Scratch Build – In Progress [Completed]Node - 3D Printed Case

​

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwBgBR0P698

^^^Check out the preview video! ^^^


SEE FINAL IMAGES HERE!


Sponsors:



https://www.hexagonpc.com/



http://bitspowerwork.com/

Introduction and Concept


Hi Everyone,


This is my first post here, so I thought I would start off with a project I'm currently working on and have been for the past few months. The basic idea of this was to use 3D printing to create a case from scratch. The original version was a full scale, full tower. After getting some of the parts printed I started to find that there were some flaws with the plan, so I scrapped it and started from scratch. the new plan was to make this a robust and semi portable system that I can travel with to and from LAN parties.


Also to clear up some confusion that people have had in the past, the majority of this case will be 3D printed, all of the frame will be 3D printed while the rest will be made out of metal, acrylic/plexi, etc. Things like the motherboad tray, for example, will be made out of a aluminum/acrylic. Hope that clears this up a bit as I don't want people to get the wrong idea.


I will be keeping both forum and video logs of the progress. Stay Tuned!

Concept Images​

​

Stay Tuned!

 

Nice concept, but SHOW ME THE MODDING!

 

Agreed, I have some progress photos that I will post when I get home. Only had time to post the first post while on lunch break at work. I have been working on this for the past 3 months so I have some progress photos, but right now the project has hit a bit of a road block at the moment. But I will defiantly show off what I have thus far.

 

2.The Hardware​

http://youtu.be/SZUwOw9jehY​

Got a small update to post tonight. I was able to get my hands on a number of the parts I plan on using in this build. Still missing the water cooling hardware. That will be coming in very soon.

Full System Specs:

i7 4790k
Asus Z97I - mITX
EVGA GTX 970 SC
Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133 Mhz
120GB Samsung 850 EVO
250GB Samsung 850 EVO
SilverStone SX600-G

CPU - Intel i7-4790K​

GPU - EVGA GTX 970 Superclock​

Motherboard - ASUS Z97I-Plus​

PSU - SilverStone SX600-G​

RAM - Corsair Dominator Platinum - 8GB - 2133Mhz​

​

Thats all for now, stay tuned for more!

 

That's not modding; that's a bunch of components. Show me the MODDING.

 

I have run into some major issues along the road. But here is they latests on the project. Currently the parts are being printed, as of writing this, there is one part left to print. I will be picking them up tomorrow, but so far everything looks OK.

I have all the liquid cooling hardware ordered and its all sitting next to me waiting for the last few pieces to arrive. I hope to have the laser cut panel in this week as well as all the mounting hardware. From here I will be shipping the case down to Texas for to have the sleeving work done. Once that is finished and I have the case back in my hands, I will be doing the water cooling and the last few pieces.

In the mean time, here are some photo of the printed parts.

​

 

Brand new here and I've already started to piss people off...

 

After doing some of the finish work on the parts, I realized just how poor of a print quality the maker bot prints were. Just after a little bit of sanding to try to get some of the edges smooth, I had already hit the honey comb underneath. Also, as you will see below, we had some issues with parts fitting correctly because the parts shrunk during the printing. So I need to find a professional 3D printing service to print these with better accuracy.

My biggest problem at the moment is currently trying to find a place to get the case printed at a reasonable price. The quotes I'm getting are ranging from $2000-$4000 just for the printed parts, I knew it was going to be expensive, but not THAT expensive. The first set I had printed where OK, but far from perfect. They were done on a Makerbot Replicator 5, and the quality of the parts left a lot to be desired, but it also had a few other issues with the prints warping and shrinking. I did discover that a few of the parts needed to be remodeled so that they would work properly so I had to make some edits to them. Since it was a 1st prototype, I knew there were going to be issues, so hopefully the next set will be perfect or close to it. The biggest problem, like I said, was that the model shrunk way more than anticipated, so a good portion of the acrylic paneling didn't fit correctly or had to be wrestled into place.

Right now I'm trying to find a company or someone to print these parts for a reasonable price. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a printer that can both handle the large parts and are willing to print them at a reasonable price. So right now the project is in a minor state of limbo, I have everything else ready to go for the build, but I'm missing the case itself.

I have invested a fair bit of time and money into this project to just give up, so this project WILL be getting completed. Just not as soon as I had hoped.

​

 

Nice start mate. Don't give up, learning is a succession of try and failure. Learn from all of them and keep moving forward.

Can't you use wood to replace the edges part (the bars connecting the corner pieces) ? That might looks great and might not be too hard to do.

 

It's not (just) you; many people start a log by just showing some elaborate concept drawings or a heap of components shot from many different aesthetic angles. But that's not modding; that's dreaming, and it's against the project log rules which says that the first post needs to show work in progress for that reason.

But all that is bygones, because now you've shown pictures of MODDING. It doesn't matter if the first trial failed, or if you need to try again. You're modding, with all the trials, tribulations, failures and ultimately, triumphs that it entails. And that's what it's all about.

 

From a Makerbot, I would agree, the parts are pretty good, but the finish on them leaves a lot to be desired when you see it up close. Printing them was a hassle b/c they are printed without any support material, and that they are VERY prone to warping. I have few of them that are curved in areas where they should be straight. The biggest culprits are the edge covers, they shrunk so bad that there were large gaps between the corner pieces. IMO, it just looked bad.

Thanks mate! I know the feeing, if you're not doing something wrong, you're not doing it right. Like the last post said, it was the first set of parts that I had gotten, so there were bound to be issues. I have since 'hopefully' fixed them and am looking to get the 2nd set printed very soon. Thanks again for the support!

 

You should do the same Nexxo matey ... we are waiting for you to finish Ada. And I'm waiting for you to send it to me (Ok I'm dreaming).

 

Cool project!

I don't know much about 3d printing, but aren't there filler compounds for smoothing out the surface? Could the shrinking be fixed by scaling up the models?

 

I've been keeping an eye on this at OCN and I have to say I really like the design. I was worried you were going to have problems with the printed parts and it's a shame I was right. It would be great if you made the frame out of aluminum but that opens up a whole new can of worms.

 

It's a good start to what is a difficult build, I was thinking of building a 3d printer myself but there's lot's of problems with them so I decided to wait for the tech to move on tbh.

 

What material are you using? ABS or PLA? PLA is easier to print in general and does not shrink as much as ABS does. I used PLA for my project. I think your 3D printer has some problems. I have a different printer (Felix 3.0) though and I can't tell with certainty what is causing your bad prints. But here are my thoughts:

Shrinking and bad dimensions are usually because of material shrinking or a bad calibrated extruder.
I also see that there is some z-wobble to your prints, that might actually be bed (* bed=build platform) temps fluctuating because of bad firmware settings.

You can "fight" prints that curve with good bed temps depending on the material and good adhesion to the bed. After using glue stick on the bed my ABS prints improved significantly!

Also not all ABS is the same. I have seen Z-ABS from Zortrax and other reputable filament suppliers that is just better than simple ABS plastic in many aspects! (Strength, elasticity, tension, glass temperature, smell, finish etc)

I would suggest to take a look at 3D Hubs and shapeways to find a solution that does not require you to fix-fine tune your 3D printer. 2000-4000$ is too much! Who on earth quoted you that? Unless it is for some ultra detail resin printer it is simply too much! How big is the largest dimention of the largest part?

 

I really like your design concept, the curved corners and size of chassis, and the dark smoked acrylic sides just look soo sexy. But as others have said, i would like to see the frame in metal/aluminium instead. I for one WHO buy this if it is on the shelf in a metal frame with the acrylic sides, front and top panel.

 

The parts could be cast in aluminium... but the mould would need to be CNC'd. Again costly. It has definite commercial possibilities though, which could cover the cost. Perhaps approach a PC case company?

 

There are filler compounds that can smooth out the rough surfaces, with this first set of parts, I tried an acetone dip....bad idea. I didn't research it properly and you're not supposed to dip it in acetone, your supposed to vapor bathe it. This can help smooth out the rough surfaces. The acetone just ate through everything. Live an learn.

I have looked at getting it milled out of aluminum and I would love to do that, but the main issues are cost and trying to find bar stock large enough to make the corner pieces. Both the cost of material and cost of CN

I was using PLA for these prints, and the shrinkage factor I think was due to where the printer is located. It's not in the most controlled environment so temperature fluctuation is somethign out of my control. As far as online printers go, I looked at shapeways, they were actually the cheapest I could find, but still expensive. One corner was quoted at ~$350 if I recall correctly, and by the end of it, the total price for all the pieces was around or just under $2K. They are my best option right now, if the people I'm currently talking to fall through.

Thanks man! I have heard a few people say they would buy based on the design alone. I have been trying to find a way to sell them at reasonable price, but right now that's just not feasible.

I have looked at the casting option, like sand casting, but nothing on a commercial level.
I have had a few companies contact me about the project and have expressed interest in seeing the final product, so its a possibility.

 

Can you share with us the weight for one of the parts? 3D Hubs and Shapeways use size (volume) to calculate costs, but 3D printer owners can charge by the weight of the material because we buy in 1KG spools usually as you know. Your alternative would be to find someone near you with a reliable printer like a Zortrax M200 and print the parts for you, charging you for the z-abs weight and a little more for the printer uptime. As I understand, you have already asked people for that and you are waiting for responces. I hope you find a solution soon!