Trying to work out a case layout...

[LjSpike]

I'm pretty sure I've got an overall shape and size now properly pinned down. The design I'm currently rooting for should insulate against a good bit of noise, while allowing my to provide a lot of airflow to components wherever necessary without having huge amounts of fans...
The larger dimensions are of the maximum extents of the case, the smaller ones are of the green "Working Area" (where all the components can be fitted, with a few exceptions like USB's and such which need to be accessible).

Now for the rear view...

and finally the side which will go up against the wall...

I've worked off the premise of 3mm thick metal, unsure if I'll go for an aluminium build, steel build or a mixture of the two...
The clearance between the internal and external layers is 10mm which I think should be enough space for air to be able to comfortably travel down. Fans will be mounted to the green bit (within its extents).
Will probably fit 140mm fans rather than 120mm to decrease noise produced...

Components do already have quite good clearance I think (have to work out exact component layout still, and work out clearance needed for all the connectors...)

I could potentially add 5mm or 10mm onto the width of the case (as it's one dimension I can be a bit more relaxed on) to then instead put an intake onto the side of the inner case in the form of a 230mm (or perhaps 200mm) fan to produce really good airflow without having anywhere near as much noise... (As it'd seem higher diameter fans produce less noise for equal cooling performance as can use a lower RPM)...

 

[SeñorDonut]

Man thats a cool case

 

[jeshikat]

3mm steel would be ridiculously heavy

 

[LjSpike]

3mm steel would be ridiculously heavy

It would be. While I'm designing the cases I generally default to using 3mm, as I shouldn't really ever need thicker than that regardless of if I'm using steel or aluminium, and so when I do work out which thinner metal to go for, I have tolerances already built in.

It's a bit of a process I've developed over designing various objects, rather than design as small as possible and just scale up for each piece you add in or tolerance you must factor in, work out the biggest it might possibly be, and slim it down as you learn more.

I do though still have to work out which metal and thickness to go for. Any advice there Aiboh?

 

[LjSpike]

I'm thinking the inner enclosure can be an L-Shape enclosure, and can slide into the larger enclosure (perhaps with 1 bolt or 2 just to ensure it won't accidentally slide out?)

 

[jeshikat]

I do though still have to work out which metal and thickness to go for. Any advice there Aiboh?

"It depends."

Not very helpful, but that's really the answer. If you don't mind the excessive weight, couldn't go wrong with 1.5mm steel from a strength perspective.

But like I said, it'd be on the heavy side. 1mm or slightly under for steel is good for strength/weight but without stiffening bends, a flat piece of 1mm steel is surprisingly flexible if it has large cutouts in it. Plus steel can't be anodized.

1.5mm would probably be the minimum thickness I'd use for aluminum though except for particularly small cases. But most manufacturers have trouble cutting aluminum thicker than 2-3mm with lasers so 1.5mm is a good conservative option if the frame is designed with plenty of reinforcing bends to stiffen it.

But if the shop has water jets that they're pricing reasonably or a state of the art laser cutter then the shop may be able to easily deal with thicker aluminum.

As you asked in your PM, using different thickness of metal is fairly common. Often the side panels will be thicker since often they're a mostly flat piece so the thicker metal can help keep the panel from flexing to much compared to if it was made of the same thinner gauge as the frame.

But in general you want to minimize the number of different thicknesses and types of metal used to reduce manufacturing cost. If the shop can cut out all the parts out of single sheet of stock metal that's cheaper than if they have to cut out some parts on one sheet, swap for a different gauge and cut some more parts, swap yet another sheet and cut a few more parts, etc.

 

[LjSpike]

"It depends."

Not very helpful, but that's really the answer. If you don't mind the excessive weight, couldn't go wrong with 1.5mm steel from a strength perspective.

But like I said, it'd be on the heavy side. 1mm or slightly under for steel is good for strength/weight but without stiffening bends, a flat piece of 1mm steel is surprisingly flexible if it has large cutouts in it. Plus steel can't be anodized.

1.5mm would probably be the minimum thickness I'd use for aluminum though except for particularly small cases. But most manufacturers have trouble cutting aluminum thicker than 2-3mm with lasers so 1.5mm is a good conservative option if the frame is designed with plenty of reinforcing bends to stiffen it.

But if the shop has water jets that they're pricing reasonably or a state of the art laser cutter then the shop may be able to easily deal with thicker aluminum.

As you asked in your PM, using different thickness of metal is fairly common. Often the side panels will be thicker since often they're a mostly flat piece so the thicker metal can help keep the panel from flexing to much compared to if it was made of the same thinner gauge as the frame.

But in general you want to minimize the number of different thicknesses and types of metal used to reduce manufacturing cost. If the shop can cut out all the parts out of single sheet of stock metal that's cheaper than if they have to cut out some parts on one sheet, swap for a different gauge and cut some more parts, swap yet another sheet and cut a few more parts, etc.

Ah, ok. I'll see what I can work out for a single metal thickness, alternatively I could instead though use two thicknesses or a steel frame and aluminium panelling perhaps.