FCase Chameleon <9L ITX Case

[FCase]

Good Day [H]ard,

I have been reading and commenting here for some time; enjoying all the beautiful submissions from your creative minds. Finally I am able to make my own contribution.

As we all know computers are industrial machines, therefore by association their cases are industrial designs. The goal of FCase is to push back the industrial and machine aspects and bring forward more of the design elements. I lean more toward simple lines, hidden fasteners and ports, and creative venting. To me nothing softens the hard edges of an industrial design like wood. Wood has the ability to interact with multiple materials and so is comfortable in any environment. So wood will be a prominent material in all my cases.

My first case is the Chameleon, a <9L case made from a 3pc frame and hard wood shell. Plans are to house 2x 2.5" drives, ITX GPU up to 192mm, and slot load blue ray player. PSU is SFX and cooling options are amphibious based around a 140mm case fan.

This is where I am so far. To do is countersink the holes, color the frame and shell, permanently bond the shell together, and mount the parts to verify fitment.

Enjoy,

Mal

 

[iFreilicht]

Hi! Good to see more ideas here!

First off, please resize pictures before posting them! If they are this large, it takes a long time for them to load, which makes it harder to read the thread.

So about the case: I guess the idea is that CPU cooling will be done by an AIO in the top, and the PSU will intake from the inside, right? I think this could work very nicely if the AIO intakes air from the top, so the PSU gets access to fresh and relatively cool air. I also like the idea of the wooden shell aesthetically. It would also make the case very sturdy if it was glued together to form a single piece that was just slid over and secured in the back like the OSMI does. A few people actually asked for a version of the OSMI with AIO support, so I guess there's at least some interest in a case like this. The design for the ODD mount is neat as well, maybe you could try to incorporate 2.5" mounts behind the motherboard as well? Looks like there's space for at least one drive there. USB ports at the top are a good idea as well.

What you might have to improve is the bottom intake and the stability of the back. Right now, you're heavily limiting the bottom intake with the two flanges you've got there I recognise those are for stability, but that surface isn't load bearing, and general increased stiffness can be obtained by having the flanges face upwards just as well. Design the metal enclosure to use all of the intake area the wooden shell provides. Not sure if that is enough, but it could suffice.
The back seems a little flimsy where the PSU is supposed to be mounted. It looks like you're using steel, so it might be fine, but PSUs are still heavy and especially SFX-L PSUs will exhibit a good amount of torque on that part of the case. Just getting rid of the one slot closest to the PSU will increase stiffness significantly already.

Oh and another thing I just noticed: If you rotated the top ventilation, you could extend it towards the edges so that a disc would be inserted through one of those slots into the ODD, making it very unobtrusive. Not sure how you'd integrate the USB ports into that, though.

 

[FCase]

Hi! Good to see more ideas here!

First off, please resize pictures before posting them! If they are this large, it takes a long time for them to load, which makes it harder to read the thread.

I lust linked them from my Imgur upload. I will figure out how to make them smaller for future posts.

So about the case: I guess the idea is that CPU cooling will be done by an AIO in the top, and the PSU will intake from the inside, right? I think this could work very nicely if the AIO intakes air from the top, so the PSU gets access to fresh and relatively cool air. I also like the idea of the wooden shell aesthetically. It would also make the case very sturdy if it was glued together to form a single piece that was just slid over and secured in the back like the OSMI does. A few people actually asked for a version of the OSMI with AIO support, so I guess there's at least some interest in a case like this. The design for the ODD mount is neat as well, maybe you could try to incorporate 2.5" mounts behind the motherboard as well? Looks like there's space for at least one drive there. USB ports at the top are a good idea as well.

The air flow will hopefully be positive pressure, incoming from top and bottom (via GPU) and be forced out the rear. The slots in the rear should double as mounts for up to 3 optional 40mm fans to help with cooling. I know how loud this can be so this is looking more like a low power TDP case on air alone. If using an AIO (which I took in consideration while designing) then a lower power TDP cpu should allow full water cooling for a quieter system.
As for the drives, only two are planned at this point. I wanted a case somewhat easy to build in, so I cut a big hole in the rear of MB tray for cpu mount and M2 access. Will see if there is room left for 3rd drive.

What you might have to improve is the bottom intake and the stability of the back. Right now, you're heavily limiting the bottom intake with the two flanges you've got there I recognise those are for stability, but that surface isn't load bearing, and general increased stiffness can be obtained by having the flanges face upwards just as well. Design the metal enclosure to use all of the intake area the wooden shell provides. Not sure if that is enough, but it could suffice.
The back seems a little flimsy where the PSU is supposed to be mounted. It looks like you're using steel, so it might be fine, but PSUs are still heavy and especially SFX-L PSUs will exhibit a good amount of torque on that part of the case. Just getting rid of the one slot closest to the PSU will increase stiffness significantly already.

I haven't shown you everything about the case yet. Gotta get it together first. GPU cooling will be more evident then. But you are right about the rear. You never know what you got until you get it off of a screen drawing and into your hands. Once I redesign the rear venting, I will see if I need to add internal PSU support.

Oh and another thing I just noticed: If you rotated the top ventilation, you could extend it towards the edges so that a disc would be inserted through one of those slots into the ODD, making it very unobtrusive. Not sure how you'd integrate the USB ports into that, though.

I'm not much of a photographer (apparent by the large pics) but if you look closely you will see the wood shell has one vent with a squared off end. That particular vent frames the USB ports and the slot of the Blue Ray drive. We will see if I measured enough times before I cut.

Thanks for the support,

Mal

 

[superblockio]

It looks like the Osmi

 

[iFreilicht]

I lust linked them from my Imgur upload.

Then it's super easy. Just add a lower case L to the end of the ID. instead of awefuhefh.jpg, use awefuhefhl.jpg, that will limit the width to 720px, IIRC.

 

[FCase]

It looks like the Osmi

Yeah, the layout is similar to Osmi. No way I could avoid the similarities especially since I wanted an optical drive. I looked at Osmi, Lian Li, and Jonsbo. I determined this was the best compromise between gamer and htpc case. Mine is slightly larger at 175 x 190 x 270.

Mal

 

[FCase]

Good News / Bad News / Good News

Good News:
All my measurements are perfect. Holes line up, and once assembled the steel case felt sturdy despite the long thin vents. As seen the small fan mounted nicely.

Bad News:
My fan mount and USB mount measurements are perfectly wrong. I goofed somewhere and they totally don't fit. The PCIE mount screw hole does not allow the GPU to align properly. It needs to slide over about 5mm. Also, my first fabricator only tapped the SSD holes properly. All the other holes were tapped too big for M3 if they were tapped at all. And the motherboard holes and PCIE mount holes I specifically asked to be tapped 6-32. They were tapped M3. This after keeping me waiting for two months and not powder coating the case like he said he would. So you can see my use of "Duct Tape Prototyping" to hold the screws in. But the case is nice and sturdy. I was tempted to install the shell, but I resisted. I will bond the shell over the weekend. All this means the money I was going to use to order the water cooling loop must be put toward the second prototype; pushing acquiring the loop back a bit.

Good News:
Because I was going to redesign the rear vents anyway I went and adjusted the measurements for the PCIE, fan, and USB mounts. I submitted the files to a new fabricator and I'm awaiting his quote. With the (old) parts installed you can see the space available for a 140mm fan and radiator. My plan is to install a Swiftech H140-X AIO. Looking at it, I may be able to mount an XSPC Ion Pump/Reservoir below the SSD if I forego the second drive. What do you guys think?

Mal

 

[FCase]

[H]ello again [H]ard,

While I was waiting for the new prototype, I went and permanently bonded the wood shell of Chameleon.

Turns out I had plenty of time too. Long story short, I ended up going with a fifth fabricator. The results appear well worth it though. This shop had a punch machine so no warpage cutting all the holes. And they were PEMSERT capable so all the required threaded holes are correct.

I purposely did not color the case to check all the fitment before I added the finish. Needless to say I am quite pleased.

There are still a couple more adjustments to make for final assembly. I am also waiting for a part quote that adds to the detailing of the case. The next update will highlight that feature.
Until then,

FCase

 

[FCase]

Spent Saturday going all "Inspector 12" on the Chameleon. Everything fits quite well. I'll let the pics speak for themselves:

Wierd to describe a SFF case as spacious. It should swallow a 45mm radiator easily. Not much in the way of "available" cable management though.

The last pic I tried to capture the available cooler height but failed misserably. Since I'm good at measuring, let's review the math instead:

• Width of case is 175mm (internally)
• Subtract 14mm for space behind MB for OD + 2mm for MB Tray metal thickness = 159mm
• Subtract 63.5mm for Height of PSU + 1mm for distance of PSU from edge of case = 94.5mm
• Subtract 8mm for standoffs + 10mm for distance from MB to top of CPU and you get:

76.5mm max cooler height. Plenty of room for a Thermaltake Engine. A tight squeeze for my planned Eisbaer Solo.
So the major construction of Chameleon is done. I've reached the end of the road for my old equipment. To do now is the finishing on the shell, all the little details to prepare for possible production, and get new equipment for a proper build. I've had my eye on an ASUS ROG B150I Pro, an Intel I3-6100, and Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB memory. But I may wait until ZEN drops and do an all AMD build. (May do BOTH). Either way I will replace my GTX 750 with an RX 480 and Alphacool waterblock.
Getting closer, but still a ways to go.

FCase

 

[Ca11idus]

Reminds me a lot of Lian Li's offerings just better placement of all the components.

Edit: I saw the planned Eisbaer Solo. I think the i3 option just took me by surprise.

Why are you building a case with amphibious based cooling yet not using said cooling? Case looks like it could handle some serious horsepower.

Love the case and can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[FCase]

Ca11idus thanks for your comment.

Watercooling IS planned and WAS planned for this case from its initial concept. Prototyping has used a major part of my funding. Once I'm sure there are no problems with assembly, I will acquire a water cooling loop for the Chameleon. Preferably an expandable AIO. I got excited when EK released their Predator 140 , but then sad when I noticed it is 3mm too big. I may do a redesign to accept those 3mm but its not financially possible right now in the middle of current prototyping because it would require a redesign of the frame as well as the shell.

Love the case and can't wait to see the finished product.

I'm glad you like it. I am working on some details to make the outside a little prettier.

FCase