Custom case

travm

[H]ard|Gawd
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Feb 26, 2016
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I'm considering manufacturing a custom case.
I may just do it for myself or open it up with a kick starter or something.
Any thoughts on enthusiast features that are not readily available in retail cases?
What would make you pay $200 for a case? I'm not talking SFF but a real case. Stainless steel or aluminum.
Fishing for ideas. I know it's going to be expensive (made in North America) but I'm curious if I can make it worth it. Please disregard cost for now, dream list ideas only.
 
Please disregard cost for now

How could we... :)

1) You mention 'proper' and made in the USA and "enthusiast" and "custom", but then say it's gonna cost around 200?
Have you even the slightest how many cases you'd have to sell for that kind of pricing to be profitable to you?

Lemme help: Even more than Corsair or Phanteks sells.

2) You mention steel, telling me you're most likely entirely clueless; got any idea how much it costs to get machinery for steel shaping? How much it costs to custom-make the tooling?

Lemme help: 7-9 digit figures. Yes, nine. As in 9.

That's after a number of things i'm leaving aside, the above suffice i think.

Stay away from Kickstarter please.
And (i'm not) sorry if this sounds offensive, but folks like you are why Kickstarter is now "just another scam" in most people's mind.
Dream as big as you want; but with your money.
 
How could we... :)

1) You mention 'proper' and made in the USA and "enthusiast" and "custom", but then say it's gonna cost around 200?
Have you even the slightest how many cases you'd have to sell for that kind of pricing to be profitable to you?

Lemme help: Even more than Corsair or Phanteks sells.

2) You mention steel, telling me you're most likely entirely clueless; got any idea how much it costs to get machinery for steel shaping? How much it costs to custom-make the tooling?

Lemme help: 7-9 digit figures. Yes, nine. As in 9.

That's after a number of things i'm leaving aside, the above suffice i think.

Stay away from Kickstarter please.
And (i'm not) sorry if this sounds offensive, but folks like you are why Kickstarter is now "just another scam" in most people's mind.
Dream as big as you want; but with your money.
The point isnt to be profitable.
1. I do this all the time. I have an idea.
2. Yes, i happen to know exactly how much this costs. This is actually something I do.

Also, i didnt say Made in USA, or Proper... so ???

I should add, don't assume I have no idea what i'm doing, because I'm on the internet. I'm actually not here to sell anything.

So contribute, or go back under your bridge.
 
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The point isnt to be profitable.
1. I do this all the time. I have an idea.
2. Yes, i happen to know exactly how much this costs. This is actually something I do.

Also, i didnt say Made in USA, or Proper... so ???

I should add, don't assume I have no idea what i'm doing, because I'm on the internet. I'm actually not here to sell anything.

So contribute, or go back under your bridge.

Pointing out that an idea is nothing more than a mental masturbation pipedream is contributing. Big ideas are great, but don't present one like an actual business proposal you expect to move forward on and request feedback for such.

edit: oops, just saw how old the thread is.
 
Pointing out that an idea is nothing more than a mental masturbation pipedream is contributing. Big ideas are great, but don't present one like an actual business proposal you expect to move forward on and request feedback for such.

edit: oops, just saw how old the thread is.
If you think that was a business proposal....

All I asked was what people considered premium features in an actual case. But that's ok, obviously it was trolling bait.
 
doing it right takes too much work and effort. With that said just about every computer I have built is in a custom case. most everything is hand made with $20 worth of acrylic and foamed pvc attached with either epoxy or hot glue.

the one pic I could find on this laptop has plenty of premium features ;) including...
thermoelectric chilling system controlled by a arduino to avoid condensation
a 120mm 4a server fan to push a stupid amount of air if needed.
literally 0 airflow and a basically completely watercooled computer on the pc side allowing me to refrigerate/dehumidify that side to avoid condensation
blue leds to make the computer faster
1500w worth of server powersupplys attached to the case to power everything


01313_ckoPFUDsO8i_1200x900.jpg
 
doing it right takes too much work and effort. With that said just about every computer I have built is in a custom case. most everything is hand made with $20 worth of acrylic and foamed pvc attached with either epoxy or hot glue.

the one pic I could find on this laptop has plenty of premium features ;) including...
thermoelectric chilling system controlled by a arduino to avoid condensation
a 120mm 4a server fan to push a stupid amount of air if needed.
literally 0 airflow and a basically completely watercooled computer on the pc side allowing me to refrigerate/dehumidify that side to avoid condensation
blue leds to make the computer faster
1500w worth of server powersupplys attached to the case to power everything


View attachment 87243

Yes, I understand this. I have years of experience building in metal (mostly steel, but aluminum is just like steel only different). Mostly things that cost many orders of magnitude more than a PC case. Hence the availability of the equipment.
The reason I even asked the question is i dont want to spend my time and effort only to end up with a heavy expensive version of an entry level case.

What exactly would one do to make a case more compatible with custom cooling solutions like this that doesn't involve designing the case around oddball components?

I do have some PIC's lying around from a failed development project that I could include to do something, but whats the something?
 
Yes, I understand this. I have years of experience building in metal (mostly steel, but aluminum is just like steel only different). Mostly things that cost many orders of magnitude more than a PC case. Hence the availability of the equipment.
The reason I even asked the question is i dont want to spend my time and effort only to end up with a heavy expensive version of an entry level case.

What exactly would one do to make a case more compatible with custom cooling solutions like this that doesn't involve designing the case around oddball components?

I do have some PIC's lying around from a failed development project that I could include to do something, but whats the something?

fans controlled by arduino or pi. the user could then add any basic circuts to the case.

very good air filtration. make dust never see the case again.

perhaps add water channles/ tubes directly into the case so no tubing work has to be done. it could be as simple as plug in a pump/ waterblock

if that was a option perhaps intagrate a radiator into the case itself. for example cut fins into the top/ sides and run water channles under them.

but for a sub zero build you really have to build a case for the build as they work best with the exact opisite of a normal pc. ie no airflow vs lots
 
fans controlled by arduino or pi. the user could then add any basic circuts to the case.

very good air filtration. make dust never see the case again.

perhaps add water channles/ tubes directly into the case so no tubing work has to be done. it could be as simple as plug in a pump/ waterblock

if that was a option perhaps intagrate a radiator into the case itself. for example cut fins into the top/ sides and run water channles under them.

but for a sub zero build you really have to build a case for the build as they work best with the exact opisite of a normal pc. ie no airflow vs lots
Omg, aluminum Case with integral water channels, the piping itself would help cool...
I've never been a fan of water-cooling, but that could be interesting.
Cutting or soldering fins to the case itself could be cost prohibitive, but definately a cool idea.
The integral channels I like a lot...

What exactly do you need a MCU to control for the fans? Isn't this functionality already built into the motherboard? Like I suppose you could be measuring humidity as well as temperature to prevent condensation? Algorithms to determine when someone is watching a movie and reduce fan speeds?
 
Omg, aluminum Case with integral water channels, the piping itself would help cool...
I've never been a fan of water-cooling, but that could be interesting.
Cutting or soldering fins to the case itself could be cost prohibitive, but definately a cool idea.
The integral channels I like a lot...

What exactly do you need a MCU to control for the fans? Isn't this functionality already built into the motherboard? Like I suppose you could be measuring humidity as well as temperature to prevent condensation? Algorithms to determine when someone is watching a movie and reduce fan speeds?

or perhaps intigrate a res intot he case for example a clear front panel with water in between it and another clear or metal sheet. you could also get some simi passive builds if the case acted well enough as a heatsink.

alot of cases have a fan controler to let the user control the fan directly. minus well step that up with an arduino and add additional functionality like say a knob to adjust the frequancy of the fans noise by increasing the speed of different fans in the case and decreasing the speed of others. or low frequancy pulses of the signal to make them sound differant
 
Those are solid thoughts. I immediately pictured a case with integrated fluid channels, a chain driven large bore low speed high flow pump. A little more extravegant than I was thinking, but I might knock some CAD out to see what that would look like.

Would love to hear other thoughts from other people.

Also the idea of integrating an MCU is novel, I always considered those things to be more accessory than part of the case. My fractal arc XL built in fan controller annoys me. I would prefer it wasn't there and I just used the mobo or bought my own controller that does what I want
 
Take it from someone with a vast amount of knowledge on this issue.

Its not easy and it won't be cheap. I sunk probably 35-50k dollars in design and work and still wasn't able to get a product to market.

Just because you think you can, doesn't mean you can. I was making pretty solid money doing side work back in those days too, but what I made
I put back into the project I wanted to get out there. So I ended up losing more than I made at the end of the day.

If you're in the mood to discuss things and you want some input on it, I'd be happy to chat with you.

But just be forewarned, it's gonna be a lot of money to mass produce it, and then you have the fact that Trump tariff changes made raw materials more
expensive.
 
Take it from someone with a vast amount of knowledge on this issue.

Its not easy and it won't be cheap. I sunk probably 35-50k dollars in design and work and still wasn't able to get a product to market.

Just because you think you can, doesn't mean you can. I was making pretty solid money doing side work back in those days too, but what I made
I put back into the project I wanted to get out there. So I ended up losing more than I made at the end of the day.

If you're in the mood to discuss things and you want some input on it, I'd be happy to chat with you.

But just be forewarned, it's gonna be a lot of money to mass produce it, and then you have the fact that Trump tariff changes made raw materials more
expensive.
Would never be "mass produced".

Raw materials are kicking my ass right now.
Don't need any "how-to" advice, but its discouraging the only features that got brought up were modularity. I guess there really isnt much value that can be added to a case beyond flashy lights and bulletproof glass. Someday i'll build one for myself I guess, but not until i get some inspiration.
 
I recently moved to an open-air chassis (Thermaltake Core P5) and couldn't be happier with the form factor. It's far easier up keep clean, shows off hardware like none other, and is fairly well built, but I feel like it's missing some things. Rear-mounted power supply, additional slot for another rad, integrated channels or pass through locations for water lines, materials a little better quality, etc. There are only a couple options for good looking open-air cases on the market right now, so it'd be nice to see a good looking "boutique" option.
 
I would love something justa little tiny bit bigger than an Ncase M1 so you could install an ATX board in it. I need a small portable case but I also want 2 PCIe slots.
 
I think one of the best things a PC can be is super neat and tidy. It doesn't need flashy lights or anything else. If you looks at builds that people really seem to like, they are clean first and foremost. I had this brilliant idea years ago of a modular power supply bar that provided connection points for very short cables. This was pre sata days so I was thinking something like a bar full of 4 pin moles connectors and the the ATX connector. Ultra finally came out with one, but it was ridiculously expensive. Unfortunately, the idea is more about power distribution that any real case design element.

But seriosuly you are realizing that other than premium materials, there is only so much you can do to a rectangle or square. It's about good airflow and supporting things like water cooling. If you can make those things easier (the hell I want to spend gobs of money and time re-saving cables and hiding wires) for the average person you may bring value.

The only other ideas I have is somehow proving the ability to take a single case and change shape (desktop to a cube?) and/or form factor (ATX case that can shed some parts/panels to shrink to ITX seamlessly). Or adding some extra parts to be able to pack multiple boards into a single space efficient case. This was done by someone who allowed you to stack modules to add cooling and things like that. I always wanted to be able to have multiple physical computers in a single desktop/tower case.
 
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