CaseLabs is returning - what spare parts do you need right now?

[CaseLabs]

Hello everyone! 

 

About a year ago, news broke that CaseLabs have been bought and the new owner was set on taking up production again. After that, there has been real news regarding a comeback. We know that some of our fans have been itching for news regarding CaseLabs and what's going on. We are now proud to announce that we've come so far in our preparations that we will soon open up our store again. The launch is planned to happen in three stages. 

 

First we will launch our new website (www.caselabs.se) where yo can find information, updates and reach our customer support. This will also be where you can find our webshop in stage 2. The launch of our website is scheduled to happen on Thursday 17th of November edit: slight delay, website will be up in the coming days. You will also be able to sign up for a newsletter so you'll be notified when we launch or webshop and if we offer any discounts or deals in the future. 

 

Second, we will start up production and "soft-launch" our webshop. In the beinning we will offer hand-picked spare parts and this is where we need your help - What's the number one part you really really need right now? We're collecting answers over several platforms and you might have seen our post on Facebook, Reddit and other forums. We don't have an ETA on this just yet, it all depends on how the talk with our manufacturer goes but we're aiming for weeks rather than months. We've decided to go this route so we can test lead times, logistics, QC and much more before plunging into opening up the floodgates. 

 

Last but not least we will "hard-launch" the webshop, complete with the original line-up, spare parts, accessories and, hopefully, new products. We will update with more news on this when the time for the "hard-launch" draws near. 

 

We're always happy to interact with our past, present and future customers, fans and friends and will try to answer any questions you have regarding us coming back. 

Edited November 17, 2022 by CaseLabs

[manikyath]

just a curiousity - is the .se domain a 'styling feature' or does this imply caselabs is european based now?

[CaseLabs]

37 minutes ago, manikyath said:

just a curiousity - is the .se domain a 'styling feature' or does this imply caselabs is european based now?

Yes, CaseLabs is now based in Sweden and the manufacturing will take place in Sweden. This will most likely reduce the cost of acqurring a case for people living in Europe due to no import tax and hopefully lower shipping costs.

 

Because we're now based in Sweden, our North American customers will probably see a higer cost for acuirring a case because of taxes and higher shipping costs . We're discussing if we'll offer a compensation for that increased cost and if so, how that compensation will look like. Our ideal solution right now would be either a partnership or licensing deal to manufacture and sell our cases in North America. We're open for ideas if someone has them.  

[Sarra]

4 hours ago, CaseLabs said:

We're discussing if we'll offer a compensation for that increased cost and if so,

As long as it's better than Ikea Meatballs, I think you can figure something out...  

[thrasher_565]

is the cases aluminum? or will there be steel parts or case later on? i dont no what the price of aluminum is but seems that kinda was the problem in the first place of closing if i remember it.  they also had there own forms too. the problem with aluminum is no dust filter... thow with some upgrades you probably could add this like that in. the gen 2 of th10 was seeing some of them like 2x flex bays and different size rad mounts. they did offer a flat pack shipping option were you assemble the case your self but for w/e reason they didn't send it like that even thow i asked them too... thow a good manual would be needed. i have so many cases and how much i put in to my thermal take core 200 i probably wont get a case but you never no... anyway best of luck and ill keep and eye out.

 

 

Edited November 16, 2022 by thrasher_565

[CaseLabs]

On 11/15/2022 at 8:06 PM, Sarra said:

As long as it's better than Ikea Meatballs, I think you can figure something out...  

How about a Dalahäst and a $50 IKEA gift card?  

We actually have at thread open on reddit too on the watercooling subreddit (not sure if I'm allowed to link it) and got in touch with Sliger. Hopefully we can partner up with them and bring our cases to the North American market with their help.

On 11/16/2022 at 3:47 AM, thrasher_565 said:

is the cases aluminum? or will there be steel parts or case later on? i dont no what the price of aluminum is but seems that kinda was the problem in the first place of closing if i remember it.  they also had there own forms too. the problem with aluminum is no dust filter... thow with some upgrades you probably could add this like that in. the gen 2 of th10 was seeing some of them like 2x flex bays and different size rad mounts. they did offer a flat pack shipping option were you assemble the case your self but for w/e reason they didn't send it like that even thow i asked them too... thow a good manual would be needed. i have so many cases and how much i put in to my thermal take core 200 i probably wont get a case but you never no... anyway best of luck and ill keep and eye out.

 

 

 

The cases will be identical to the existing cases, that's to say that they will be manufactured from 2-3 mm thick aluminium depending on the part. We don't know for sure what caused CaseLabs to close down in the first place, but the Trump tariffs, a customer defaulting on a very large payment (CaseLabs had a parent company called Californa Fabrication Company) is the reason given. The cost for buildings, employees, machines etcetera probably also played a part in them going into bankruptcy. We will try to off-set those risks by going with a contract manufacturer that will only manufacture parts when we get an order until we are so big that we can bring the production under our roof again. 

 

Dust filters is something that we would like to update all our models with. That would probably happen after Q1 or Q2 of 2023. We're aiming to "hard-launch" our webshop, offering all our cases, parts and accesories again, in Q1 2023 but it all depends on when we get the ball running on our "soft-launch" and how smoothly that launch goes. We don't have any features planned for the new revisions, but lets just say that we aim for it to be like when the SMA8 became the SMA8-A.

 

We've talked about updating the manual, and that is something we'll look into later on. We'll also make all the manuals avaliable for download. Being from Sweden, we kinda like the IKEA manuals. If we update the assembly instructions we would probably want our instructions to resemble the IKEA instructions in some way. 

 

Thank you for your well-wishes, they mean the world to us!

[thrasher_565]

6 hours ago, CaseLabs said:

How about a Dalahäst and a $50 IKEA gift card?  

We actually have at thread open on reddit too on the watercooling subreddit (not sure if I'm allowed to link it) and got in touch with Sliger. Hopefully we can partner up with them and bring our cases to the North American market with their help.

The cases will be identical to the existing cases, that's to say that they will be manufactured from 2-3 mm thick aluminium depending on the part. We don't know for sure what caused CaseLabs to close down in the first place, but the Trump tariffs, a customer defaulting on a very large payment (CaseLabs had a parent company called Californa Fabrication Company) is the reason given. The cost for buildings, employees, machines etcetera probably also played a part in them going into bankruptcy. We will try to off-set those risks by going with a contract manufacturer that will only manufacture parts when we get an order until we are so big that we can bring the production under our roof again. 

 

Dust filters is something that we would like to update all our models with. That would probably happen after Q1 or Q2 of 2023. We're aiming to "hard-launch" our webshop, offering all our cases, parts and accesories again, in Q1 2023 but it all depends on when we get the ball running on our "soft-launch" and how smoothly that launch goes. We don't have any features planned for the new revisions, but lets just say that we aim for it to be like when the SMA8 became the SMA8-A.

 

We've talked about updating the manual, and that is something we'll look into later on. We'll also make all the manuals avaliable for download. Being from Sweden, we kinda like the IKEA manuals. If we update the assembly instructions we would probably want our instructions to resemble the IKEA instructions in some way. 

 

Thank you for your well-wishes, they mean the world to us!

hmm looks like they still sell the filters...still be nice to have built in filter or fine mesh.

 

https://www.demcifilter.com/demciflex-magnetic-dust-filter-for-caselabs-magnum-th10-dust-filter-kit

[ToboRobot]

Great news, I look forward to seeing your products available for purchase in Canada.  Maybe Linus can sell them through NCIX!

 

Any plans for a future NAS/Storage focused case?

Any plans to innovate the case space with Flat Pack customer assembled cases to minimize shipping volume/costs?

Will the EU cases be the high quality than offshore manufacturing partners, and if so will you still ship the good EU made cases globally?

Partnering with Sliger for the NA market sounds like a great plan.

Super excited to see the CaseLabs return!

 

[CaseLabs]

6 hours ago, ToboRobot said:

Great news, I look forward to seeing your products available for purchase in Canada.  Maybe Linus can sell them through NCIX!

 

Any plans for a future NAS/Storage focused case?

Any plans to innovate the case space with Flat Pack customer assembled cases to minimize shipping volume/costs?

Will the EU cases be the high quality than offshore manufacturing partners, and if so will you still ship the good EU made cases globally?

Partnering with Sliger for the NA market sounds like a great plan.

Super excited to see the CaseLabs return!

 

Thank you so much for your kind comment, it means the world to us! 

 

Yeah, that is something we could see ourselves developing when the time is right. There actually is blueprints for a rack mounted "case" if we've have read the parts list correctly. 

New cases would happen at the earliest like late 2023 or early 2024. Our current road map looks like this:

Phase 1: launch our website (this is were we're at right now) 

Phase 2: Soft-launch of our webshop where we offer selected parts (will probably happen in the following weeks, depends on how our discussion with our contract-manufacturer goes. 

Phase 3: Hard-launch of our website where we offer our full line-up of cases, all parts and accessories again (aiming for Q1 2023 but it depends on how smooth phase 2 goes). 

Phase 4: Update and overhaul of existing cases to add features/functionalities lile when the SMA8 became the SMA8-A. No ETA on this we want to start the work on this as soon as possible after phase 3.

Phase 5: New cases. We'll do a survey on what our fans, friends, and customers want and act accordingly. 

Phase 6: It's a secret right now.

 

We are welcoming anyone that wants to have an honest and open discussion about partnership for the North American market. If Linus thinks this is something he would like to get his hands into, we're more than happy to talk about it with him. 

 

All cases will ship flat-packed for the customer to assemble. We wouldn't want to stray too far from our IKEA-roots now, would we? We're looking at how we can improve the packaging from how it was before. 

 

Since we don't have a North American partner yet it is too soon to say anything about shipping from Europe to North America etcetera. We promise that whoever becomes our partner in North America will have to live up to our standards regarding quality. 

[andrewmp6]

I'm glad to see the company back up and running now.When you guys start up new cases look into sff and matx sizes.Those are what a lot of builds are today.

[CaseLabs]

On 11/18/2022 at 2:58 AM, thrasher_565 said:

hmm looks like they still sell the filters...still be nice to have built in filter or fine mesh.

 

https://www.demcifilter.com/demciflex-magnetic-dust-filter-for-caselabs-magnum-th10-dust-filter-kit

Must have missed your post. Seems like they are selling filters four most of our models. I agree that the dust filters should be integrated somehow and not an aftermarket solution. We can't speak about the mesh, but it is a balancing act trying to get good filtration while still getting good performance. 

12 hours ago, andrewmp6 said:

I'm glad to see the company back up and running now.When you guys start up new cases look into sff and matx sizes.Those are what a lot of builds are today.

Thank you so much. Yeah, we would probably do a SFF and mATX size, we would like to do something small to off-set all the big we have. In the end, it all depends on what our customers would want, we won't release something that isn't sought after by our fans and friends.

[andrewmp6]

6 hours ago, CaseLabs said:

Must have missed your post. Seems like they are selling filters four most of our models. I agree that the dust filters should be integrated somehow and not an aftermarket solution. We can't speak about the mesh, but it is a balancing act trying to get good filtration while still getting good performance. 

Thank you so much. Yeah, we would probably do a SFF and mATX size, we would like to do something small to off-set all the big we have. In the end, it all depends on what our customers would want, we won't release something that isn't sought after by our fans and friends.

What was the smaller case you guys had?It had the motherboard laying down flat ?

[CaseLabs]

On 11/22/2022 at 8:59 PM, andrewmp6 said:

What was the smaller case you guys had?It had the motherboard laying down flat ?

The Bullet series mounts the motherboard horinztonally. The BH2 is a mITX case, the BH4 is a mATX. and the BH8 is a EATX case. I think those are the smallest cases we have that mounts the motherboard horizontally. 

[fonzz1e]

1 hour ago, CaseLabs said:

we have that mounts the motherboard horizontally

s5 / s8 too

[CaseLabs]

11 hours ago, fonzz1e said:

s5 / s8 too

Yes, you're correct. The S3 also mounts the motherboard horizontally. But if we're talking about smaller cases, I don't think the S8 qualifies. I'm not even sure that the BH8, being EATX, would qualify as a "smaller case".

[Mrbloody369]

I could use:
1)adjustable grafic card support bar, that mounts from top to bottom
2)Mini Itx Motherboard top/under/side mount

3)Front power button panel with more up to date USB ports AKA C / USB 4.0 ext
4) top/bottom pedestal
5) SSD back tray

 

image.jpeg

[RevGAM]

On 12/12/2023 at 2:16 PM, Mrbloody369 said:

I could use:
1)adjustable grafic card support bar, that mounts from top to bottom
2)Mini Itx Motherboard top/under/side mount

3)Front power button panel with more up to date USB ports AKA C / USB 4.0 ext
4) top/bottom pedestal
5) SSD back tray

 

image.jpeg 12.51 MB · 0 downloads

Necromancy! You defiler of the dead!  

 

@CaseLabs what's the latest news?

 

Any plans for a fully modular case?

[Dubious]

Looks like they are bankrupt again. 

[CaseLabs]

On 12/13/2023 at 2:28 PM, RevGAM said:

Necromancy! You defiled of the dead!  

 

@CaseLabs what's the latest news?

 

Any plans for a fully modular case?

We're still working on bringing cases back. Right now we're converting our 2D sketches to 3D models so the manufacturing process (and future design process) will be easier. 
It takes a lot of time since I have a new job as a manager and basically working 7-18 Monday-Friday and don't have time/energy to convert the parts myself so I'm building up a small team that will help me with that. 

Edit: It depends on how you define "fully modular". I've have some ideas for new cases with a modular design. I've talked on Discord about being able to pick and choose between different set of heights, widths and lenghts, form factors etc and build your own (somewhat) unique case. But that is just an idea I have and our full focus is on bringing CaseLabs back to life first and foremost before we start developing new cases. 

On 12/13/2023 at 6:55 PM, Dubious said:

Looks like they are bankrupt again. 

That's not something I was aware of, but thanks to bringing it to my attention that we are bankrupt!

Edited December 27, 2023 by CaseLabs
Forgot to answer a question.

[ToboRobot]

The thread about Caselabs North was deleted, but I am curious to hear your thoughts on it.  

 

[RevGAM]

2 hours ago, CaseLabs said:

We're still working on bringing cases back. Right now we're converting our 2D sketches to 3D models so the manufacturing process (and future design process) will be easier. 
It takes a lot of time since I have a new job as a manager and basically working 7-18 Monday-Friday and don't have time/energy to convert the parts myself so I'm building up a small team that will help me with that. 

Edit: It depends on how you define "fully modular". I've have some ideas for new cases with a modular design. I've talked on Discord about being able to pick and choose between different set of heights, widths and lenghts, form factors etc and build your own (somewhat) unique case. But that is just an idea I have and our full focus is on bringing CaseLabs back to life first and foremost before we start developing new cases. 

That's not something I was aware of, but thanks to bringing it to my attention that we are bankrupt!

Glad to hear you're not bankrupt! Modular like InWin ModFree or others that give a lot of control of layout. 

[CaseLabs]

On 12/27/2023 at 5:58 PM, ToboRobot said:

The thread about Caselabs North was deleted, but I am curious to hear your thoughts on it.  

 

That's of course nothing we support and we've told the individual to stop. It is hard to send a physical cease and desist letter to someone that we do not have an identity/physical address of. 

 

Other than that I do not wish to discuss it further to not derail the thread. 

On 12/27/2023 at 7:17 PM, RevGAM said:

Glad to hear you're not bankrupt! Modular like InWin ModFree or others that give a lot of control of layout. 

Hard to go bankrupt when you do not have any expenses.

We have $25k in funding (if we assume that a dollar is 10 Swedish krona) and have another $25k in future funding avaliable. We also are in talks with other investors for a chunk of the company for $100k. So money isn't the issue, time is. I'm trying to do stuff myself to keep costs down but I've recently been promoted at work an basically work between 7 in the morning to 6 in the afternoon each day. To that you can add that I'm renovating my home, studying (courses in business economics, administration etc) and I don't have much free time to work on the company. 

 

Another thing that takes time is that we've decided to broaden our scope somewhat. The drawings/"blueprints" for the parts are in 2D and we were okay with just defining were to bend the parts in that 2D sketch. But that makes redesigning cases a bit harder since every part is one file, so we have about 1250-1300 files iirc. We've now opted to rework them from 2D sketches to 3D models of our cases and I started doing that before I got promoted at work. Now I need to hire someone to do that for me because I simply do not have time for it anymore. 

 

Not all 1250-1300 parts are going to be converted in the first round. We're just picking the parts that has a high demand, after that we are converting the rest of the parts. 

 

So that's where we at right now. Had a productive meeting last Thursday with some business developers that will out me in touch with a company that can help me convert all the parts so things are progressing.

[RevGAM]

2 hours ago, CaseLabs said:

That's of course nothing we support and we've told the individual to stop. It is hard to send a physical cease and desist letter to someone that we do not have an identity/physical address of. 

 

Other than that I do not wish to discuss it further to not derail the thread. 

Hard to go bankrupt when you do not have any expenses.

We have $25k in funding (if we assume that a dollar is 10 Swedish krona) and have another $25k in future funding avaliable. We also are in talks with other investors for a chunk of the company for $100k. So money isn't the issue, time is. I'm trying to do stuff myself to keep costs down but I've recently been promoted at work an basically work between 7 in the morning to 6 in the afternoon each day. To that you can add that I'm renovating my home, studying (courses in business economics, administration etc) and I don't have much free time to work on the company. 

 

Another thing that takes time is that we've decided to broaden our scope somewhat. The drawings/"blueprints" for the parts are in 2D and we were okay with just defining were to bend the parts in that 2D sketch. But that makes redesigning cases a bit harder since every part is one file, so we have about 1250-1300 files iirc. We've now opted to rework them from 2D sketches to 3D models of our cases and I started doing that before I got promoted at work. Now I need to hire someone to do that for me because I simply do not have time for it anymore. 

 

Not all 1250-1300 parts are going to be converted in the first round. We're just picking the parts that has a high demand, after that we are converting the rest of the parts. 

 

So that's where we at right now. Had a productive meeting last Thursday with some business developers that will out me in touch with a company that can help me convert all the parts so things are progressing.

Fantastic! I wish you success!

[DoctorNick]

3 hours ago, CaseLabs said:

That's of course nothing we support and we've told the individual to stop. It is hard to send a physical cease and desist letter to someone that we do not have an identity/physical address of. 

 

Other than that I do not wish to discuss it further to not derail the thread. 

Hard to go bankrupt when you do not have any expenses.

We have $25k in funding (if we assume that a dollar is 10 Swedish krona) and have another $25k in future funding avaliable. We also are in talks with other investors for a chunk of the company for $100k. So money isn't the issue, time is. I'm trying to do stuff myself to keep costs down but I've recently been promoted at work an basically work between 7 in the morning to 6 in the afternoon each day. To that you can add that I'm renovating my home, studying (courses in business economics, administration etc) and I don't have much free time to work on the company. 

 

Another thing that takes time is that we've decided to broaden our scope somewhat. The drawings/"blueprints" for the parts are in 2D and we were okay with just defining were to bend the parts in that 2D sketch. But that makes redesigning cases a bit harder since every part is one file, so we have about 1250-1300 files iirc. We've now opted to rework them from 2D sketches to 3D models of our cases and I started doing that before I got promoted at work. Now I need to hire someone to do that for me because I simply do not have time for it anymore. 

 

Not all 1250-1300 parts are going to be converted in the first round. We're just picking the parts that has a high demand, after that we are converting the rest of the parts. 

 

So that's where we at right now. Had a productive meeting last Thursday with some business developers that will out me in touch with a company that can help me convert all the parts so things are progressing.

I'll be keeping an eye for your cases in the future! Really hope to see something from you again, always liked Caselabs but was too pricey. Now with the new location I might have a better shot.  Happy new year and best of luck with the business!

[CaseLabs]

42 minutes ago, DoctorNick said:

I'll be keeping an eye for your cases in the future! Really hope to see something from you again, always liked Caselabs but was too pricey. Now with the new location I might have a better shot.  Happy new year and best of luck with the business!

Sadly they might still be a bit pricey even with the move, but we are discussing ways to lower the manufacturing costs and in extension the cost of our products. 

2 hours ago, RevGAM said:

Fantastic! I wish you success!

Thank you so much!