Section for help & advice on case design & manufacture?

[Gautam]

I'm generally not a huge fan of unnecessary subforums, but I think such a section could be a good asset to this forum. The learning curve for designing and building a case from scratch is quite steep. I've been on the journey for about 4 months now, and have come across plenty of challenges and pitfalls. I've come across plenty of posts both here and on reddit from people wanting to build their own custom cases expressing frustration, and sometimes greeted with replies from the veterans to the tune of "do your research and figure it out yourself," which makes it intimidating to ask seemingly stupid questions.

There are some great resources here, megathreads, the 3D models, etc. which are all very helpful, but as far as discussion goes, there are only two relevant sections; one is the Custom Cases section, which is filled with threads from the pros promoting their commercial products, and the other is the Build Logs section, which is mostly the opposite extreme; end users showing off what they've put in off-the-shelf cases. Neither fit the albeit small niche of amateurs attempting to go it on their own. And I think this forum is probably the most likely place that people like us come to, so it could be a good fit.

 

[Aichon]

I actually think Custom Cases already fills this role rather nicely. It isn’t just pros in there, though it can feel that way at times. For one, they’re the ones with the threads that garner the most attention, but there’s also the other side of things: most amateurs either don’t stick with it or don’t maintain their threads, so their threads naturally gets buried eventually. And the amateurs who do make it? Well, we tend to regard them as pros and forget that they weren’t when they started.

All of which is to say, if you have ideas, make the topic there, tag it as Concept, and ask those questions you’ve had in mind.

 

[confusis]

@Aichon spot on. This is what the Custom Cases subforum is for. Focused design efforts and learning whilst it happens. General questions can go under General, but if you're working on a project for production, throw it in Custom Cases and go from there. There's a wealth of uber friendly knowledge here!

 

[BirdofPrey]

This forum is usually pretty good about giving actual useful feedback rather than being lazy and telling you to google it, though doing some independent research is still going to be expected. Nobody's going to solve your problems for you, but you should get plenty of help finding the solutions when you're in a bind.

Most of the so-called veterans here actually got their start in just that manner. A large portion of those cases selling commercially got their start as some concept by someone who's never done this before and has no idea what they are doing posting on here asking for advice, and many of those first attempts weren't very good, but the reason they ARE selling now is because those people put in the time and effort to fix the myriad problems and sought the advice of others who have done the same.

 

[Gautam]

@Aichon spot on. This is what the Custom Cases subforum is for. Focused design efforts and learning whilst it happens. General questions can go under General, but if you're working on a project for production, throw it in Custom Cases and go from there. There's a wealth of uber friendly knowledge here!

Okay- noted! I was under the impression that it wasn't for one-off projects.

 

[jtd871]

Also read the linked threads here, most likely the question you want to ask has been answered. Fire up those Bunsen burners (or oxy-acetylene torches) and get crankin'!