Making and selling a case

[Somerandomtechyboi]

23 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

It has the same issue with screws splitting when screwed on edge. It's really not ideal. Use real wood if you plan on using screws to assemble. 

Real wood is expensive and same goes for metal, anything cheaper than aluminum cause i also had a look at iron

 

Any drawbacks of mdf that plywood doesnt have?

Any drawbacks of plywood that mdf doesnt have?

[Blue4130]

2 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Real wood is expensive and same goes for metal, anything cheaper than aluminum cause i also had a look at iron

 

Any drawbacks of mdf that plywood doesnt have?

Any drawbacks of plywood that mdf doesnt have?

Now you see the reason why cases made from mdf and plywood are not a thing... It may be cheap, but it's not suited for the task really. It can be done, but you need special fasteners. Look at ikea furniture. It's made from MDF and chip board, but it uses camlocks and inserts.

 

At the scale that you are going to be building and selling at, it's not really economical. You would be much better off to do a one-off custom case and sell it as a case mod (assuming you have the skills to do so)

[Somerandomtechyboi]

12 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Now you see the reason why cases made from mdf and plywood are not a thing... It may be cheap, but it's not suited for the task really. It can be done, but you need special fasteners. Look at ikea furniture. It's made from MDF and chip board, but it uses camlocks and inserts.

 

At the scale that you are going to be building and selling at, it's not really economical. You would be much better off to do a one-off custom case and sell it as a case mod (assuming you have the skills to do so)

Plywood is harder and cheaper, since its harder and even used for building id assume that itll be fine with screws but would there be any other issues with it? 

[Blue4130]

1 hour ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Plywood is harder and cheaper, since its harder and even used for building id assume that itll be fine with screws but would there be any other issues with it? 

Plywood can take screws on the broad side. On edge, it does not work well. If you insist on using these types of woods, you need to use biscuits or dowels and lots of glue.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

6 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

Plywood can take screws on the broad side. On edge, it does not work well. If you insist on using these types of woods, you need to use biscuits or dowels and lots of glue.

Actually ive been ignoring plastic for awhile but this video seems to have executed making a case out of plywood pretty well but the internals use plastic with the wood being a shell

Could i use plastic to make the entire case? Or atleast abit of plastic inside the case

 

I havent found anything cheap yet, cheapest is 122 x 244 3mm pvc at 11$, any cheaper plastics?

[Blue4130]

24 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Actually ive been ignoring plastic for awhile but this video seems to have executed making a case out of plywood pretty well but the internals use plastic with the wood being a shell

Could i use plastic to make the entire case? Or atleast abit of plastic inside the case

 

I havent found anything cheap yet, cheapest is 122 x 244 3mm pvc at 11$, any cheaper plastics?

Do ypu have a 3d printer?

 

I honestly think you are jumping the gun by trying to get a business going at this stage. Build a prototype and share it here. Learn what you are doing and see if you can actually make a useable case. Full wood is possible (I say this sitting in front of a wood cased server) but it is not something that is exactly in demand or sellable.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

2 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

Do ypu have a 3d printer?

Nope

 

2 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

Build a prototype and share it here. Learn what you are doing and see if you can actually make a useable case

I think ill just reuse my mosquito mesh for now and buy mdf and all the extra materials and tools and sht that i need, since my case is modular i can swap garbage parts out and keep reiterating them till i get a decent case

 

My plan is just make it 50x50x30cm, support ssi eeb, support 10 120/140mm fans, be modular, have tons of features incl special/rare features from me and the o11, and do all that for 30$ so i can compete with the 66$ tr8000

 

Now i just wanna know which is superior mdf vs plywood and what thiccness i should go for, atm i wanna use 6mm but do i need thiccer?

[Blue4130]

3 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Nope

 

I think ill just reuse my mosquito mesh for now and buy mdf and all the extra materials and tools and sht that i need, since my case is modular i can swap garbage parts out and keep reiterating them till i get a decent case

 

My plan is just make it 50x50x30cm, support ssi eeb, support 10 120/140mm fans, be modular, have tons of features incl special/rare features from me and the o11, and do all that for 30$ so i can compete with the 66$ tr8000

 

Now i just wanna know which is superior mdf vs plywood and what thiccness i should go for, atm i wanna use 6mm but do i need thiccer?

10mm at least. After buying all the hardware, I think you'll see that $30 isn't really enough. The reason why they can make a case and sell it at $66 is because they make so many.

 

Like I said, start with a prototype. Show people that you can actually make a case (or learn that you can't)

[Somerandomtechyboi]

2 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

10mm at least

My idea is to just connect the wood directly to each other without any brackets but would using metal brackets instead of directly connecting the wood allow me to use thinner wood? Even if not would it still be any better than directly connecting the wood together?

 

2 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

After buying all the hardware, I think you'll see that $30 isn't really enough

Its just a bloody school project ofc im not expecting big $, just want something to sell to get some money and get good score

 

If they do sell like hot cakes then maybe powertools will help make it more economical

[freeagent]

Make open bench tables 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

3 hours ago, freeagent said:

Make open bench tables 

As stupid as that sounds its not a bad idea since testbenches are literally just the main panel of the case + rear panel with some supports theyre like >2$ to build with just wood and cause of how simple it is labor shouldnt be too bad (aka time it takes to build)

 

Actually a very interesting idea, yk what considering the only base material is just wood and its literally just the main panel + rear panel, i think i should start out with making a testbench rather than going straight to making an o11d copy since testbenches are dirt cheap to make and very simple so if i screw up theres literally nothing to lose, the competition are all preorders and theres only 1 that manages to sell at 24$ so if i can undercut them by half and make my testbench instantly available i might be able to get some sales

[HM-2]

You really need to commit to one project at a time rather than doing 10% of 10 different things. 

[tkitch]

I'm gonna rain on your parade here and say:  This is a really stupid idea.

 

You're walking into something and saying "I have an idea, and I'ma make it a business!" when as far as I can tell, you haven't done the thing yet even once?

 

If you want to do the thing?  It's far from impossible, but you should REALLY REALLY do the thing at least twice before you decide "I wanna make this a business!"

 

btw:  A lot of the "fit and finish" details of making a case cost more than you think.  buttons, leds, usb ports, PCI Slots, etc.  are challenging and not entirely cheap to get going, at least if you want ones that look "nice"

 

Source:  I built a case out off styrene sheet, and I'm building a second out of wood right now.

[PiEye]

Ditch the MDF, plywood or any type of wood from the project, just make an acrylic box with premade aluminum or steel bezels/corners. If the scope of the school project covers it, you could also adapt old HP or Dell cases to standard ATX, these have good quality but unfortunately are proprietary. Recycling is a good thing too.

 

I'm impressed with how harsh some comments are. He's doing a school project, he isn't going to compete with major case manufacturers, for christ sake.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

22 minutes ago, PiEye said:

I'm impressed with how harsh some comments are. He's doing a school project, he isn't going to compete with major case manufacturers, for christ sake.

I did say i was gonna attempt to compete if i somehow manage to sell a bunch

 

i think ill make a testbench first for 10$ and then try an o11d copy, if that doesnt work then ill have to try a more original idea than just a stupid o11d copy

 

26 minutes ago, PiEye said:

Ditch the MDF, plywood or any type of wood from the project, just make an acrylic box with premade aluminum or steel bezels/corners

Plastics too expensive, will only be economical for smaller cases, cheapest ive found is pvc but thats still 10$ for only 2mm thicc 122 x 244 cm sheet

[Blue4130]

2 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

I did say i was gonna attempt to compete if i somehow manage to sell a bunch

 

i think ill make a testbench first for 10$ and then try an o11d copy, if that doesnt work then ill have to try a more original idea than just a stupid o11d copy

 

Plastics too expensive, will only be economical for smaller cases, cheapest ive found is pvc but thats still 10$ for only 2mm thicc 122 x 244 cm sheet

Don't set your sell price until you finish building some. See how much material and time you use. Time is important. Don't work for free. 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

5 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Don't set your sell price until you finish building some

Its not a set price but pricerange im aiming for

5 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Time is important. Don't work for free. 

Pretty sure this will be the main cost killer but if im starting out with something as basic as a testbenchi dont think thatll take too long to build other than the first (few) try when im still figuring out how to build the damn thing

 

 

Itx is also an interesting prospect but markets already flooded for that one, though maybe i can make a really compact case for matx and itx, specifically focusing on matx cause not many tiny cases that accomodate matx and thats a pretty popular form factor cause cheap, i can also use materials other than wood since its gonna be only as large as the board itself anyways so cheap to make

[PiEye]

14 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Plastics too expensive, will only be economical for smaller cases, cheapest ive found is pvc but thats still 10$ for only 2mm thicc 122 x 244 cm sheet

 

Then make it as small as possible to accomodate mATX or ITX motherboards. It's the smartest thing to do, since people pay premium for SFF builds. It's a niche market, but it's also convenient in order to produce low quantities in a DIY manner.

[Blue4130]

4 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Its not a set price but pricerange im aiming for

Pretty sure this will be the main cost killer but if im starting out with something as basic as a testbenchi dont think thatll take too long to build other than the first (few) try when im still figuring out how to build the damn thing

 

 

Itx is also an interesting prospect but markets already flooded for that one, though maybe i can make a really compact case for matx and itx, specifically focusing on matx cause not many tiny cases that accomodate matx and thats a pretty popular form factor cause cheap, i can also use materials other than wood since its gonna be only as large as the board itself anyways so cheap to make

This is your selling point. I am an matx user and I would love a smaller case, but they are so niche. Almost nobody makes a good matx case. 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

1 minute ago, Blue4130 said:

This is your selling point. I am an matx user and I would love a smaller case, but they are so niche. Almost nobody makes a good matx case. 

Guess its now testbench or tiny microatx case as a starting point

 

Though do ppl that buy these tiny matx cases care about using a dgpu? Cause if not i can just fit the case size to the board

[PriitM]

I went through 3 iterations with my wooden box before getting a decent result. PC parts are mounted on a salvaged ATX mobo tray. 

 

1st case: 8mm or 3/8" MDF, glued. Basically a modern front intake case with 3x120mm and 1x120+PSU exhaust. Failed because MDF has low specific stiffness, thus amplifying vibrations (could discern several component resonance). Plus, gluing was too much of a pain to do. Also looked ugly
2nd case: 12mm or 1/2" Baltic birch ply, joined with cabinet braces. 1x200mm exhaust fan, internal volume expanded to test 1"/25mm PUR foam sound dampening. Failed: internal volume way too big, accidentally hit a resonance somehow(one consistent frequency). PUR foam did nothing to dampen sound. Also, as a heat reflector, increased internal temps by 5 deg. (confirmed with removal)
3rd case (current use). 12mm or 1/2" baltic birch ply. Minimum internal volume, 1x200mm exhaust fan. No resonant frequencies. 200mm fan shifts internal volume worth of air in 1-2 seconds. 
Future plans: When I buy new GPU, will re-design airflow with 2x200mm fans. No reason other than distributing flow path. Right now, there is a dangerous hot spot of dead air where M.2 ssd is... Also, will try an exotic position for the GPU to battle the increased power draw and heat dump

There are a lot of other factors considered in the designs but as experience on what works, this could help you out a lot.