Hi everyone, It's been a while since I posted at bit-tech (still an avid reader though) because I couldn't show my face around much after failing to complete my previous worklog. My previous work - ANGEL Ideas for a new case has been brewing in my mind for a while and the final push to build one came when I saw the news on Cooler Master case mod competition here. Anyway, I'm posting my worklog here as well. I really hope to see some feedback. Thanks for reading! **WORKLOG START** I'm starting my worklog for the Cooler Master 2011 case mod competition. I've been working on it for about a month or so since knowing about the competition. I did a lot of fabrication previously and it sure was very tedious~! Some of the central theme of this build include Mini ITX form factor Full size PSU (up to 170mm depth) Full size GFX card (up to 320mm length) 2 x 140mm air intakes (filtered) Flexibility to use and material Lightweight! Slim optical drive (slot load) 3 x HDD space (3.5 and 2.5 inch types) As mentioned, I won't be doing a lot of the fabrication this time, instead I'll be focusing on the design. So how does it get made? 3D printing! I'm getting most of the parts made by what I called the Internet Factory. I send out designs that are separately made by various people from the Internet. If you think about it, it's almost like Ponoko except maybe a lot cheaper. The idea is also allow the use of radically different material from conventional cases. It will be made of out mostly plastics! Enough of words. Here are some pictures of my initial design idea. Example of transparent acrylic used. More exotic materials! Finally a layout sketch.
Update! I'm finally about 95% done with the drawings. Here is the final design! There was a lot of effort being made to ensure that the drawings are accurate and matches up perfectly. I ran into some problems with small alignments issue. Even though they were off by less than a millimeter, I made sure I correct them. And to conclude this update, I've received my first printed parts!! This is one of the part. This is the printed part!! I'm using Shapeways for printing. Thanks for viewing.
Where do you make those printed parts from? Is it plastic? Maybe I need similer service one day. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks guys! This whole thing needs to be done by 15th May so it's going to be happening pretty quickly. In fact, I'd have to start buying my parts next week. Sim lim square (if you know where I mean), here I come!
That's a nice looking case. I really like the logo, it looks awesome seeing it cut out of a part like it is.
Well, technically, I've been working on this for close to 2 months now? It's the drawing that's really time consuming. It's a nightmare when things go out of alignment. Heh. Thanks, I love my logo too. The cut out has a transparent piece for LED back light. More updates soon, sending out the last batch of files to be printed.
like your design, kind of reminds me of the wii though. i don't think anyone else has used 3d printing for a case build on here, so i'll be interested to see how it works out.
Thanks! I think I'm the first to do so too. Thanks! Anyway, some updates! I'm in the process of waiting for parts to be fabricated. Meanwhile, I'm doing some of my own fabrication. Because the case is rather unique, I couldn't find any suitable IO panel. So I'm making my own. I took a long time to source for the power button. It's a tactile button that has an LED. The LED will serve as a HDD activity LED. Some close up look of the assembly. This is the part of the case that will house the IO panel. Finally, a simple test/demo of the HDD LED using my current rig. It's really bright!
Logo reminds me of the Phili Flyers logo haha, How strong are your fabbed parts? I have a fair amount of experience with 3D printed parts, and in most cases I have only found the strength suitable for prototyping. If your using any advanced processes like 3D metal sintering though the parts can be amazingly detailed and incredibly strong for a 3D printed process. Any idea what material was used on your parts? Was it layered powder then baked? Or is the part in strands of plastic? Great progress man, look forward to seeing more
Damn... that's so sweet. Why haven't anybody told me about that shapeways before? That's some totally awesome new possibilities for designing and manufacturing some stuff. For miniITX-cases this would be totally cool, as you simply can create small enclosures including venting-holes, motherboard-standoffs, mountings etc all out of one single piece and just slap a cover-plate on it. Not too many restrictions for more complicated shapes there actually, aslong as they can be printed in layers. So I've got a question... How rigid is this stuff? Can it withstand some small force or will it break in an instance?
Sounds like you know what you are doing indeed! These part are done by SLS. IMO, it's very very tough. Much tougher than SLA or FDM. The material itself is supposedly similar to Nylon. How tough is this stuff? From my experience it boils down to how thick you are designing the material and how much structural support you are using. Factors like how much load does a particular feature need to take has to be consider. Thanks! More updates soon. Next up are the laser cut parts!
I guess that's strong enough then with a wall-thickness of 3-4mm and some little struts for support. Additionally, I'd still add some aluminum to the whole thing for shielding and grounding, but that are very easy to manufacture parts then, when the rest is done in this 3d-printing-method.
As in electrical grounding? Why bother? If the material is non-conductive you wouldn't have to worry. That's sweet that the parts came out well though man! Rigidity would have been my main concern but on a smaller case you probably wouldn't have to worry anyways, especially if its not stretched over a lot of area (i.e. a side panel or something). Looking forward to more progress and based on your time line it shouldn't be long!