DIY Case? Dust Proof Case?

[wisnoskij]

Budget (including currency): $150CAD

Country: Canada

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Watching Youtube

Other details: Dust is always horrible and stuck everywhere in my PCs. I want to reduce it to near zero, while maintaining as much airflow as possible.

Watching case reviews and I am always dismayed at how much thermal performance you get by taking the front panel off. And the case filters are just terrible. Huge holes, and pushed right up against the fans to restrict airflow as much as possible. Surface area is, I think, linearly negatively proportional to the amount of airflow impedance, so to do any amount of filtering you want as much filter surface area as possible. I designed this case to fit a 25x16" (the most common size) by 5" furnace filter, but in case it reduces airflow too much I still have the ability to fit just about anything in there and increase my surface area like 20 times the normal amount. With 3x140mm fans as the main blowers, looking at the industrial noctua for their high static pressure.

I also wanted lots of room for hard drives, and a optical drive. I have have 4 like 15 yo drives and I really should do some sort of raid with parity with them, but then I probably need a new 2 TB new drive to fit the data while the old ones get reconfigured. Designed to fit just about anything, I think their is room for probably 3 triple fan radiators, not that I plan on using any, and any size of cpu cooler.

I was wondering if what people thought of the idea? I am happy with it but I think it would take too much effort to build, And I think a desktop form factor is just so much more efficient for my requirements that I will have to retry with that.

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/7d48106a-44f8-4e6a-ac9f-86f1b3c3beb0/Case-Concept

 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

8 minutes ago, wisnoskij said:

Budget (including currency): $150CAD

Country: Canada

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Watching Youtube

Other details: Dust is always horrible and stuck everywhere in my PCs. I want to reduce it to near zero, while maintaining as much airflow as possible.

Watching case reviews and I am always dismayed at how much thermal performance you get by taking the front panel off. And the case filters are just terrible. Huge holes, and pushed right up against the fans to restrict airflow as much as possible. Surface area is, I think, linearly negatively proportional to the amount of airflow impedance, so to do any amount of filtering you want as much filter surface area as possible. I designed this case to fit a 25x16" (the most common size) by 5" furnace filter, but in case it reduces airflow too much I still have the ability to fit just about anything in there and increase my surface area like 20 times the normal amount. With 3x140mm fans as the main blowers, looking at the industrial noctua for their high static pressure.

I also wanted lots of room for hard drives, and a optical drive. I have have 4 like 15 yo drives and I really should do some sort of raid with parity with them, but then I probably need a new 2 TB new drive to fit the data while the old ones get reconfigured. Designed to fit just about anything, I think their is room for probably 3 triple fan radiators, not that I plan on using any, and any size of cpu cooler.

I was wondering if what people thought of the idea? I am happy with it but I think it would take too much effort to build, And I think a desktop form factor is just so much more efficient for my requirements that I will have to retry with that.

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/7d48106a-44f8-4e6a-ac9f-86f1b3c3beb0/Case-Concept

 

Looks like cgi from 2007 xD

Though not sure about  the concept

[svmlegacy]

Seems like a fine idea. I'd like to see better exhaust management, to ensure airflow over the PSU and HDD's.

 

This also has the issue of needing to open up your environment to install/remove CD's. Pass that through to the outside of the case.

[wisnoskij]

@svmlegacy
Like out the back? They do have those beefy fans pointing at them. But I really should look at if anyone has done thermal testing with a case that did not have back vents, or if their is any consumer grade airflow simulator. 

But I cannot imagen the PSU being a problem, it has its own fan. and it is below all the heat generation. Not worried about the optical drive, I completely understand why cases mostly come without one, as they are pretty outdated, but they have their uses.

[brob]

Why is the top vented and not the rear?

[wisnoskij]

@brob
The back is a lot more complicated, a lot of stuff has to stuck out of it. Might just need to embed the back of a old case and in the back and in that case it would have the normal exhaust. But heat rises, to that seems the most important.

The fans are pointed at the hot stuff, so that should work to transfer the heat to the air. Then the combination of convention and negative pressure would result in the air leaving. My understanding, according to the testing LTT did was it really did not matter what was in the way, the air flows around it, so it could not matter where the exhaust is, the air will find if it is does not leave by some other crack. What does matter is that fans exist and are blowing cold air on the parts.

[brob]

I think there are two issues with venting the top.

 

First, when the system is off dust will settle and drop through the venting.

 

Second, the flow of air is not straight and might leave dead spots. I also wonder at cpu cooler airflow if a tower type cooler is used.

[wisnoskij]

That is a good point, @brob, I did design the vent such that there was no direct path down through it, not that that would really prevent flowing through the vent. The best solution might just be really light filtering on the exhaust (since I really did want the inline vent).

My idea of it is that it should be fairly straight. If the back were complexly blocked off, the vast majority of the air force here is fan force. So the air should just hit the back wall, bounce off, make some turbulence, and exit up. It is not like convection will be so strong that it pulls the air up and it never makes it to the far wall. I did mention I plan on using 3 high powered 140mm fans. But it does seem to be the safe option to have at least a normal amount of venting to the rear.

[brob]

From the drawing it appears that the psu will draw from the case interior and the optical drive will have no venting?

[josencarnacao]

If you're really into making a dust-free case with enough ventilation, you ought to make the case userfriendly and although bulky, somewhat efficient in the design.

1st - Opening the glass door to use the DVD / Blu-ray drive is dumb, it let's unfiltered air in.

2nd - The bulky filter case ought to have the frame match the cases bottom so it doesn't be suspended in the air being uneven to support and tasteless to look at.

3rd - The "filter box" could slide in from the top in some kind of ridges in order to be properly placed and to be air-tight.

4th - The "filter box" could feed the powersupply, which has to have a cable feeding power, but which could be let in through a rubberized hole that would provide some form of barrier for dust to come in. OR better yet, who says that the powersupply needs to be conventional (inside the case) like in industrial standard? You make a "filter box" just for the power suply with an external female plug outside the box, connecting the powersupply.

 

Alas, if you are to make such a project, please keep us posted.

I for one would love to see it be made, and maybe featured in an LTT video.

This "goal" was never sought by Linus and the team ... just noise, cooling, etc.. :) Well, maybe in the 1 Year Airflow Experiment - The Stunning Conclusion video.

[josencarnacao]

Also, for a project like this, I would take inspiration from YouTuber DIYPerks, mainly from this projects:

1. Building an invisible PC
   2020-08-28
2. Building the World's Weirdest Fan
   2020-03-25
3. Building a spectacular DIY 'desk PC' (it can fold!)
   2019-06-04
4. I built a PC out of rope and wood...
   2018-04-05
5. DIY Computer Case - The Ultimate Silent PC (CLOUD UNIT)
   2015-02-03
6. How to Make a Clean Air Enclosure (for HDD repair etc)
   2014-07-07

For anyone concerned, I'm sharing this projects because I really think they are useful this projects purpose, and not trying to promote any YTber

Edited June 29, 2021 by josencarnacao

[josencarnacao]

And ... also you might want to try acquiring inspiration from Project Farms videos on YouTube, mainly this projects:

1. Which Furnace Filter Brand is Best? Let's find out!
   2021-02-14
2. Which Car Air Filter is Best? Let's find out! Fram, K&N, Wix, Purolator, & AC Delco showdown
   2020-03-09

Shop-Vac and other videos might interest you in further projects, but there are plenty of videos on dust-removal, etc.
:)

[josencarnacao]

Also, from DIYPerks, maybe this could be an inspiration for trying out a new kind of efficient solution:

1. Building the world's first 'breathing' PC
   2021-06-30

[wisnoskij]

Sorry, I thought emailed notifications were on.
 

On 6/28/2021 at 7:07 AM, brob said:

From the drawing it appears that the psu will draw from the case interior and the optical drive will have no venting?

@brob Yes, it probably should have more venting that that. Good call.

 

 

On 6/29/2021 at 8:17 AM, josencarnacao said:

4th - The "filter box" could feed the powersupply, which has to have a cable feeding power, but which could be let in through a rubberized hole that would provide some form of barrier for dust to come in. OR better yet, who says that the powersupply needs to be conventional (inside the case) like in industrial standard? You make a "filter box" just for the power suply with an external female plug outside the box, connecting the powersupply.

 

Alas, if you are to make such a project, please keep us posted.

I am not sure I follow. I could draw air directly from a filter box, that would increase pressure, and I have no control over the PSU fan.

Thanks for the links. I did already watch those project farm video's, and the breathing PC one. checking out others.

[wisnoskij]

OK, like mentioned, had a try as a desktop form factor, and I am way more happy with the result. It has a power basement design, where it also draws in the cold and filtered air. This pull draft will also cool the Storage drives, of which there is basically unlimited space for drives. The air is pulled to the front, up a tower (which has room for 5.25" drives), and pushed by 3X140mm fans over the MB, and the PSU draws power from under the MB (the idea being to put the PSU fan in series with the main draw fans so they share the load of filter draw instead of competing).

I really only have 2 main issues remaining to be resolved:
Filtration: I did realized that furnace filters are designed to have recirculated air in them over and over again. Specifically, they are designed to be 75% effective at removing dust. This is still a huge advantage, but is obviously far from dust-proof. The solution to this is the Hepa filter designation which is something like 99.7%. The problem with this is Hepa filters are really not a commodity like furnace filters. Their are Hepa filtration systems, and their specific replacement filters, but they are all random sizes and small for retail customers. DIY Perks used a vacuum bag, and maybe if I could finds a few of those I would sew something that would work (but you cannot imagine how bad the canadian retail experience is). Alternatively, I could stack filters. 2 furnace filters would add up to 94% filtration and 4 would add to 99.6, but I feel like a single vacuum bag would be less restrictive, but maybe not. But I do not know if I can even get this material. Some preliminary searches returned a bunched of tiny hepa filters and bags.

Venting: With all the connectors and graphics card it is just an annoying shape. I am not sure what to do here, but I like the glass sides. Drilling a bunch of holes might just look messy as I probably would not be 100% precise.


https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/d34a7dc1-0450-4706-9c89-d17cc413a9ab/Desktop-Case-Concept