Phobya water-cooled case design thread - FINAL STAGE

I'm entering this one, lets see how Sketchup copes with complex curves!

 

I have no time for this contest, but if you can lay a hand on it you should try CATIA for cars modeling :
Good luck in this contest ... on my side, I'm planing my 30's birthday gift : Caterham superlight R500 driving stage ... vroom vroom

 

I think it is -really- cool that members of the bit-tech community, and the modding community at large, are now stepping up to help lend a hand in bringing some of these designs to fruition.

How about a show of "hands" from those who are now working on building their design? Don't be shy! Even those from the first stage ( that is, if you are still following this thread )!

So far -

Confusis
GuileAcoustic
ixmatal

 

I'll start a thread when I'll be done with refining. I'm currently optimizing space use. This would be nice to see several, if not all, those case build. Maybe a MOTM only opened to designs from this contest

 

Well I'm not building mine, but I helped with the re-design of it to work with a fellow modder

 

I feel the need to say that no matter who wins this, you've all come up with case designs I'd be very happy to own and use, and you should be pretty damn proud.

You've managed to come up with what water-coolers want on your own, when the large case manufactures can't, and that's really impressive and a testament to the talent on these forums.

 

Hi Guys & Girls,

Firstly my apologies for the resent lack of input - As stated it has been one of those time where due to certian issues outside of my control I have been unable to keep tabs on this thread and this is not how I intended it to be.

I also believe clarification is in order as well on this part of the contest so here goes.

The is a design contest so as has been stated your primary goal is focus on the overall design / look / feel of the case. We do not need the exact material thickness / cost / weight etc of each individual part that will be used in the case.

We are more looking for you to explain your design to us in more details so we can see how your case fits together (an exploded view could be a good example) and show us how you are overcoming what you would class as possible issues with the cases or what slight changes you would make to make it easier to manufacture.

The requested information on machines we have available was delayed by the Chinese new year but we have chased the manufacturing plant for this list and we should have it shortly.

In the meantime please get this thread back on topic. Because of the issues we have had keeping the thread up to date we will be offering a slight extension of this section of 2-3 weeks. The exact date will be confirmed shortly.

As a guide look to have the following available for the closing date:

> A full 360 of the case i.e pictures of the front, back, sides, top, bottom
> An exploded diagram this could also focus on the more complex / unquie parts of tha case.
> A simple list of Materials used to make the case i.e "my case is made from black
powder coated steel and i decided to use rivets as the main fasteners etc.

Please see Mick64's post as this is pretty much what we are looking for. As it give is a clear insight in to how the case fits together.

 

Ive been insanely busy the past few weeks (and for the next few weeks) here is what Ive been able to accomplish so far.... A stripe!

JK

Ill post flat patterns and finished components when I get more than 5 min. to work in it.

I would appreciate an extended deadline, especially if it means we could get some feedback.

 

LOL nice stripe,

we need to see more of the internals for you case but tbh design wise your case is fairly easy to cut and fold

 

Nice stripe ... but I prefer white stripes (Ok it's an easy joke ).

Anyway, it's looking great. I think it's all about details now and a single line can make the difference

 

NEW CLOSING DATE FOR ALL DESIGNS WILL BE 11th April 2011

 

Thanks for this good news Nitrix. I can't wait to see the final pics. I'm kind of starving, I wan't new pics

 

Hey guys.

So it's become clear to me that my design isn't going to be "done right" (IMHO) without the development, engineering, and production expertise and resources of an established case manufacturer. Consequently, and in the interest of letting through other designs that have a chance of actually making it to production, I am withdrawing from the competition.

I want to thank Combatus, Nitrix, and Bit-Tech for allowing and facilitating this opportunity. I'd also like to thank the other participants for maintaining a generally positive and supportive atmosphere, and I wish you the best and good luck to those still in the running.

 

Hi Subtec,

I would ask you to reconsider as the case will be manufactured buy a reputable case manufacturer (details of which we cannot disclose) I can assure you the winning case design will be developed and engineered correctly but to do this we need to have a final winner to work on.

So far Phoyba have checked the designs and have told us that they can see no issues with any of the cases that would make them too hard to manufacture so from this stand point until we have a winner we are unable to make the sample, test it and evolve the case as would be needed to get a retail ready product.

However if you still feel you would like to withdraw then we wish you the best of luck with getting your case manufactured to your standards and would like to thank you for your input in the competition.

As a note for the other remaining contestants we have still yet to see your cases broken down in to the key parts as discussed in my last post and the due date is roughly 2 weeks away.

 

@subtec- just stick it out man. Id hate to see you drop out at this point. Either way I love your design and I hope to see it in one form or another in the future.


@Nitrix- Ill try and get a breakdown here soon. Ive been so busy with work and moving into my new place that I haven't had time to do anything.

 

... please reconsider your choice. Manufacturable or not, you have to make it 'til the end. At least for all those who didn't make it to final stage. Plus the hard work put in this case deserve to be evaluated .

I hope you will change your mind.

Just to mention it, I did start to work on the microATX revised version of my case. You can see the project log here : http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?p=2623731#post2623731

All advises are welcomed .

Good luck to all the finalists. Count on me to be mercy less in my advise, comment and vote

 

Okay, I'll try to spell out my issues and give you a chance to respond to them:

1. Custom injection molded plastic. I asked this early in this thread and got no specific response, however, it seems safe to say it's off the table since it was omitted from the list of manufacturing capabilities you gave.

I wanted my design to be at the level of a Silverstone, NZXT, In Win, or any of dozens of other companies' products. I really feel that the haptic qualities and design flexibility of plastic offers something that metal can't. Aluminum and steel are great, but not for everything. For structure and detailing, fine. But for buttons and more complex surfaces - not so much. Judicious use of a variety of materials can lend the finished product a real premium, professional feel.

Even if your "reputable case manufacturer" were Lian Li that might not be suitable since they rarely work with plastic.

I get it if it's out of the question for cost reasons. That's really something that should've been disclosed much sooner though. I designed it with a certain end result in mind, and I don't think the limitations on manufacturing you've outlined are going to allow that end result.

If you can't do it, that's fine. But it's a show-stopper for me as far as far as I'm concerned.


2. Engineering. I am not an engineer. I've reiterated that several times. I don't know exactly how to build my case - how to know if it's better, or even possible, one way or another. Issues of material strength, structural strength, and the different ways that metal can or can't be bent or cut. I don't know much about those things, and furthermore, I shouldn't have to. That would be up to people who actually know what they are doing.

You keep asking for us to show "how it goes together." I'm sorry, but again, if I'm a designer, that's not really my job, and I wouldn't do it particularly well if I tried. Instead, how I imagine it should go is that 1.) designer comes up with concept 2.) engineers look at concept and work out construction possibilities, identify areas that may be infeasible, offer solutions 3.) present modifications to designer to make adjustments to design as needed 4.) repeat 1-3. It's an iterative process. I figure out what it looks like/what it does, engineers figure out how it does it, we negotiate until we arrive at a compromise that works.

Someone (SnowyOwl IIRC) linked an article in the last round about companies holding open design competitions and it basically said the same thing as I just laid out: the typical approach is to take the best concepts and put them into development. It's not important that the concepts have much consideration for the engineering aspect, beyond some basic plausibility. All the development work is done by the company itself.

Now, my attitude and approach here may be all f-d up, and you and I may well not be on the same page with this whole thing. I have to remind myself that this is a community of hobbyists that essentially design stuff that they could build themselves, so it's understandable from that point of view that you would have an expectation that we would be able to show you "how it's built." That's fine, I guess, though it would have been nice to have had that clarified from the beginning.


I honestly haven't touched my design since last round, waiting to see if we'd get any real feedback here that would address some of my issues (which I have brought up). We haven't. I still have time to make some fancy renders for the next round of voting, but unless anything changes with regard to the two issues I've elaborated on here, I won't be doing that.


@Roboduck, GuilleAcoustic
Thanks for your support. I hope you guys can understand where I'm coming from.

 

I so do understand, I'd lie not to say so. I just can't help myself but to be sad. Hope you'll find your answers and that your case will come true, by a way or another.

I started the real monolith I had in mind, with only my personnal taste in mind. It will be made of wood and copper (but the design is still in progress). My concept it pretty simple compared to yours and those materials suite it well, but I understand that injected plastic is more suitable for your case (and also more expensible).

Feel free to make any input on my project log, but I warn you : I'm not a fast worker . Good luck for everything mate

 

subtec - I am very sorry to see you go, as I said before, in my opinion your design had the strongest styling in the group. However, I would have to say that I am on your side.

Now don't get me wrong, I am deeply grateful for the opportunity that was presented by the competition. However, I am now grateful that I am no longer a part of the competition.

Nitrix - your request for the competitors to provide a description on how the case fits together falls into a "gray" area between design and engineering, If the intent was to obtain a better feel for the competitors vision of the final product, then it is somewhat understandable although moot due to the number of pictures and diagrams that have been submitted.

However the next request

is blatantly asking for the competitors - who at the outset were identified as hobbyists - to perform an engineering analysis of their own designs. By definition, the competitors do not have the knowledge or training to do this.

And this last request

should never have made it as far as this forum. As referenced above the competitors are all hobbyists, some are teenagers not even out of high-school. What on earth would make you think that they would have any idea how to make something easier to manufacture?!