DIY PC cases

[finkn]

 

 

 

 

 

DIY Case

 

Basic idea is:

-ship plans not cases, 3d print connectors and let your local machineshop manufacture your case out of 1mm steel/alu/cfk (2mm will result in a very heavy case)

 

I take inspiration from montainmods, silverstone, caselabs etc.

I was a repeat customer of mountainmods/caselabs etc. but there where always some things that bugged me. (Sometimes quality, sometimes customer support)

You will be able to download the files for free from thingiverse.

Everything is drawn up by myself and i am in no way an expert.

 

XL ATX 90° tray 10PCI Slot case

- ultra simple

- no 5.25" bays

- no 3.5" bays

- 2 USB3 front header

- 1 USB-C header

- holds boards up to 345mm x 264mm (xl-atx)

- up to 10 pci slots

-40mm cable management space behind mb-tray

- up to 6x 180mm fans (ap181 etc)

-up to 1 540mm radiator (3*180mm)

- 2 psu mounting positions

- well ventilated

- silverstone ft-002 style board placement

- 3d printed connectors for panels

 

Radiator will be placed in the bottom of the case, fans will suck in fresh air from below and expell it at the top, taking advantage of the fact that heat rises

Dustfilters are in the design phase.

 

DWG/DXF/STL will be released when done

 

HTML 3D File

 

xl_atx_case.html

DXF Files: (tested)

2x_1mm-steel_xl_atx_case-case_side_1.dxf1x_1mm-steel_xl_atx_case-mb_tray.dxf1x_1mm-steel_xl_atx_case-case_top.dxf1x_1mm-steel_xl_atx_case-case_rear.dxf1x_1mm-steel_xl_atx_case-case_mb_tray_back.dxf1x_1mm-steel_xl_atx_case-case_bottom.dxf1x_1mm_steel_xl_atx_case-case_front.dxf

 

STL Files for feet and connectors

 

xl_atx_case-middle_connector.stlxl_atx_case-case_feet.stlxl_atx_case-edge_connector.stl

Images in Spoiler

Spoiler

 

unpainted prototype case

 

Spoiler

 

20 Liter mini ITX Case (WIP)

-mini ITX Formafactor

-20 Liter Volume

-up to 4* 140mm Rad

-150-160mm deep PSU

-Fits singleslot or 1.5 Slot Watercooled RTX 3090

 

 

 

Panel connectors

Edge and middle pieces

Image in spoiler

Spoiler

 

thingiverse link: HERE

 

Motherboard Standoff Hardware

These are toolless Motherboard Standoffs.

Use M4 heatset inserts and 8mm Standoffs

3d print "thumbnuts"

Spoiler

thingiverse link: HERE

xl_atx_case-case_bottom.dxf xl_atx_case-case_front.dxf xl_atx_case-case_mb_tray_back.dxf xl_atx_case-case_rear.dxf xl_atx_case-case_side_1.dxf xl_atx_case-case_side_2.dxf xl_atx_case-case_top.dxf xl_atx_case-mb_tray.dxf

 

 

 

[emosun]

flip it upside down and make the ports come out the bottom. nobody said the air has to exit via the rear I/O

 

[IPD]

That makes me thing of something.  I've never seen a PC with an IO plate that was inside the PC, and required a dedicated "grommet" or some kind of unobtrusive pass-through for the cables to route to before being plugged into the IO.  Might be cool.

[thrasher_565]

2 hours ago, finkn said:

Placeholder Post

 

Basic idea is:

-ship plans not cases, 3d print connectors and let your local machineshop manufacture your case out of 2mm steel/alu/cfk

 

XL ATX horizontal 10PCI Slot case

- ultra simple

- no 5.25" bays

- no 3.5" bays

- 2 USB3 front header

- 1 USB-C header

- holds boards up to 345mm x 264mm (xl-atx)

- up to 10 pci slots

-40mm cable management space behind mb-tray

- up to 6x 180mm fans (ap181 etc)

-up to 1 540mm radiator (3*180mm)

- 2 psu mounting positions

- well ventilated

- silverstone ft-002 style board placement

- 3d printed connectors for panels

 

more cases in the style of mountainmods etc will follow

 

DWG/DXF/STL will be released when done

 

sneakpeak of larger cases

 

 

mbtray will have a bend

this looks like a mountainmods case...

 

https://www.mountainmods.com/

[Blue4130]

2 hours ago, IPD said:

That makes me thing of something.  I've never seen a PC with an IO plate that was inside the PC, and required a dedicated "grommet" or some kind of unobtrusive pass-through for the cables to route to before being plugged into the IO.  Might be cool.

Corsair one, nzxt h1 mini, like that you mean? 

[IPD]

Sort of.  But I was thinking more of a full size case.

 

Another thought comes to mind.  What if the case could be an extension of the IO panel so it could function like a "dock"?  You'd need a proprietary monitor for the power & video hookups, and probably front IO for wired M/K, headset users.  But if you used all wireless, a dock like that could virtually eliminate all additional cables...

 

I mean, I know "all-in-1-pc" has been a thing for many years.  But those aren't upgradeable for the most part....

[finkn]

More stuff added.

 

Quote

flip it upside down and make the ports come out the bottom. nobody said the air has to exit via the rear I/O

IO is in this orientation, because it makes radiator placement simpler and allows the case to be run with aircoolers and blowertype gpu fans.

 

[thrasher_565]

i think there should be mounts to attach your own tempered glass. because i know people will want that...

 

i dont get the cube case what with all the space at the bottom what is it used for?

 

also imo having fans blowing in to the gpu and having the gpu exhaust air out is ideal i mean your building it why not make it better then whats on the market?

 

posable left side pc case as there not much on the market.

[finkn]

48 minutes ago, thrasher_565 said:

i think there should be mounts to attach your own tempered glass. because i know people will want that...

 

i dont get the cube case what with all the space at the bottom what is it used for?

 

also imo having fans blowing in to the gpu and having the gpu exhaust air out is ideal i mean your building it why not make it better then whats on the market?

 

posable left side pc case as there not much on the market.

regarding the tempered glass:

my goal is to design modular cases, that everyone can build/modify themself.

you want a window? just modify the sidepanel (i can add a window in CAD within 5 minutes and so can everyone else once the files are released)

fans in the wrong spot? just just place them somewhere else.

 

The Qube case works like this:

 

You mount 2 or more of these radiators (watercool mo-ra3 420pro or similar) in place of the windows/cutouts and install 9 180mm low rpm fans on the front of the case.

It may be an edge case, but there are still a decent number of people with nvlink rtx 3090 rigs on water or rigs with quadro cards etc. And if noone needs it, so be it, to have it is better than to need it.

 

regarding the leftsided case: everything is possible and over time i will add more ideas.

the case with the rotated 90° mb-tray is interchangeably usable as right or leftsided, just mount the front and backside different (back in front and front in back).

 

I will probably build one case over christmas, test it out and release it once i am happy with the result.

These cases will most likely never have the astetic/touch of LIAN LI, but they are opensource and you can build them just the way you like with local resources.

of course i am open to critique and wishes.

[PriitM]

Ok, I have a problem, Next gen GPUs seem to be real house heaters, so I would like to separate it from the rest of the system? 

 

How could I do it? 

 

(Already designed a case to face this problem, interested how would you tackle this problem)

[finkn]

12 minutes ago, PriitM said:

Ok, I have a problem, Next gen GPUs seem to be real house heaters, so I would like to separate it from the rest of the system? 

 

How could I do it? 

 

(Already designed a case to face this problem, interested how would you tackle this problem)

simple answer: more airflow, less restrictions, as long as we transport the hot air out of the case and provide fresh air there will be no problems, since radiant heat is not really a huge factor in pc hardware.

[suedseefrucht]

On 11/9/2021 at 2:50 AM, IPD said:

That makes me thing of something.  I've never seen a PC with an IO plate that was inside the PC, and required a dedicated "grommet" or some kind of unobtrusive pass-through for the cables to route to before being plugged into the IO.  Might be cool.

 

On 11/9/2021 at 5:33 AM, Blue4130 said:

Corsair one, nzxt h1 mini, like that you mean? 

Phanteks Evolv Shift 2

[finkn]

Edit:

Link to thingiverse edge connectors added.

 

First Case will be Lasercut within the next two weeks, first version will be steel, second will be aluminium and third will be cfk.

[Blue4130]

On 11/10/2021 at 5:29 PM, finkn said:

 

 

The Qube case works like this:

 

You mount 2 or more of these radiators (watercool mo-ra3 420pro or similar) in place of the windows/cutouts and install 9 180mm low rpm fans on the front of the case.

It may be an edge case, but there are still a decent number of people with nvlink rtx 3090 rigs on water or rigs with quadro cards etc. And if noone needs it, so be it, to have it is better than to need it.

 

 

Even with the mora rads, it will be a giant empty box. Use the space to add a 50L reservoir.

[thrasher_565]

10 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

Even with the mora rads, it will be a giant empty box. Use the space to add a 50L reservoir.

or a hamster...

[Bookmann]

Keep us posted.  Day-job is at a laser shop, and I've been contemplating a SFFed ATX along these lines for a while.  We've got a pile of 14ga (0.08") steel remnants in need of a project, haha.  

[finkn]

Edit: added feet, edge and center connectors to xl-atx case.

Case is now fully right/left sided, you can mount frontpanel in the rear and viceversa to achieve your desired case orientation.

Both sidepanels are now identical.

Mainboardtray is now redesigned with oval cable passages and final mountinghole positions (atx and xl-atx compatible).

Feet and connectors are now rounded over.

Export to stl/dxf/dwg will happen soon.

[finkn]

Edit: added html 3d file for xl-atx case and changed material thickness to 1mm

Edit: dxf files of 90° xl-atx case released, files are untested, first case is in production.

[Blue4130]

3 hours ago, finkn said:

Edit: added html 3d file for xl-atx case and changed material thickness to 1mm

Edit: dxf files of 90° xl-atx case released, files are untested, first case is in production.

Do the panels have any support bends? 1mm is pretty flimsy. My diy panel is 3mm and it flexes. 

[finkn]

Since the case is screwed together in many places, i am confident it will be rigid.

1mm Steel or 1mm Aluminium should hold up fine, thats why i am testing it with the first case.

[Bookmann]

On 11/23/2021 at 6:55 AM, Blue4130 said:

Do the panels have any support bends? 1mm is pretty flimsy. My diy panel is 3mm and it flexes. 

3mm what? Steel, Al, ply?

 

I'd love to figure out something light, rigid, affordable, and easy to work with to use for panels.  I guess everyone would like to find that magic material for everything though, haha.  

[Blue4130]

5 hours ago, Bookmann said:

3mm what? Steel, Al, ply?

 

I'd love to figure out something light, rigid, affordable, and easy to work with to use for panels.  I guess everyone would like to find that magic material for everything though, haha.  

I used 3mm steel. Heavy but easy to work with. In other projects I have used 1mm carbon fiber weave. If you want rigid, that is the way to go. Cost is high though. 

 

The key to rigidity though is in design. A flat sheet sucks. Add some design bends or roll the edges and rigidity goes up a fair bit. 

[finkn]

1mm steel case is done.

unpainted prototype case fits perfect.

panel connectors .v2 with heatset M4 brass inserts are currently printing.

 

open second spoiler in first post for more pictures

 

[thrasher_565]

5 hours ago, finkn said:

1mm steel case is done.

unpainted prototype case fits perfect.

panel connectors .v2 with heatset M4 brass inserts are currently printing.

 

open second spoiler in first post for more pictures

 

looks nice

[finkn]

added toolless mb standoff hardware