Case Mod - Complete ⭐ Morphosis - Cooler Master World Series 2019

Morphosis Banner_4 by greensabbath911, on Flickr


I have been out of the case modding world for a while but I've been meaning to do the Cooler Master World Series for many years now and I finally carved out some time this year to compete. My entry for the Cooler Master World Series 2019 Contest is ‘Morphosis’. Morphosis is inspired by the organic architecture of Zaha Hadid Architects, specifically the Performing Arts Center in Abu Dhabi, as well as the Tree House by Modus Studio. These designs each beautifully translate nature’s organic forms into sculptural architectural works of art with their exceedingly strong design language. Using the sleek SL600M case, my goal is to turn it into a similarly sculptural case by creating custom-machined aluminum panels, carved feet, acrylic machining, and wood work, along with a handful of other tricks along the way.



The design process of this case began with a rough sketch, shown below, and knowing that I wanted to incorporate the original curves and angles of the SL600M case to create a truly unique design. The goal was then to create a case showcasing the organic design details as well as the highlighting the mechanical nature of the case.




.Zaha Hadid Performing Arts Center



Modus Studio Evans Tree House



To start with, here a picture of my messy workshop. Its about 11 x 17 feet but it has most of the things I need including my relatively new cnc router.



And here is the case I will be modding.
IMG_6317 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

I started out the case with materials testing. I wanted to use both acrylic, aluminum and wood in the case but as the cnc router was new to me and I would me machining it all myself, I wanted to make sure I did not mess up on the real pieces.

Acrylic machining test:



Aluminum Machining Test:





I liked the design of the case feet but I planned on remaking them out of walnut wood. It also helped that the rear feet got damaged in shipping which made the choice easier. I sketched out different foot designs and then made a practice profile:




The first profile I made is on the right but I needed more space on the top of it to attach the case so I needed to make it wider. Also, with all the aluminum I'd be putting into the case, it will be pretty heavy.







Once I was happy with the base design of the feet, I cut them out of the final walnut material:




I glued the sides to the base with biscuits and glue an then cut the back profile on the table saw:




Front and rear feet together. The front feet took a bit more work trying to match the compound angle where the front panel meets the feet.




Later I will be doing more carving in the feet to slim down the design.

 

There's no earthquakes heralding your return... yet. It's great to see you back at it, and the feet are already looking fantastic!
The aluminum cut looks like the corners chattered and gouged the edges out. You probably figured it out, but probably the best fix for that is a smaller bit on a bigger radius. Doing the cut in shallower passes might help too.

 

A great return !!

Looking for your cnc in that picture reminds me "Where's wally " .... I also found Chiaroscuro

 

Thanks guys. It feels good to be back although I started this mod pretty late and I'm working every hour I possibly can on it to make the contest deadline. I figured out my CNC a bit more after that test but I'm still learning a lot.

@Dot_Kappa Good spotting. Sangaku and Yuugou are also there but they are hidden in their cases under the CNC.

I'll post a bunch more updates as soon as I can.

 

I wanted to incorporate a fan grill design that used the motifs from my inspiration photos. This was harder than I thought at first to get the design to look balanced. I also wanted to make a design on the main case window so that is what I started with. I sketched out my ideas, then cut them out of cardboard:



I refined the cardboard version and made a model in Fusion 360 which my cnc router could cut out.



I needed several fan grille designs. One for the 200mm fans on the floor, one for the triple 120mm fans on the top, then a few iterations for other panels in the case.

Once I had the designs sketched out, I made models of them and cut them out in thin MDF or plywood to act as test pieces.









Once I had my templates I could start mocking them up in the case and see how they go together:



I also made a practice panel of the top grill design but mounting it would have to wait until later:





The top fans would be the Cooler Master SF360R ARGB to simplify wiring:





I later refined the side panel design to incorporate the lines of the legs. This would make the panel more cohesive:

 

Looking neat already.
That crazy cut in your mill clamping: It's like a monument to the exact moment you found out your computer was upgrading to windows 10.

 

Lets just say I didn't photo my first few attempts at machining aluminum. I also didn't do things like zero the machine or make sure the model matched reality. Luckily I was using my old crappy bit and not my brand new one. I also turned off the router and not the machine when that happened which as you might expect, went great . Lets just say I've learned to pay attention to the details a bit more since then.

 

Don't feel bad, I've been there too. Although I caught the CAM output error really fast since it looked like a spirograph in Mach3. I'm on my 3rd motor controller from overheating. I burned up a bit in 2 seconds because I forgot to change the spindle speed.
And my personal best: The bit barely touched a clamping screw and completely unscrewed it and chewed up bit, screw, and made a scar in the t-slot.

 

I liked having the GPU vertical but I thought the original design made it too close to the window so i wanted to remake the panel to move it closer to the center. I used plywood to make a mockup of the replacement panel:





From there I needed to make something for the GPU to attach to. I modeled something up and made a mockup out of plywood:





Simple yet effective:





Together they look like this:







I realized later after I'd made this that the plate didn't need to be this big but at this point I hadn't decided to replace the whole back panel yet.

 

At some point I knew I would have to start cutting final pieces for the case so I decided to on cutting the case's front panel. There is a lot of room behind this panel so I decided to put a reservoir and pump behind it, lit by LEDs. The first step was making a design in Fusion 360 and then I machined a test panel to check the size and make sure the g-code, which is what the cnc router reads, was more or less correct.



Heres the test panel on top of the case front:




Making sure its in the right place:




I use masking tape and CA glue to affix the part to the table:





I was literally shaking nervousness when this started cutting as there was zero room for error. It turned out great though:

 

You must use some clamps.

 

@Dot_Kappa - Nope. Tape and glue works so well that sometimes you have to be careful not to ruin the part getting it free. Although I've gotten aluminum and copper hot enough to melt the tape glue.
The part looks great. I still see chatter in the corners. With that shape though, I don't know if a 2nd cutting pass would help.

 

@Cheapskate I couldn't really figure out what the problem was but I have a few theories. I did a roughing pass and a finish pass afterwards. I wasn't getting the chatter on the roughing pass but I'd get it on the finish pass. Maybe the finish pass had too much material to take off? I also tightened the machine up a bit after these cuts as its not suuuuper rigid. What kind of machine do you have?

 

Weird. You would think it would chatter consistently. It's definitely because more than half the bit is making contact in the corners. If that's a .125" bit, changing the model to .14" diameter corners or so should fix it next time.
I have a Taig. It's really solid, but it still punishes me for cutting corners on the CAM. I'm looking to build something with a bigger work area like your setup. I'm not feeling too confident about the design's rigidity now.

 

The main color scheme for my case would be both polished and brushed silver, walnut wood, and black. To achieve what I wanted with Walnut, I would have to attach it to aluminum panels before it could me machined. The best way I could think of to accomplish this was with contact cement.



To do this, I layed out all the panels and began covering the

IMG_6447 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



The walnut veneer took many coats since the veneer kept soaking up the glue but eventually it looked glossy, meaning there was enough glue on the surface to bond:

IMG_6448 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Once the glue was dry I could carefully set the veneer over the aluminum and use a roller to squeeze out all of the air pockets and make a good bond:

IMG_6449 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Once the glue was dry, I could finally start cutting panels for the case. I started with the back panel along with the motherboard try which would remain bare aluminum. I attached the panels together with square aliuminum bar stock and screws:

IMG_6452 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



IMG_6453 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



From there, I could dial in the other panels with more test pieces:

IMG_6460 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



IMG_6450 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_9082723 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I decided to extend the "floor" fan grill into the front res/pump room to support the pump. Of course, this required another test piece:

IMG_6469 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



IMG_6470 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



After a few tweaks I layed out the design on the final piece:

IMG_6472 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



And started cutting:

IMG_6474 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



IMG_6478 by greensabbath911, on FlickrIMG_6478 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



About three hours later it was done. I had to stop the machine after each cutout to clean the tape goo off of the bit. I was worried the walnut veneer would chip but it turned out pretty clean:

IMG_6479 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_9082727 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



IMG_6486 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I repeated the same steps above for the top fan grill design. Its a good thing I made practice pieces because I messed up on a few parts that I wouldnt have caught otherwise:

IMG_6484 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



IMG_6483 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I machined some cutouts in the above piece to enable removal of the top section of the case. I also put some finish on the panel to see how the grain would pop against the silver aluminum:

IMG_6508 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



The walnut burl veneer's grain pops beautifully with a little finish on it:



Before:

_9092729 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



After:

IMG_6485 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



And with the fans which will be mounted to the grill. I had them upside down in this photo though:

_9142759 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Here's a couple of closeup shots of the bottom grille:

_9142753 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_9142754 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

 

Awww, Yeah. That's beautiful. Which contact cement are you using? I'm pretty sure standard Weldwood would stick the brush to the wood in 30 seconds here. ( Maybe I should work on that stuff in the Winter..)

 

Thanks! I'm not sure which it was but it was nothing fancy, probably standard weldwood actually. The trick is keeping the brush wet and it won't stick... probably. I had some issues with the bare wood. Ideally you would use contact cement on paper backed veneer but for nice grain, that was prohibitively expensive. More to come soon!

 

The next thing I did was start laying out the motherboard tray. This would be a ccomplicated piece since many parts of the case and hardware will be attached to it and determine the placement of other parts on other panels. To do this, I started with my trusty layout tool, an old motherboard:

IMG_6490 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Once I had a layout that seems decent, I made a model in Cad and then attached the tray to my wasteboard:

IMG_6495 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



From there, I started cutting. I did not bother making a practice piece for this one:

IMG_6496 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



And heres all the cutouts besides the ones that I forgot to make during the first go around. There are ones for the power cables and peripherals that attach to the motherboard along with exit holes for the PSU cables.

IMG_6497 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



From there, I tested the layout with the actual motherboard I will be using, a Gigabyte Aorus Elite WiFi x570:

_9122733 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



IMG_6501 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



With the motherboard placement finalized, I could cut the holes on the back panel which include the I/O plate, the GPU mount, and the PSU cable mount. I then attached the motherboard tray to the back panel with screws:

_9132737 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

_9132741 by greensabbath911, on Flickr





IMG_6506 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



To attach the GPU to the back panel, I would remake my plywood test piece out of aluminum. I had an issue while machining this so I had to use my older method of making a plywood template and then machinging it on the router table. To do this I use lots of double stick tape:

_9142743 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

_9142744 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Then with that cut. I needed to do the same on the back panel:

_9142745 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



And here it is mocked up in the case:

_9152766 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I also needed to attach the floor panel to the rest of the case and for this I again used some aluminum bar stock and screws:

_9142748 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

_9142752 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

 

Love it. (I know, how shocking.) The fit is fantastic.

 

With the floor of the case made, I could continue working on the Reservoir/Pump room in the front of the case. The hardware would be placed something like this:

IMG_6487 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I took the design on the front aluminum panel and modified it to fit on the panel behind the Reservoir. I machined a practice piece to finalize placement. The watercooling tubing will flow from the radiator in the top into the reservoir, then it will go out the bottom through the pump into the rest of the case:

_9142758 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_9142756 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



For this panel, I did not want to machine the pieces all the way through but just the profile so that the machined aluminum and walnut burl veneer would make a striking contrast. The machining has started here:

_9142761 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



It turned out pretty clean:

_9182817 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

_9142764 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

IMG_6523 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



And with the front panel on:

IMG_6513 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Then I cut the top and both sides out of the same material and attached them to eachother with screws and square aluminum:

_9192843 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_9152773 by greensabbath911, on Flickr