Phobya water-cooled case design thread - FINAL STAGE

got that right. I'm 16.

The competition is already dead.

 

@ Subtec

Injection moulded plastic will be out of the question for this exercise due to the massive cost of setting this up against the low volume of units made / sold.

However laser cut/cnc'd acrylic or derlin would be possible, maybe this could be how you adapt your design for manufacture.

@ ixmatal & Subtec

I believe you are looking at the competitions requests the wrong way. I'm not asking you to show us how the case goes together for the benefit of the case manufacturer as they will know how best to put it together im looking for you to show how it works, how it fits together any neat ideas like snowy's hard drive cage and any little details you want to showcase so the voters understand your design how it works what the key points are etc

The example of possible issues and way to go round them / edit the design is covered above.

What I’m trying to get you to do is show of your design in the best way to attract peoples attention to it get them to understand (some people will want to see how it works, fits together i.e how the front of robo's case has an exchangeable module etc) it and then vote for it.

 

My design calls for the entire front bezel (w/doors), the power/reset buttons, and the feet to be plastic with surface detailing. Machining delrin or acrylic isn't going to provide an acceptable finish (or cost/weight for that matter). All the major case manufacturers use this technique in the vast majority of their cases; it's not as if I'm suggesting something totally unreasonable.

The thing with molded plastic is, as I'm sure you know, once you've got the tooling done you can keep building them cheaply for practically as long as you want.

I'm wondering why Phobya is only planning for this to be a low volume product... that implies to me that they don't believe the winning design has the potential to sell in large quantity. Now, I'll grant that a performance water-cooling oriented case is a relatively small niche, but taking that into consideration I'm sure many of these designs can be adapted to appeal to a wider audience. I've shown in my design how it's possible to rotate the motherboard tray for an air-cooling optimized mode, for example. I could probably adapt it to provide more 5.25" bays, as well. Point is, maybe Phobya should consider actually, you know, working with the community to develop a case that lots of people would actually want to buy, and not just doing this as some publicity stunt or something.

I think I've shown pretty well right from the beginning how my design works from the user's perspective. I've shown the modular mounting system, the removable motherboard tray, the fan filter, etc. It's obvious where things like the hard drives go. No, I didn't design a fancy drive cage like SnowyOwl - I'd figure I'd leave that to the engineers to do. "Here's where the drives go, and about how far apart they should be and about how much space there is for the drive cage. They need some kind of mounting mechanism that allows them to slide in. It might be cool if they were hot-swappable, and with an external door." Those are the sort of suggestions I would expect to make.

When you asked for "exploded views," "overcoming issues to ease manufacture," and you point to Mick64's post showing all the individual parts as an example of what you're looking for, that does not imply to me that it is for the voter's benefit. The voters are going to be looking at shiny renders with perhaps a few shots showing some of the features/functionality (pretty much like what I've done). Aren't those exploded views you're asking for likely to change anyway?

How about I ask this directly: is what I've shown so far of my design sufficient? I mean, I've shown it about as "exploded" as it's going to get for the end user. Motherboard tray comes out, mounting plates can be moved/removed, but the chassis itself doesn't come apart for the end user. I can show shots of all sides, as I did in the first round. If that's not enough, then I don't know what you expect, besides Mick64's level of specific detail. Which, again, is something for engineers to figure out IMO.

 

@Subtec : TMM, everything was clear about the way your case work (you even detailed the 4 steps to change mobo orientation). This maybe only involves me, but you do not need much detailing. I tend to join what you say about mounting mechanism, and this is why I never showed how HHD bays, trays or anything else where mounted. I'm not a engineer in mechanics so I don't know what can / should be done (especially about tray rails that can hold hardware weight).

Maybe you could just add big flashy arrow to show in which direction removable / slidable elements can go. But that's is, IMO, the only thing I would add.

 

Ok I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on this but here is a quick animation of the interchangeable drive bays. (Sorry for the poor quality, Im working on that )

 

Nice project Roboduck. How radiators come this case??

 

very nice robo

 

one week left ... * counting down * ... : tic toc tic toc tic toc :

 

Ahhhhh! I have had NO time to work on this . Ill try to get more done the next few nights.

Sorry for the lack of progress.

 

snorring. snorr snorr snorr

 

here come the reinforcement

 

So, duuuuuuudes at Aquatuning, Bit tech and Phobya: How will the competition work? If the winner is chosen, what will happen next?

 

We will close this thread at midnight tonight and then the cases will be put up to public vote.

The case with the most votes will be forwarded to Phobya for production.

 

ready to vote

 

time check

 

Ah! Where did the time go?! I haven't had the time to do as much as I hoped, but I guess thats life.

Thanks again to Phobya/Aquatuning and Bit-Tech for hosting the competition! Its been a lot of fun and good luck to everyone who participated! I hope we eventually get to see all the designs in real life!

 

It Looks like i'm going to be the first to dive in!
Here goes nothing!

Black or White?
Dressed in a Classic flat black dress it looks conventional whit a modern twist.

Wheater you choose the black or white version BlackOwl is the last case you will ever need. It has all the space needed to set-up any kind of water cooling configuration you can think of, roof mounted, lower side, Twin 240 or 420 or 360, name it.....it can be done. Plus you get all the holes and cable attachement you need to do the cleanest cable management job you ever saw in your life!

In Black or white It's elegant and curvy shape will make your office look like your ten years in front of the competition when it's time to engineer the next ferrari or design a breath taking chopper!

Black Owl:
by SnowyOwl (David Labbé)

Specifications

Dimension:
- 585(L) x 230(W) x 545(H) mm

Drive bay:
- 3x 5.25 Front Drive bay.
- 5x Toolless hard drive bay.

Cooling :
- 3x 120mm top mount fan.
- 1x 120 or 140mm exhaust.
- 3x 140mm radiator or
4x 120mm radiator

Front I/O Port :
- USB 3.0 x2
- MIC x1
- Audio x1

Power Supply:
- 2x PS2 (ATX)

Motherboard:
- ATX or E-ATX or Mini ITX.

Cable Management:
- Sata cable rail.
- PS cable clip.


Special Feature::

- Complete cable management
- Tooless Hard Drive removable enclosure
- Elegant Curvy Design
- Lots of free space for different water cooling set-up
- All aluminium 4.8mm frame

- Sandy Brige Ready...ok not special but i did draw the asus p8p67Ws just in case.




















Thank you to every one involved in this competion it's been great fun and i hope we have the opportunity to contribute to a next design event on this forum.

Hands up for the great work done by Nitrix and Combatus & for their effort to bring to the pepeol a contest that was great.

Hope you all like it and may the best design win!

 

Wow, looks great snowy! Tough act to follow...

Oh well, here it goes (sorry for the lack of progress)

II By Roboduck

"II" was designed for extreme water cooling in a compact case. II offers a break from the traditional case design. With a removable radiator bay that offers versatility as well as easy disassembly for cleaning and installing. The tough industrial appearance backs up the simple but sturdy design. Loads of space and an enclosed drive/PSU bay make it easy to achieve a clean look without spending hours organizing cables.

Specifications

Type: ATX Full
Compatibility: Micro ATX / ATX
Case Material: Aluminum
Size (L x W x H):567mm x 243mm x 570mm (520mm W/O Bottom Foot)
5.25" Drive Bays: 3 (6 with optional radiator bay)
3.5" Drive Bays: 5
Fans: 2x 120mm/140mm Top (Optional External Radiator); 1x 120mm Rear; 1x 120mm 3.5" Drive Bay
Radiator Mounts: 2x 360mm/420mm Radiators (2x 240mm/280mm Radiators with optional radiator bay)
Features: Removable 3.5" Drive bay (with vibration dampeners)
Removable Radiator Bay
Front Slim Drive Bay
Black Anodized Finish
Simple Sturdy Design
Lots of Room for Cable Management
Tough Industrial Look

























Thanks again to all the Nitrix, Combatus, Bit-tech and Aquatuning. This has been a great learning experience and a great chance to get the community involved.

Good luck to all the competitors and I hope to see all the designs soon!

 

Great work there guys!

THE COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED

Combatus will arrange the voting to decide the winner in due course

 

Great work guys. It will be hard to pick only one.