Concept SL8 - Minimalist 8 litre case with no vent holes

planebreaks

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
May 1, 2016
9
14
Hey gang,

First of all, thank you so much for this awesome forum.

My favourite case right now is the LZ7.
It's my favourite layout, and it really is the smallest you can go with PSU inside.
I love the look of Lone Industries L4, but I would have loved to have an SFX PSU in there.
I love the build quality, and the philosophy of the S4 mini, but I need something just a little bit bigger.

What I want to include in my case are;
- Mini-ITX motherboard
- Zotac 1080ti
- SFX / SFX-L PSU
- Decent height CPU cooler
- good ventilation (hopefully...)

I originally started the design with the same layout as LZ7, wanting to make the case just a little bit bigger to accommodate my needs.
But I decided to lay everything flat by bringing the PSU down to the side, essentially making the LZ7 a bit wider.
It created a lot more room for CPU cooler, and I was able to add 2 80mm fans above the I/O shield.



Now, the design of this case was inspired by many things, and one of them is a Japanese company, Abee.
Their cubic cases had a super minimalist look which I liked.
But it looked like the ventilation of that case was pretty poor, almost non-existent.

The challenge was to create at least some kind of airflow without disturbing the minimalist design.
So, I decided to offset the case facets a little bit.
Having a small gap between the panels will help the hot air to escape.
Also, another big factor here was the U shell preset from Protocase.

I have 3 different ideas, and the differences are subtle.


Concept 1 has a protruding front. You will see an L shape front jutting out.



Concept 2 has overhanging sides. It's like a roof.



Concept 3 is a combination of both, and as close to the original idea I had.
This design will give some room for PSU, GPU to blow air out through the side, and will allow the case fans to blow out to the front.

By the nature of its design, the weakness of this case are;
Very poor ventilation - This will need the most time to tweak and fine tune.
No dust filter - I think blowing air outwards will at least help a little.
No sound insulation - Perhaps I can add some dampening material inside?
Hot operating temperature - I have no idea what it will be.

I did think about having a radiator-like inside like some HTPC cases, but it's gonna be too expensive.


I can see this case with a smooth, thick panel, weighing hefty when you lift it, having a presence on my desk, or in my living room. Two tone black and silver, black and white, all black, or all metal finish.
I can only dream!

I'll try my best to bring this to reality.
I'm totally open for your suggestions and feedback.
My plan is to make a prototype, most likely with the Protocase guys, and make a few more if there is a demand.

Thanks for taking the time to read, and thanks again for this awesome community!
 

msystems

King of Cable Management
Apr 28, 2017
804
1,405
I mean, anything's possible.

What about an intake on the bottom of the case for the largest fan possible, and then elevating the bottom of the case (or just the motherboard tray really) a bit for just enough clearance for it to achieve airflow, while keeping the side exterior panels of the case low to the floor. It looks like there is more than enough vertical clearance for the CPU cooler. The GPU and PSU don't have to move up, just the motherboard tray.

From outside, it won't even be visible that there is an intake there and the low side panels can conceal that the base is slightly elevated, so that wont break the aesthetics at all. Then you will have some positive airflow to the displace the hot ambient air which is trapped in there, and you can run low rpm dual 80mm exit fans in the rear.
 
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LjSpike

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Mar 20, 2017
140
72
Interesting idea. The lower shell could have some tabs folded over inside to shield the components from view (and damage), perhaps with a small lip fitted so that an LED strip could rest inside if one wishes.
A disadvantage you'd stated is that your setup wouldn't be easy to fit any dust filters too, although it would be easy to take apart and clear out the dust from.

Perhaps a couple of things I would just present to you, is firstly to try and maximise the size of fans rather than just adding more fans. One large fan in the front and in the back would keep continuous and pretty good air flow without causing much noise at all. Secondly, trying to give as much of a gap as possible. You could use some bent pieces of metal to disguise some of the gap at the side to prevent seeing into the case, however it'd let you get more air be sucked in.

Also a little grammar Nazi moment here: You should be using "idea" not "ideation", the latter is describing the process of forming ideas, and also if I'm not mistaken is a term limited to use in only the US variety of English.
 

planebreaks

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
May 1, 2016
9
14
From outside, it won't even be visible that there is an intake there and the low side panels can conceal that the base is slightly elevated, so that wont break the aesthetics at all. Then you will have some positive airflow to the displace the hot ambient air which is trapped in there, and you can run low rpm dual 80mm exit fans in the rear.

Cheers. I think I'll definitely add as much ventilation as possible on the bottom panel.
Lifting the mobo for sure, and gonna be adding as many holes as possible on the bottom.
It's gonna have a foot so the case is gonna be lifted as well.
I thought about using the two fans to suck in the cool air, but if you think taking the hot air out is better, I'll follow. I'm by no means expert on this subject.

Perhaps a couple of things I would just present to you, is firstly to try and maximise the size of fans rather than just adding more fans. One large fan in the front and in the back would keep continuous and pretty good air flow without causing much noise at all. Secondly, trying to give as much of a gap as possible. You could use some bent pieces of metal to disguise some of the gap at the side to prevent seeing into the case, however it'd let you get more air be sucked in.

Thanks for the notes. I did think about adding a 140mm fan on a standoff right in front of the motherboard.
With the solid front panel right in front of it, will it still aid to get the air moving?
Also, welding a stand off on the bottom panel is gonna cost more. I'm gonna see what the quote is going to be.
I do fancy the idea of having a lip to tuck under the shell. The way Protocase do the u shell, they have the lip for screws by default. I think it might look quite nice, but it will definitely affect the airflow.

I'm attaching a mood board for the look of this piece.
Hopefully, I can end up with something that looks similar to that lacie case.



Maybe I can use a magnet to rest the top shell on the bottom shell with the lip.
If the magnet is about 5mm thick, it will create a small gap against the lip.
I think there are 1cm ones as well, so I'll see how that goes.

Thanks for the feedback guys!
 

LjSpike

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Mar 20, 2017
140
72
I suspect a fan right in front of the motherboard would aid airflow, generally larger diameters can get better airflow with less noise as it can be slower (sometimes resulting in less cost too). Any way you could fit in a 200mm or other large diameter fan anywhere in there? You'd get quite good airflow then I'd expect as the single fan would suck/blow out from the entire length of the gap at one end.
 

planebreaks

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
May 1, 2016
9
14
Perhaps I can add the 200mm to the top? I'm not sure.
I know it's not gonna be the best airflow, but I think small vents and those gaps will still make a big difference.

Below is my next iteration. I added a power button on the side, and the case now follows more of the L preset.
L shaped top cover, and the bottom shell acting as a nest for all the components.

 

allison_Protocase

Chassis Packer
Protocase
Jul 2, 2015
16
26
www.protocase.com
I'll try my best to bring this to reality.
I'm totally open for your suggestions and feedback.
My plan is to make a prototype, most likely with the Protocase guys, and make a few more if there is a demand.

Thanks for taking the time to read, and thanks again for this awesome community!

Hey @planebreaks, Allison from Protocase here. I forwarded this thread to our engineering & design services team to see if they had any feedback on your ideas, and John let me know he's already been in touch with you with some questions and comments. :) So I don't have anything else to add here - awesome feedback so far.

Thanks for keeping us in mind for your prototyping needs!
 
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msystems

King of Cable Management
Apr 28, 2017
804
1,405
Perhaps I can add the 200mm to the top? I'm not sure.
I know it's not gonna be the best airflow, but I think small vents and those gaps will still make a big difference.

One idea I had that might be applicable to you is de-casing the fans, or making an
"open" fan, not sure what to call this. I have never tried it, but I think it could work in a situation like this where air circulation is the main goal and the flow direction and pressure are secondary or unimportant.




If you have a fan that is going to be almost flush up against a metal surface, channeling the air doesn't do you any good because it has nowhere to go. If you remove the plastic shell and create your own bracket just to hold the fan motor only though (just a single width of metal or plastic) then the fan would have less moving resistance and there would be more air circulation I imagine which would spread in a more outward direction instead of a focused flow.


Another thing you can look into is blower fans. I have been looking at these for my projects and found very little in the way of large and quiet blower fans that are consumer focused. Most are industrial, extremely loud high RPM fans or very small graphic card fans.

This is the only thing I found which is both large and quiet and is designed to run off of USB:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012CL2V3I/?tag=theminutiae-20

That would be one way to direct airflow through the narrow case exits. With a 25mm profile, you can surely place it against your inner case wall.
 
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planebreaks

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
May 1, 2016
9
14
Hey gang,

I got another sheet with bit more development.
I'm gonna send this over to Protocase tmr, and start the design process.

Let me know what you think!
 
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