Bonfius

so I sent my drawings to a steel company. waiting for their offer.
I got a nice date with Solidworks Visualize today, after a little bet of tweeking the settings (and finding out my ryzen is fucking slow and SW refuses to use my Vega) I did some renders...
 

2mm stainless is stiff and heavy enough that you wont have any vibration issues. If you want the same sort of stiffness but have it a little bit lighter (20% on average over steel), you can go with 4mm aluminum. Also, aluminum extruded stock is somewhat more accurate, so I would go with that on the joints. 
 
Tho I would still up the screw/bolt connection amount everywhere part from the side panel. At least 3 on the longer sides, better 4. That way, you dont have to make a skeleton frame out of angle, but use the panels as structural components. Save on fabrication/assembly time. 
 
Side panel opening has several options: have it hinged, with magnets or bolt it. Listed in the order of the most difficult to mount vs easiest to use
 
One thing you have to remember is that stock is never 100% perfect. The angle stock may not be straight nor 90 degrees. I would suggest you revise your drawings to have overlapping joints. That way you can hide some imperfections from the stock. Might not sound pretty, but will be worth it in the end
 
The final finish of the case is up to you: stainless usually has a really nice satin gray scale...which get scratched really easy. Going fro scrap will probably be scratched to all hell...and you cannot fix that. If you do commit to redoing the finish on it, I suggest you avoid polishing. You will fall into a deeeeep rabbit hole of grit, compounds, polishing discs and painfully slow progress. Brushed finish means the same prep as for polish, but you use a big scotch brite pad to create the uniform look. Then there are chemical options to pickle/etch. Painting is always an option. You could, if yo get the chance, go pre-brushed/polished. They have the protective plastic peel, that can help you when fabricating. The above applies to aluminium too. 
 
If you are looking to put some beauty features on the case, a light chamfer on the outer edges would complete the look. 1/3rd of material thickness in size is usually the "golden ratio". 
 
Dont bother with front IO. The cases I have built from scratch, I did put IO slots...but very rarely used the front USB/audio. A simple powerswitch and reset button is pretty much what you actually need. Since 99% of data is now on the internet, I rarely use a USB stick anymore...
 
I would compact the case as much as possible. This way you save on material, increase stiffness and wont have to run the fans as hard to cycle the internal volume. Last 2 cases did not have HDD racks. 1TB main SSD with an external "vault" HDD. 
 
Great start, looking forward to the build

so I sent my drawings to a steel company. waiting for their offer.
I got a nice date with Solidworks Visualize today, after a little bet of tweeking the settings (and finding out my ryzen is fucking slow and SW refuses to use my Vega) I did some renders...
 

so I sent my drawings to a steel company. waiting for their offer.
I got a nice date with Solidworks Visualize today, after a little bet of tweeking the settings (and finding out my ryzen is fucking slow and SW refuses to use my Vega) I did some renders...
 

@frokes @startrek03 @W-L
so here is an update:
all drawings (finally) done. Will go out next week to find someone ....
bought a cheap case
took it apart
made rough 3D-models of the parts a want  to use and added them to my model (at least in the model everything fits fine)
used this case as donor: https://www.notebooksbilliger.de/pc+hardware/gehaeuse+pc+hardware/inter+tech+b+30+pc+gehuse+414453
to be honest: for the money its great. No sharp edges, its somewhat stable and has structural integrity. Definitely could be worse. 
 
Jan
 
(fun fact: it took me 12 min to take it completely apart. a decend 3mm drill does wonders for rivets)

Nice progress! The backplate from any case, no matter how cheap, will save you so much time and frustration later on :P Keep it up!

@frokes @startrek03 @W-L
so here is an update:
all drawings (finally) done. Will go out next week to find someone ....
bought a cheap case
took it apart
made rough 3D-models of the parts a want  to use and added them to my model (at least in the model everything fits fine)
used this case as donor: https://www.notebooksbilliger.de/pc+hardware/gehaeuse+pc+hardware/inter+tech+b+30+pc+gehuse+414453
to be honest: for the money its great. No sharp edges, its somewhat stable and has structural integrity. Definitely could be worse. 
 
Jan
 
(fun fact: it took me 12 min to take it completely apart. a decend 3mm drill does wonders for rivets)

@frokes @startrek03 @W-L
so here is an update:
all drawings (finally) done. Will go out next week to find someone ....
bought a cheap case
took it apart
made rough 3D-models of the parts a want  to use and added them to my model (at least in the model everything fits fine)
used this case as donor: https://www.notebooksbilliger.de/pc+hardware/gehaeuse+pc+hardware/inter+tech+b+30+pc+gehuse+414453
to be honest: for the money its great. No sharp edges, its somewhat stable and has structural integrity. Definitely could be worse. 
 
Jan
 
(fun fact: it took me 12 min to take it completely apart. a decend 3mm drill does wonders for rivets)