Creating New Case

[JamesPCs]

Hi all,

I've been looking at many cases now and it always seems like each can never meet all of my needs so I've decided I want to design my own. I go to a technical school so I have access to SolidWorks, laser cutters/water jets/3d printers and (try to refrain from using b/c its for mostly research) CNC routers. I'm trying to make something that's like...an Aventum 3 case but with my own needs.

I was looking for some tips and advice like what materials I should use or where can I find measurements/cad files for motherboard trays or fan holes.

I'm thinking of using aluminum but not sure what thickness and maybe even thick acrylic. Case is going to accommodate big water loop, 2 pumps, 2 res, 2-360 rads, 1-480

Thanks!

P.S. if anyone has a TJ11/TJ07/SMA8 for sale, hit me up

 

[Koween]

I'm building my own case (have been for a while now) but most of my parts have been stamped/bent, some required manual work. Because of that, precision is not very good (sometimes around 1mm difference from the cad model). For motherboard mounting specs I just googled the ATX spec sheet - you will find all the data you need for motherboard mounts, rear I/O shield (including pci expansion slots), power supply mounts etc.
One thing to mention here might be the fact that you can buy premade motherboard trays with the I/O cutout and pci slots - it took me days to get this just right by myself. Accuracy needs to be nearly perfect in many ways - the distance of the mobo to the rear of the case, the angle of it, the height compared to the I/O shield cutout etc. Depends on the hardware you have - it may be easy, but I had to drill all the screw holes myself and the motherboard tray was very difficult to align properly.

For materials I'd use something like 3mm aluminium for outer panels and 2mm aluminium for inner. Depending on your design you could use 2mm alu for exterior panels - I used 3mm because the edges will be visible and the thicker panel looks nicer. Extra rigidity also helps, as all of my panels will be flat.
Because of a small mix-up I ended up getting 2mm steel interior parts except the mobo tray (thay one is 2mm alu) so it will weigh quite a bit, even though most panels have holes for rads and fans. Most info for fan hole spacing can be just googled for or you can even try googling for drawings for that specific rad/fan you have. I found that some radiators may use slightly different fan spacing. Aluminium can be anodized and that, depending on your location and the budget, could be a very good alternative to painting the whole thing (or at least the external panels) as anodized surfaces ar quite tought and look good.

If aluminium is too expensive 4mm plexi would be my second choice - be careful, though, as acrylic is quote brittle and, depending on price, polycarbonate would be better to work with. Mild steel is another option but would require good prep/paint to avoid rust and weight of it all would be quite substantial (roughly twice as much as all-aluminium).

You may find someything you need on grabcad.com library - I used some fan models from there to make visualisation easier for me in solidworks.

Google "model 01 diy pc case" fot a youtube video and some pictures - it is one of the best made diy pc cases (imo, ofc) and well documented - you might get ideas on how to design/manufacture something better or how to avoid issues.

P.S. Sorry for the wall of text

 

[JamesPCs]

Thanks for the info! I had actually run across your video, didn't know it was you but really awesome job. I still hovering between modding a case or building from scratch but this is great insight

 

[Koween]

Thanks for the info! I had actually run across your video, didn't know it was you but really awesome job. I still hovering between modding a case or building from scratch but this is great insight

Just to be clear - that is not my video. I did not make it nor the case. That video inspired me to build mine and gave good ideas on what to do and what not to do, but that is not my build.

With that out of the way - if you have a case that you like the look of and you know you can mod to fit the hardware you have - go that route. I would have done that, if I could. It's really a lot of work to design and build a case from scratch and it's taking a lot longer than I hoped (with work and other things interfering). You will need less materials, you will have a good foundation to build on and will be able to get a great result with less work than a scratch build.
Taking a good thing and modifying it to be better for you is easier than creating something great from scratch on the first try