SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

[ZombiPL]

Sentry manufacturing process - weekly update

This week packages from 5th shipment were finally taken by transport companies. We sent almost all of them and could start assembling process of cases for 6th transport.

We sped up some things with accessory boxes for this transport and now they are ready. Tomorrow we will start screwing steel Sentry bodies and preparing everything for another packaging process.
 

 

We were usually sending one colour in each transport (alternately), but this one will be different. This time we have some Sentry cases in black colour, some in white, some black and some white double packs and also several mixed black+white packages. It means that logistics process will be a little bit more complicated. We will let you know how it went

Please also remember about sharing with us and with other backers an information about the condition of delivered packages. We are gathering this data to improve future shipments. Thank you.

[grantk]

I missed the indiegogo campaign. Any idea when this will be available for purchase or another round of backing?

[ZombiPL]

One of our indiegogo supporters wrote a nice article about rig building process in Sentry on a 3dnews.ru portal.



I couldn't find an english version of this site (originally it is written in russian), so i'll just paste a link with google translation:

[link]

[VikingGaming]

Mine's in the mail now, can't wait

[ZeZke]

My white Sentry arrived about 3 weeks ago and after some hardware struggles is up and running now.

 

 

First time I got a postcard from Poland!

 

[Freeks]

My Sentry build kinda spiraled out of control  The case taunted my bulky desk setup so I spent the last 3 months upgrading everything.

First I just wanted to replace my after market 970 with a blower style pascal based one, for better airflow and internal dust filters. Got a good deal for a reference 1080 on eBay but that's gonna be wasted on a 7 year old 60Hz TFT, so yesterday I got a good deal on a Samsung CF791 display unit with a more appropriate resolution and refresh rate.

I also built a new desk, replaced the giant AV amp and put my old 2 2TB drives in an external RAID chassis...

Thanks Zaber-Team you motivated me to spend ~1500€ on my new setup 

[dee haigi]

I found these cables for that close angle at KareonKables.Com

 

[Brammm]

My case arrived this week as well. Only "complaint": it arrived half way into a 6 day vacation. The GLS guy "hid" the box under a sheet of plastic road side, where it thus sat for 3 days. Luckily I'm the last house of a dead-end street and there's not a lot of traffic here. The box stayed mostly dry too. Case itself is in perfect condition. Now to get a PSU and new cooler and then transplant my rig. 

[ZombiPL]

Sentry manufacturing process - weekly update

We're in a half-way of assembling process of 6th transport Sentry cases. White units are almost finished (top covers need to be screwed) and at this moment we are working with black cases. By the end of this week we should start packaging process of all cases for this transport (6th out of 7).

Meanwhile we've noticed that last two weeks were also very busy for our supporters who already have their cases. We received many new photos with really nice builds and some of them we are showing below. We encourage everyone who still didn't send pictures of their new desk environment to post some photos in our forum topics or to send them directly to us, so we would be able to show them to other supporters. Many people need some motivation to start their PC assembling process, so you have a chance to help them

 

[Brammm]

Finished my build today, pic first:

 

 

Some thoughts I had during assembly/things I encountered:

 

 

• Reviews were right, there are a LOT of screws to open the case. I think it'd be better if the top cover would fold over the back and just have some screws there.
• Would be awesome if the bags the screws came in were labeled, would be much easier to find the screws you need.
• I couldn't get the bottom left screw of the motherboard in, the PSU plug was in the way. Luckily it was easy enough to disconnect and pull out a little bit.
• The bottom right screw hole of the PSU mount didn't line up with my Corsair. Was only off by like a millimeter, so some extra force got the screw in. 
• I couldn't mount the riser card properly without disconnecting the PSU plug again, or maybe I was being too careful. 
• I almost broke the USB3 socket on my motherboard. I was trying to bend the cable flat enough so the case would fit back on and the plastic broke and bent some pins. Luckily I was able to bend them back. Haven't tested the USB connectors yet, should probably do that
• Cable management is a pain. Custom, softer sleeving, would be really good in this case I think. 

Also, I think my stand came with only one locking screw  This is how I got it: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4UZ2iIc9xivN30xE3

 

I checked the packaging and the bags with screws, but couldn't find a second one...

[ZombiPL]

37 minutes ago, Brammm said:

Finished my build today, pic first:

 

 

Some thoughts I had during assembly/things I encountered:

 

 

• Reviews were right, there are a LOT of screws to open the case. I think it'd be better if the top cover would fold over the back and just have some screws there.
• Would be awesome if the bags the screws came in were labeled, would be much easier to find the screws you need.
• I couldn't get the bottom left screw of the motherboard in, the PSU plug was in the way. Luckily it was easy enough to disconnect and pull out a little bit.
• The bottom right screw hole of the PSU mount didn't line up with my Corsair. Was only off by like a millimeter, so some extra force got the screw in. 
• I couldn't mount the riser card properly without disconnecting the PSU plug again, or maybe I was being too careful. 
• I almost broke the USB3 socket on my motherboard. I was trying to bend the cable flat enough so the case would fit back on and the plastic broke and bent some pins. Luckily I was able to bend them back. Haven't tested the USB connectors yet, should probably do that
• Cable management is a pain. Custom, softer sleeving, would be really good in this case I think. 

Also, I think my stand came with only one locking screw  This is how I got it: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4UZ2iIc9xivN30xE3

 

I checked the packaging and the bags with screws, but couldn't find a second one...

Please send us an email (from the address you used on indiegogo) about this missing screw. We have to investigate how could this happen, because every stand goes through the hands of 3 people before we pack it into the accessory box. Also write some information in what shape your case was delivered. It is so weird that the only some packaging mistake can explain this. Please send your email to sentry@zaber.com.pl. Thanks.

[SaperPL]

5 hours ago, Brammm said:

Finished my build today, pic first:

Some thoughts I had during assembly/things I encountered:

 

• Reviews were right, there are a LOT of screws to open the case. I think it'd be better if the top cover would fold over the back and just have some screws there.
• Would be awesome if the bags the screws came in were labeled, would be much easier to find the screws you need.
• I couldn't get the bottom left screw of the motherboard in, the PSU plug was in the way. Luckily it was easy enough to disconnect and pull out a little bit.
• The bottom right screw hole of the PSU mount didn't line up with my Corsair. Was only off by like a millimeter, so some extra force got the screw in. 
• I couldn't mount the riser card properly without disconnecting the PSU plug again, or maybe I was being too careful. 
• I almost broke the USB3 socket on my motherboard. I was trying to bend the cable flat enough so the case would fit back on and the plastic broke and bent some pins. Luckily I was able to bend them back. Haven't tested the USB connectors yet, should probably do that
• Cable management is a pain. Custom, softer sleeving, would be really good in this case I think. 

Also, I think my stand came with only one locking screw  This is how I got it: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4UZ2iIc9xivN30xE3

 

I checked the packaging and the bags with screws, but couldn't find a second one...

The amount of screws required for the top cover is a pain, but without moulds for bending the cover and base it would be really hard to achieve required precision to match this type of cover to slide onto the base while screwing on the back. This is a restriction of small production such as ours. IT would be really nice though to overcome those limitations at some point.

 

The screws for the quad drive brackets are making this whole mess actually and it looks like not that much people are using those. Sorry for that, I hope it wasn't too big of a problem to figure out what you need to use.

 

While I get why you would want to remove the PSU cable for the 4th screw to mount some of the motherboards, I don't really get why you had to do it to install the riser. Riser should go inside from the side of GPU compartment and there are no obstruction from that side.

 

We also didn't had any problems with bending the USB cables to fit inside the case, but I agree that the USB 3.0 20pin connectors are pain to use, can't wait till we can use something newer in this baffle form factor.

 

As for cable management being a pain - ribbon cables are really stiff and thus standard, braided cables are more recommended, at least for our case.

 

Thanks for the photos and your feedback.

[Midnightblaze]

putting both my sentries in a Pelican 1550 silver case for bringing to and from campus.

plus going to strip and hydro dip one in This Hydrographic film. also where did you source your vandal switches from, when i replaced yours i noticed they were diffrent from any that I've seen.

 

Here's a photo the other one is still sealed in the box.

Edit: (notice the stack of stickers behind the pink power button, go to redbubble and after 10 small stickers they discount them by 50%, then wait till they have their pretty much weekly 20% off sitewide sale, that's where I get all my stickers, they have pretty much anything {although a lot of it is stolen from other online artists})

 

Asus Zenfone 3 Max camera is a total piece of Blin.

Edited August 4, 2017 by Midnightblaze

[Midnightblaze]

On 8/1/2017 at 1:05 PM, ZombiPL said:

Please send us an email (from the address you used on indiegogo) about this missing screw. We have to investigate how could this happen, because every stand goes through the hands of 3 people before we pack it into the accessory box. Also write some information in what shape your case was delivered. It is so weird that the only some packaging mistake can explain this. Please send your email to sentry@zaber.com.pl. Thanks.

Is that an asus b150 pro wifi gaming /aura I used the same board and had the exact same problem. I ended up cutting out the strain relief on the usb 3.0 cable and forced the header towards the cpu a bit. really scary.

[ZombiPL]

Sentry manufacturing process - weekly update

 

6th transport cases are already fully assembled and are waiting for filling customs documents. This week they will be sent and we will start manufacturing process of Sentry units for the last (7th) transport. It will consist mostly of Long Run orders which (as we wrote before) were also added to this First Batch.

Below some photos of 6th transport cases waiting to be shipped :
 

 

 

 

Next, 7th transport will be the biggest one and will consist of ~200 cases. We didn't want to split it, because some people would have to wait longer, so we decided we will send everything in one shipment. In a few days we will start locking your address information for this transport, so please check if you filled everything right. 

[ZombiPL]

Sentry manufacturing process - weekly update

6th transport sent. It was the most complicated of all transports we had before in terms of logistics. Luckily everything went fine and everyone whose cases were assigned for this shipment should already received a tracking information via email.
 

 

It's time for the 7th and the last transport from this First Batch. As we said before, it will be made with almost all of the "Long Run" orders, and with this shipment we will finish sending Sentry cases ordered during indiegogo campaign.
Manufacturing process has already begun:

As a bonus, just like every second weekend we are adding some of the photos we received from our backers showing their builds and also nice desks environments:
 

[Cody_53027]

I FINALLY received my Sentry. Yayyy!!! Thanks @ZombiPL

[farzher]

These cases sell for $450-$600 on ebay. If you're lucky enough to have one, you might want to consider selling it

 

[Cody_53027]

7 hours ago, farzher said:

These cases sell for $450-$600 on ebay. If you're lucky enough to have one, you might want to consider selling it

 

According to Indiegogo there were only 1100 case in the first round of Funding. We'll see, I waited a long time. I travel a lot but I like to take my gaming rig with me, so this is a perfect fit for me.

[ZombiPL]

Sentry manufacturing process - weekly update

We are in the middle of manufacturing last transport Sentry cases. It was a very busy week and we predict that the next two won't be easier.
 

We are receiving many questions about sending the tracking numbers. You ask, if we are preparing 7th transport, then why you still didn't receive your tracking number? The answer is simple: our transport company and we are sending tracking numbers after sending the package. We can't give you a tracking number before the package will be sent. It means, even if we are in the middle of assembling process of your case, you won't receive your shipping information until we will finish.
 

You also ask about building your pc inside Sentry. We found out that most of questions showed up because paper manual which we add with Sentry is just a short version of full instruction and it doesn't explain everything. You can find its extended version on our website and we also gave you a direct link in the paper manual. We also understand that we didn't write properly that this link leads to the better version of the instruction, and it is probably very confusing. We apologize for that. We will add it to the list of future improvements which must be made. If you still don't know what we are talking about, here is a link to the full, most up-to-date version of the Sentry manual:
 

-> SENTRY MANUAL- full version - link <-
 

One last topic. We noticed that many of transport companies don't update the tracking information, even if the package was delivered many weeks/months ago. We are asking our shipping company to ask their partners in your countries to update that information, but it takes very long. Because of that it also takes us very long to notice that some packages should already be delivered but they aren't. 10th week of waiting for delivery should be an alert for you that something is wrong with your transport. We are sending over 1000 packages so it is statistically possible that some cases could be damaged or lost. If you are worried about your package, please inform us about it. We will check if it is possible that this is just a delay or if this is a situation which we have to report to our shipping company or even start a warranty process with this company. We are also always very grateful for all the feedback which you decide to give us after the delivery process.

[ZombiPL]

Sentry manufacturing process - weekly update
 

Last transport Sentry cases are fully assembled, packaged into printed carton boxes and sealed with thermo-shrinkable foil. Next two weeks we will spend on filling customs documents and on packaging everything into external transport boxes. As it is the biggest shipping from which we had, it takes a little bit longer, but we predict that in 2 weeks we will start sending tracking numbers for those packages. 
 

During the whole shipping process we were/are gathering all the information we are receiving from your feedback that can make this product better. At the start we had only several external testers. Now we have hundreds of them/of you, so if you have some thoughts about the current design which could make Sentry better, please let us know. We are receiving hundreds of question about the start of the future retail sales, but we do not want to be like other companies and just start sales because the product is popular, while we know there are fields which could be improved. We will decide "how and when" we will start the distribution after we will be sure that we did everything to give you the best product. We want everyone to be happy with their Sentry and because of that the feedback we already received (and which we will receive) is so important for us. If you will have some time, please join one of our forums and share with us your thoughts about Sentry. It may help to move forward the whole project and maybe you will show us some spots which could be made better but we never even thought about them. Thank you!

This week we won't show bonus photos (received from our backers) with computers built in Sentry cases, because we are receiving them through many channels (email, twitter, imgur, reddit, etc.) and we simply didn't have time to properly check all of them. We will add another pack of those great builds to one of the next updates. It means, if you want to share photos of your RIG with other backers, you still have time to send them to us. We will pick the best ones and they will show up in the weekly update.

[ZombiPL]

Sentry manufacturing process - weekly update
 

This week everything went according to the plan. All cases were packed into transport boxes and currently we are preparing them for sending (stretch foil wrapping and customs/shipping paperwork). 

The packaging process didn't change much through those 7 shipments, and nothing exploded or was made differently, so another photo of towers made with identicaly looking boxes won't be so "exciting"... but let's just pretend

 

 

Like we promised in our last update, we gathered some photos which our backers published in many different places (forums, online galleries, twitter, articles, sent via emails, etc.) in the last 3 weeks, and we are posting them below. There will be probably one more, last update where we will insert photos from our supporters, so you still have a chance to show everybody how well you organized your PC inside your Sentry. We are also thinking about adding to our website an online gallery which will be made only with photos made by our backers. Not tomorrow or next week, but in a near future.
 

[Cody_53027]

@ZombiPL I have to admire your packaging. The thought and care that went into just that, WOW!. The craftsmanship is beautiful. I am waiting for Intel Coffee Lake to be released this fall so I can put a 6core Intel CPU in my sentry. My feedback would be that (1) 92mm or (1) 120mm option could be made in the far end of the GPU chamber when shorter PCBs are used. A 14/15mm thick fan would work perfect in this case. I might take to modding my case to allow for that and adding a piece of mesh for intake filter. For some purists this might ruin the clean aesthetic but this would make 95watt+ CPUs a little more plausible in this case.

 

I know it would be a headache but offering custom or at least less-common case colors even if it comes at a premium cost. Would be an awesome differentiation in the crowded PC case market. I might take to spraying a metallic blue over the powdercoat. I know others have done vinyl wrap though, haven't made my decision yet.

 

Keep up the good work!

-Cody

Case v1.1 serial #0358 

[ZombiPL]

1 hour ago, Cody_53027 said:

@ZombiPL I have to admire your packaging. The thought and care that went into just that, WOW!. The craftsmanship is beautiful. I am waiting for Intel Coffee Lake to be released this fall so I can put a 6core Intel CPU in my sentry. My feedback would be that (1) 92mm or (1) 120mm option could be made in the far end of the GPU chamber when shorter PCBs are used. A 14/15mm thick fan would work perfect in this case. I might take to modding my case to allow for that and adding a piece of mesh for intake filter. For some purists this might ruin the clean aesthetic but this would make 95watt+ CPUs a little more plausible in this case.

 

I know it would be a headache but offering custom or at least less-common case colors even if it comes at a premium cost. Would be an awesome differentiation in the crowded PC case market. I might take to spraying a metallic blue over the powdercoat. I know others have done vinyl wrap though, haven't made my decision yet.

 

Keep up the good work!

-Cody

Case v1.1 serial #0358 

 

Thanks for feedback! We will add your thoughts to the list of things we could or should improve. As you mentioned our packaging... we will have to change it in the future, because it takes us to much time. We know people like it very much, but for the retail sales or eventual next campaign we should improve it, because we found out that in the current design it slows our shipping.

 

When you'll finish your build, don't forget to send us some photos

[ZombiPL]

Sentry manufacturing process - weekly update

Finally paperwork for the biggest(!) and also the last, 7th shipment is finished and the packages are ready for transport. In the next few days we will send you your tracking numbers (when they will be activated). 
 

As you know, we are getting to the end of this campaign. Despite this, we are still asking you for your feedback. We are gathering all of your thoughts about possible improvements and we will use them to improve our design in the future. Thanks