View Full Version : Anyone want to help me design a pc case from scratch?
I want to build a custom pc case from scratch. I want to avoid lumps of plastic & thin pressed metal. I'm looking for the least amount of noise as possible with good detailing and products, quality materials/ finishes, ease of replacing parts and good air flow.
Below are some shots of my first thoughts on how to achieve this, but everything is up for grabs. There are a few things I don't like. The HDD/ PSU & Optical drive rack and the fans/covers. Good ideas on how to get them any better would be much appreciated, however it's all up for grabs.
Integrating a water cooling system is also something I want to try and achieve.
To give bit of background on the first shots....
The idea of the frame is to make it easy for all of the panels to be removed and allow plenty of room for air circulation. The panels would all be rubber mounted and the mobo panel could easily be swapped over to the other side if required. The panels could easily be customised for any cut out pattern, number of fans etc.
The frame and panels could be any colour or finish and could be either aluminium or stainless steel.
I don't mind updating the model with good ideas to see how they look and when finished it should be something anyone can make so I can provide all the fab info from the model if anyone wanted to make it.
Thanks in advance to anyone that wants to help me on this project.
http://www.audienceofone.co.uk/rev3.jpg
Prizy
04-26-2009, 03:29 AM
sounds good mate. make the case a little taller so you can
find somewhere internally to mount the ever so popular pa120.3
into the WC system and im sold. :up:
ILikeCosmosS
04-26-2009, 03:42 AM
make it the hieght of the 5.25 bay taller
and removable mobo tray and the only trouble i see is mounting res/pumps other than that it looks pretty good
s e r e n i t y
04-26-2009, 03:52 AM
Man that would be a tough to build from scratch. I wouldn't know where to start :P
[XC] Oj101
04-26-2009, 04:11 AM
Make it at LEAST 1x120mm fan at the back with space for a second PSU above the main one (for a watercooling pump, hiding cables, whatever) and make it a fair bit deeper (so that really long graphics cards won't come anywhere NEAR the hard drive rack) and I'll take one ;)
This is the frame size as per the renders. Ignore the ugly lugs ;) I'm thinking of machined lugs that are screwed to the frame. This would allow the mobo board to be swapped over to the other side if required.
Making this is not that hard. It's just a frame (with standard off the shelve extrusions) and flat panels.
If anyone has any product ideas that could be incorporated into the case design you please post a link?
http://www.audienceofone.co.uk/frame.jpg
This the side panel fixing detail. It allows the side panels to be simply hooked over a machined fixing on the frame (with a rubber grommet)...so there are no visible fixings.
I'm trying to think of something more creative for the hhd/ optical drive bay. Currently it would be hard to fix screws onto the case side of the hdd.
Also note that the back panel has an unusual detail for fixing add in cards. This is because it is a flat panel....I think it would work however.....
http://www.audienceofone.co.uk/5.jpg
sounds good mate. make the case a little taller so you can
find somewhere internally to mount the ever so popular pa120.3
into the WC system and im sold. :up:
That pa120.3 look quite good and it would only require the case height to be raised by around 50mm.....I'm going think a bit more about that. Thanks for the suggestion.
ThermoChill rad added, with a pump fitted on the mobo panel. The frame now acts as a reservoir. All fans are now 120mm.
The HDD, optical drives & PSU are floating in space...still got work on that one.
http://www.audienceofone.co.uk/one.jpg
koksy
04-30-2009, 06:45 AM
if you removed the dvd bays and added another fan or two in the front, and possible removed the bottom fans, not necessary though, I would buy this case immediately. I'm an air cooler :P I would seriously pay $250 for such a case, even buy it from you if you would make it. Looks like the absolute perfect solution:
- Mid tower
- Great space for HDD's
- Lot's of fans
- Proper safe mounting for PSU
Hard to see how good the cable management is, but I can only imaging it's good xD
Neuuubeh
04-30-2009, 07:06 AM
6mm wall thickness on the tubes for the frame? isnt that a bit extreme?
WTF is up with the 2 posts above lala. Report that shieet :p
koksy
04-30-2009, 07:32 AM
Seems weird two users would start posting like that (Aldur123 and GiosBrah) after 30-40 posts without anything. Hacked maybe? Probably posted something at school and info got saved and someone else used the PC and started posting :banana::banana::banana::banana:. Just weird they chose only 1 thread if that's the case. ANYWAY, this thread is very inspiring and I might actually try making my own case very similar to this one :P
Wow that was a lot of banans. What I was hoping for was a bit of help to get it right not for people to tell me how crap it was...the clue is in the thread title.
koksy
04-30-2009, 09:43 AM
Wow that was a lot of banans. What I was hoping for was a bit of help to get it right not for people to tell me how crap it was...the clue is in the thread title.
I was trying to help you! :P Help you make it better suited for someone like.. me xD
Cooper
05-01-2009, 01:32 PM
Why was this moved but not cleaned ?
Movieman
05-01-2009, 01:59 PM
I banned the two tools that got off on being 7 years old and tossing a tantrum.
Now lets let this guy get on with his case design and to all in this thread, if someone comes in like that and pulls a nutty, see who is on for Mods and PM them ok?
Thanks..
BTW:nice design :D
Koksy,
Sorry that comment was nothing to do with your post.
To explain things in more detail, the frame concept came about as it was based on an idea to use the frame itself as the radiator, but as I looked into it I had concerns that it would not provide enough cooling. I then thought about making a radiator of the back panel to then circulate water around that as well. (Like a house radiator.) This seemed like a good solution to help make the case smaller. Then I started to think about cost and the uncertainties of how it would all work technically and hence I arrived at ThermoChill solution following Prizy's suggestion.
The location of the fans is to try and get air to vent from the bottom upwards, which seemed like a good idea as hot air rises.....but cards might block air flow and one of the fans on the top of the case is sitting right over the psu, so I'm not so sure.
I've checked the front panel however and there is just enough room for another 120mm fan.
I did a few other things to try and help ventilation. The fans at the bottom can suck air in from the underside of the case as I have left it all open. The panels have gaps around them to let air get in anywhere around the case. There is also a bigger than normal gap between the back panel and mobo board to help air circulate on the back face of the mobo. (Also to hide cables.)
Maybe the idea of predominantly venting air upwards is wrong and maybe the case would be better sealed to control airflow a bit better.....I'm not really sure. If cross ventilation would work better maybe the radiator would be better located at the top of the frame.
Dust could also be a problem with open sides...but then again maybe they would help if dust could then not get trapped as easily as maybe is the case with a sealed unit.
Another down side of the gaps between the frame and panels is that spilling anything on the case would end up being an expensive accident.
The other thing I'm not sure about is how many fans are needed to be efficient. My thoughts were that with more fans and a good temp controller the speed of the fans would be less and consequently they would run quieter.
Neuuubeh,
Agreed the wall thickness is probably ott. It's based on a standard stock extrusion, but much thinner wall thicknesses' are also available in stock sizes. I assumed 6mm because I wanted to make sure the case was robust. I was also not too sure about how easy it would be to weld and grind smooth. 6mm sounded like a safe bet with an easy option to go down if possible later in the design.
The other thing is that if the frame acts as a reservoir it will need some cut outs for a viewing slot to check the water level.
Edit:
I think I've taken care of most of these issues in rev 3 shown on the first post. PSU & Optical drive are now moved to a separate partition at the bottom of the case. The rad is moved to the top of the case. Water pump and reservoir fitted to mobo panel. (Gave up on using the frame).Two 120mm fans front, One 120mm fan at the back. Wires from psu are fed up behind the mobo panel.