Is anyone good at google sketch or other cad and can spare some time?

[Glaucus]

I'm thinking about doing a custom case out of plastic. But I just can't work Google sketch up. i just can't seem to get things to line up or sized correctly.

And was wondering if some one would be willing to sketch it up for me, so I can send it to a company and see how much it would cost.

Has anyone done anything similar. Do you have any idea what the cost is like.

It would be 13 pieces. 6 sides, 4 struts and 3 rectangles..

[Steeps]

I built my own case, but I didn't use any drawings just did the lot by hand. If you posted some pics of some drawings/measurements up here I could have a look (played with sketchup/autocad) but I can't really promise anything as I've never drawn anything for another company to use.

[Glaucus]

This is what I was thinking.
front and back panel would just be flat, i would then screw them on to the struts.
One strut at the front and the back. One in line with the right hand side of the mobo scew holes and one in line with the back of the front5.25" bay racks.
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/bf50d124c5.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)
grill, obviously with the panels recessed so these are flush with the edge of the edge of the panel

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/df3de4be91.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/e19c7a1b68.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)
and teh dodge logo etched onto the inside of the panels. Possibly filled with uv water and a light(led) some where. Just with a backing panel screwed on and sealed with silicone so it doesn't leak. So it would glow the design. Would that even work?
One on either side and one at the bottom of the front panel.
Thinking of a dark smoked perspex or maybe just black. If it was etched almost all the way through I think i could still get a glow from the logo somehow. .

So you think something liek this is possible. I would just cannibalise other pc cases for the bays, feet and other parts.

Was thinking 10mm perspex with a 4x4mm grove for the side panels..

I could certainly drill al the holes and tap them. But I'm pretty sure I couldn't do the groves and notches to line up properly. And certainly not the logo etch.

Edit on 2nd thoughts, better g0 with a 6x 5.25 bay for the 4x harddrives + 2x xspc res/pump. And would need at 3 inches in front of the hard drive bays, so the sata cables don't break and aso for the pipes. would 3 inches be enough?.

[Steeps]

Not sure if that's something I could draw up, a bit beyond me.

10mm acrylic is going to weigh a lot and is probably overkill for the case, you woudn't need any struts at all for it. I would consider using 4-5mm acrylic with struts on all 8 edges, possibly more used depending how you want the bays structured etc. Having grooves will limit your access to the case (having to take the top off before the side) and a 10mm thick panel will probably weigh a few kilo and be very expensive.

I've just weighed my case empty and using what I believe was 3mm acrylic for the sides, 5mm for the motherboard tray and fan mounts then 10mm for 4 small strut supports it weighed in empty at just under 8kg.

Dark smoked acrylic is great and is what I used, but you will be able to see every layer of construction, including screws going through and the groove will be very clear.

[Glaucus]

Yeah 10mm might be over kill. The side panels will just slide on. The top, bottom and front would be screwed from the inside to the struts and the back would be thumb scewed to the side panels and back struts, aloqing easy access . the mobo and the externals would mainly be screwed to the struts and where needed spacers and screws to the panels.

You got any pics of yours?

[Steeps]

Got a few quick ones which were taken after the first build, but before the metal edging came back from the factory. Wanted 2 metal edging strips to finish it off which I now have but not at the time of the photos.

http://steeps.net/steeps/comp/built/P1010010a.jpg

http://steeps.net/steeps/comp/built/P1010013a.jpg

The pics are about 4 years old now, the case is currently empty as it was a rush job to get the case finished for my coursework so the only kit it could take was my old atx motherboard which was narrower than a standard one. I've not gone back to it yet due to having nowhere to work on it. 4 Years ago that acrylic was about £50 for the lot.

[Glaucus]

Wow thats very light..

Perhaps, I should get a sample of black which isn't meant to be transparent and ssee if I can get a red light to shine through it..

do you know if anyone like B&Q or any other high street shop would sale sheets?

[Glaucus]

If anyone could spare a bit of time, could they assemble this Please, It's in google sketch 7.
1 strut at each end flush with the base panel and two equally spaced in the middle. But leave the left hand panel of, I just can't get to grips with moving stuff. even though I've watched the videos.

http://www.upload.ae/file/14564/Case-skp.html

edit = Here's them roughly in place
http://www.filefactory.com/file/a04c935/n/Case_skb

[Desmo]

I used to use Sketchup a little while back and modeled our house before we had all the building work done on it. That was a couple of years back now though so will be very rusty. If I get time in the week at work, I'll try and give it a shot :)

[Glaucus]

Thanks for the offer Desmo, but just to let you know so you don't waste time. BillytheImpaler has kindly started doing some stuff with it.

[Desmo]

Ah right, OK. No probs :)

[Glaucus]

In case anyone interested.
Still no idea if it's financially doable. Have to wait for the design to be finished then email a few places and see what they say.

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/6b976eebb5.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/3518c7cc74.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/4f53bf8942.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

[Jingo]

What program were those renders knocked up in AH2? :)

[Glaucus]

BillytheImpaler is knocking it up for me in SolidWorks

[Jingo]

Interesting thanks :) Looks good :)

[Glaucus]

The design is almost finished.

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/de605e17f9.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/69541b4e72.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)