the pre-order process and options (as well as the look and description on the website). If you can help me with this PM me. Thanks!