3D printing case front panel

[Belac F]

Hey guys, I was looking into printing a custom front panel for the nzxt h500 case, but I do not have access to a metal 3d printer.

 

I was wondering how cost effective it would be to outsource the printing to a large company? I would assume it would cost way to much as it is a one time job, but i,m just looking into my options. 

 

My schoool does have a cnc router, but I'm not sure if it would work for metal, or it would be a solid quality. 

 

Just looking into the options right now.

[W-L]

19 minutes ago, PeterFile said:

Hey guys, I was looking into printing a custom front panel for the nzxt h500 case, but I do not have access to a metal 3d printer.

 

I was wondering how cost effective it would be to outsource the printing to a large company? I would assume it would cost way to much as it is a one time job, but i,m just looking into my options. 

 

My schoool does have a cnc router, but I'm not sure if it would work for metal, or it would be a solid quality. 

 

Just looking into the options right now.

Depends on what you are making but to do so in metal either by additive or subtractive manufacturing processes will be expensive. 
 

What is your design or concept? From that we can better determine if it would be better to get it printed or to have it cut on a VMC or CNC router. 

[Belac F]

4 minutes ago, W-L said:

Depends on what you are making but to do so in metal either by additive or subtractive manufacturing processes will be expensive. 
 

What is your design or concept? From that we can better determine if it would be better to get it printed or to have it cut on a VMC or CNC router. 

I haven't done much for it yet, I don't have time to design it now because I have exams, but it would look something like this:

 

I just had a thought that it might be best to take the original front panel, cnc out the design, and put painted sheet metal behind. Just an fyi, the only 3d printing ive done is basic plastic prints so im a little bit of  a noob when it comes to this stuff. Also, my school has expressed interest in a laser cuter, so that might be an option as well

 

[Belac F]

8 minutes ago, James Evens said:

CNC it.

3d-printing large, primitive metal parts isn't cost effective.

thanks. My school has one for the shop class, Ive used it with wood, but is there a chance it could cut into the original front panel? Its a CNC shark, but I'm not sure which one. and if it wont work, would it be cost effective to have it shipped off and CNCed that way?

[W-L]

20 minutes ago, PeterFile said:

I haven't done much for it yet, I don't have time to design it now because I have exams, but it would look something like this:

 

I just had a thought that it might be best to take the original front panel, cnc out the design, and put painted sheet metal behind. Just an fyi, the only 3d printing ive done is basic plastic prints so im a little bit of  a noob when it comes to this stuff. Also, my school has expressed interest in a laser cuter, so that might be an option as well

 

Currently that is a flat design so assuming it has 3 dimensional relief to make it look like a face being somewhat intricate you could use a laser cutter to cut acrylic parts to join together to create a skeleton frame type design.

 

Regular plastic 3D printing would be fairly easy once you have a model, but finishing will be the time consuming part if you want tot paint it and make it look like a metallic part. 

[Belac F]

3 minutes ago, W-L said:

Currently that is a flat design so assuming it has 3 dimensional relief to make it look like a face being somewhat intricate you could use a laser cutter to cut acrylic parts to join together to create a skeleton frame type design.

 

Regular plastic 3D printing would be fairly easy once you have a model, but finishing will be the time consuming part if you want tot paint it and make it look like a metallic part. 

I was more so thinking of having is as a flat design, with the colored pieces cut out of the panel and a diferent material behind, potentialy thin white pla with RGB lighting behind it, or perhaps sheet metal. although it would look pretty epic to have the full face coming out of the case. I won't be starting this project till the next semester (end of the month). Is this a good idea, and how cost effective would it be? 

 

Nothing is finalized at all, im just looking at my options. The image will probably change slightly, but I am thinking of a similar art style. 

[Belac F]

7 minutes ago, James Evens said:

Ask your superisor if it would work with some kind off thin steal. If you give it a try have a backup plan incase the front panel gets destroyed. 

With your design laser or water jet might be better then milling.

Did something similar once and it was like 20€ (simple & fast cuts). With professional companies it would cost significantly more as they are likley to charge a setup fee.

I know the case is made of steel, so ill check with that. Although if I can get it done for under 50 bucks I might do that, I've heard there are places near me that can do it. Where did you go to get it done for 20 euros?

[W-L]

4 hours ago, PeterFile said:

I was more so thinking of having is as a flat design, with the colored pieces cut out of the panel and a diferent material behind, potentialy thin white pla with RGB lighting behind it, or perhaps sheet metal. although it would look pretty epic to have the full face coming out of the case. I won't be starting this project till the next semester (end of the month). Is this a good idea, and how cost effective would it be? 

 

Nothing is finalized at all, im just looking at my options. The image will probably change slightly, but I am thinking of a similar art style. 

If it’s flat you can get mirrored acrylic and then get it later cut pretty easily and still stand out pretty nicely. Long as you provide them the line work that is compatible for their laser cutter then you would have little trouble. 
 

 

[Belac F]

7 hours ago, W-L said:

If it’s flat you can get mirrored acrylic and then get it later cut pretty easily and still stand out pretty nicely. Long as you provide them the line work that is compatible for their laser cutter then you would have little trouble. 
 

 

Ill look into the mirrored acrylic, I like the look of it and it seems cost effective. It turns out one of my friends whos dad makes jewlery has access to a (I think it was a CNC machine, but not sure), and can do it for free. Id assume that if it is used to cut precious metals it should work with a thin layer of steel. so all in, the cost would be low.  Thanks for all the advice @W-L and @James Evens, Im new to this forum and the community is great!

[Belac F]

One last thing, is the mirrored acrylic conductive? thinking of making a custom back plate as my GPU doesn't have one

[W-L]

7 minutes ago, PeterFile said:

One last thing, is the mirrored acrylic conductive? thinking of making a custom back plate as my GPU doesn't have one

Depends on the film or coating process of different manufactures, if you want to have the same acrylic as on the front you can back the acrylic with a vinyl film if that is of concern. 

[Blue4130]

You definitely want to go laser or water jet for this, not cnc. With cnc, the inside corners on the points will not be sharp and defined, they will be the radius of the cutting tool. Cnc mill bits are much bigger than the laser or water jet. 

[Blue4130]

1 hour ago, Blue4130 said:

You definitely want to go laser or water jet for this, not cnc. With cnc, the inside corners on the points will not be sharp and defined, they will be the radius of the cutting tool. Cnc mill bits are much bigger than the laser or water jet. 

Here are a couple examples. The front panel was done with laser, the words are super crisp. I later had the side panel done using a different company. The side panel was cnc, the small squares that make up the cube are supposed to be sharp corners, not rounded. The file I supplied the company cutting was really crisp with damn near zero radius. I am not sure what size bit they used, but it was no where near small enough radius. Since it sits on the floor out of sight, I don't care too much about the side. 

[Belac F]

6 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Here are a couple examples. The front panel was done with laser, the words are super crisp. I later had the side panel done using a different company. The side panel was cnc, the small squares that make up the cube are supposed to be sharp corners, not rounded. The file I supplied the company cutting was really crisp with damn near zero radius. I am not sure what size bit they used, but it was no where near small enough radius. Since it sits on the floor out of sight, I don't care too much about the side. 

Thanks man, that helps a lot. how steep is the cost of laser cutting?

[Blue4130]

1 minute ago, PeterFile said:

Thanks man, that helps a lot. how steep is the cost of laser cutting?

Probably depends a lot on where you are. I live in Beijing, so it was about $20 usd for 3mm steel and cutting and shipping to my door. Probably triple that in the west would be a good starting point.