I got this cabinet now and it was so much fun to build in. Only real "issue" was the area for GPU was too small. My Sparkle Intel Arc 310 Elf should fit, but had to take off the fan shroud. Because of this, i would recommend the low-profile version with the high-profile bracket, A310 ECO or A380 Genie. But it's all good. Running TrueNAS, disks are very well cooled, 30-32c. I use cpu cooler NH-U9S and it was too tall, so had to clip out a hole for it through the grill. The case is very well designed, and well worth the $10 for the design.
thank you for your comment! I agree the shape is unconventional, but you have to understand that this was designed from the inside out, since you have to work within the limitations of what a 3d printer can do...I basically solved for the important stuff which was holding everything together and being easy to assemble, and then building a shell around it...all without exceeding a small print area of around 22x25 centimeters and not abuse the amount of material used.
This case is awesome! Wow! Very inspired now to make the 6 or 8 bay version of my own case now. It currently is a full ATX 16-bay case with toolless drive caddies and removable fan wall modules, but id like to eliminate the need for superglue altogether. I have designed locking pins that handle this for the chassis, but the drive bays at the front still need glue. After seeing what youve done here, im excited to see what i can come up with when i do a compact design from scratch, where i can better integrate slots for my snap-latch caddies 🙂
Amazing work, best one I've seen so far However, I'm all into smaller builds, and would gladly buy a version with sfx psu and low profile brackets on motherboard side (enough for something like LSI9211) if you ever decide to make it.
More drives meant sacrificing full-atx psu like the ds380 does, which is something I didnt want to do. This was never meant to compete with a commercial product though, I wanted a toolless nas case that would make swapping components as easy as possible and there werent any solutions for my particular needs, and decided to share the design for anybody that wanted to try something different…
Thanks for your comment… Aluminum with that level of complexity is not something an individual can do so at that point a commercial solution is a better option.
For something like this I would highly suggest the use of ASA for the better heat resistance, epically if you put in a higher end GPU that is going to get hot. PLA's glass transition point is only about 70c before it starts to get soft, so I would not suggest using PLA for a computer case.
@@replicrafts I generally just skip PETG and go to ASA, if its not going to work in PLA, I just go to ASA even if its slightly overkill. Its not like PETG isn't good, and a new one on the market called PCTG is almost the best of everything. Almost a perfect filament (check out Zack Freidmans videos about filament, his ranking one talks about PCTG).
an extended caddie was planned for 2 extra hdd’s, however time constraints have not allowed me to design it. The files include the fusion 360 files though so anyone can try and add stuff to fit their needs. Thx for the comment!
Yeah, there are 2 fans dedicated to blowing air through them. Average temps are 35-40 C... In the hottest days of summer, a stubborn 8 year old WD RED 8TB reached 45C... that drive likes to run hotter than my newer RED 16TB's. Thx for your comment!
So I've gotten this question quite a few times... To be honest, it would be too resource intensive to make a 3d printed case that fits mATX when the common print area is just around 250x250 mm. So current 3d printing limitations would make something niche even more niche and it's hard to dedicate time to that...but never say never. This case already has support for a dual-slot PCIe expansion card btw. Won't fit a full-size video card but there are many smaller solutions that will. Thx for your comment
how the heck u made a better system the 45Drives HL8 I they had money and metal and COST . All they built it hyper small box with tiny fans and FLEX ATX powersupply & tiny fans
Wow i have to say, this is quite incredible!! Alas i'm no longer using 3.5" drives, instead i have 2(boot)+10(data) = 12x drives (all 2.5" SSD's, about 7mm high), and i just ordered a pair of enclosures (IcyDock MB608SP) that hold 6-drives each, in a 5.25" form-factor. Do you provide the design files i could modify for redesigning the center portion that is expecting 3.5" drives? I also don't need the fan part underneath, as each enclosure has its own fan. What did you use to design this, something like Fusion or Solidworks? Assuming it's a parametric modeler, i should be able to just adjust the dimensions that are inputs to the design, right?
Are there any plans for a 4 bay one? It costs me 280$ to only order the parts that dont fit on my own printer :(, I don't know anything about splitting the parts..
parts are designed to be printed in a specific orientation, you would be better off splicing the parts but like I said, its untested and not recommended. Making it fit the ender 3 would mean sacrificing two drives, which was not the design goal.
Have you considered the following variation on your design? Instead of individual 3.5" drive bays, each holding a drive in a caddy, provide space to slide in one of the existing commercial 4 or 5 drive bay enclosures that has a SATA/SAS hotswap backplane - these usually are designed for adjacent 3x 5.25" optical bays in conventional older PC tower cases (like Antec). This removes the mess of SATA power and data cables running to the individual drives. Instead the power and data are routed to the backplane from the rear of the enclosure, which typically has its own cooling fan. The main downside is that you lose 1 or 2 drives over your existing design. I purchased a 4 bay Athena Power enclosure (on sale from newegg) that has toolless drive bays, 2 SATA power connectors and a MiniSAS SFF-8643 data connector on the back side. Very cool, and the MiniSAS connector supports 12Gbps SAS 3 if I use an HBA that supports it. I envision one of these sliding "toaster style" into a modified version of your case. What do you think?
Thanks so much for your comment. So one of the challenges I wanted to do was to have something that worked and was fully 3d printed. The minute you start adding off-the-shelf parts then the design becomes a little more complicated since those parts might be hard to get, discontinued, or have variations. Don’t get me wrong though… suggestions like yours would certainly make the design better in some ways as 3d printing quality is just not able to compete with mass-produced products. I certainly would like to have variations to the case with suggestions like yours but at the moment I cannot afford to invest more time in something that is very niche. I want to get some other ideas out before going back to this case… I am working on releasing the CAD files though, that way people can take the design and make it theirs or adjust it to their needs. There are many ways to improve the design, I just wanted to set the baseline for something that was completely different to other 3d printed offerings, as I have never seen another 3d printed case that’s held together by 3d printed parts. Cheers!
@@replicrafts Thanks for the quick reply! I appreciate your goal in this NAS case, and the results are excellent. You clearly spent a LOT of time refining the design and it shows. Definitely worth the $10 for the print files. I especially appreciate your detailed documentation. I've seen some other cool printed NAS cases on youtube and printables, but the instructions and pictures are somewhat lacking. Maybe not a problem for those experienced in 3D printing, but I have 0 experience and no printer - the learning curve looks steep, and I have some other priorities at this time. Maybe later. As far as these 4 or 5 drive bay enclosures with hotswap backplanes, they are quite common (on Amazon and Newegg) and have standard dimensions defined by 3 x 5.25" (legacy) optical drive bays. Strictly speaking, two of the dimensions are restrained by the PC case standards, but the depth can vary somewhat depending on the size of the cooling fan in the back. For many people building their own NAS, a hotswap backplane with easy drive access has become a common requirement, so this seemed like a straightforward way to incorporate this feature into your design. I look forward to your future case modifications. You might check out the NASCompares youtube channel for some ideas. Cheers!
@@dktol56 Appreciate the compliments on the manual, believe it or not the model was ready since summer of last year, I had just put off the release because I wanted to do a proper manual and since it's not exactly a fun task, I kept putting it off lol. Thanks for your comment and hopefully the design will be of use to you in the future.
What I can say is this. I do enjoy this design for the interior aspects. Everything for quick assembly, adequate space and 6+2 design? Fantastic. What I can say is some of the exterior is just hideous. I get that it’s functional but looking at certain sides? Woof.
Good design, hdds separate from the board and well cooled. Still, limited to mitx... Unless you're space constrained, see no real need to do that. Much more hassle to build and cable manage, much less capable boards, few bays.
I wanted something compact that wasn't a pain to disassemble (had a fractal 304), and that was completely toolless to make component swap as fast as possible as uptime was the priority... I couldn't find any commercial options that fit my needs so I tried to make it myself. So far it has met all my expectations and of some people close to me, hope it does the same for anybody else that thinks it could be useful to them. In the end, it's just another option for anybody that is interested in a home server/NAS. thx for the comment
@@replicrafts I have had a node 304 and I feel you :) For me, anything smaller than an eatx tower is too small to bother building in. Don't appreciate working in tight spaces.
Having trouble finding mini itx supporting 6 SATA most under $100 are 2 ,or 4 but at SATA 2 speeds.If I spend $200+ for mobo i might as well build full size PC fro ML/AI.
Talk about a great first video. Bravo.
Thank you! Means a lot.
Will be building this in the next few days. This design is amazing. Edit: Just realized I had a mATX board and can't use the design ={
Very nice work! Been printing some caddies and trays to do two 3 disk arrays and now I'm going to shift my deltas over to print this case. Subbed.
awesome! would love to see your end result or if you have any questions, shoot me a message on discord "andrewe1". Cheers!
This is AMAZING! Kudos for the design.
If hadn't already built an NAS, it would be tempting.
This is one of the coolest 3D prints I’ve seen. Great design!
I got this cabinet now and it was so much fun to build in. Only real "issue" was the area for GPU was too small. My Sparkle Intel Arc 310 Elf should fit, but had to take off the fan shroud. Because of this, i would recommend the low-profile version with the high-profile bracket, A310 ECO or A380 Genie. But it's all good. Running TrueNAS, disks are very well cooled, 30-32c. I use cpu cooler NH-U9S and it was too tall, so had to clip out a hole for it through the grill. The case is very well designed, and well worth the $10 for the design.
Only addition I would make is a place to put drive activity LEDs.
This is a very good and well thought out design. Very clever. Great job! I really need to get a 3D printer lol
Please make more things! I just love the industrial design of this
Thank you so much for your comment
Very nice to print and built this, i have running xpenology on this nas.
Woah, now that's an outlier of a NAS case ! Unconventional shape, but certainly seems to work. Great job 💪
thank you for your comment! I agree the shape is unconventional, but you have to understand that this was designed from the inside out, since you have to work within the limitations of what a 3d printer can do...I basically solved for the important stuff which was holding everything together and being easy to assemble, and then building a shell around it...all without exceeding a small print area of around 22x25 centimeters and not abuse the amount of material used.
This case is awesome! Wow!
Very inspired now to make the 6 or 8 bay version of my own case now.
It currently is a full ATX 16-bay case with toolless drive caddies and removable fan wall modules, but id like to eliminate the need for superglue altogether. I have designed locking pins that handle this for the chassis, but the drive bays at the front still need glue.
After seeing what youve done here, im excited to see what i can come up with when i do a compact design from scratch, where i can better integrate slots for my snap-latch caddies 🙂
Ok I know what I’m doing for a NAS now!
Awesome!!!😍
Amazing work, best one I've seen so far
However, I'm all into smaller builds, and would gladly buy a version with sfx psu and low profile brackets on motherboard side (enough for something like LSI9211) if you ever decide to make it.
*subscribed* this is an amazing design in terms of utility, ease of use and toughness. I am hoping you'll make more videos about future projects.
Looks awesome. I hope you can design an MATX NAS case next.
Great project!
Love it, well done.
Sick but I can't afford the $10. Someday maybe :) Great video!
Very nice job, liked commented, shared and subscribed
Thank you!
feel like this could take some cues from the silverstone ds380 which packs in 8 drives in a smaller space
More drives meant sacrificing full-atx psu like the ds380 does, which is something I didnt want to do. This was never meant to compete with a commercial product though, I wanted a toolless nas case that would make swapping components as easy as possible and there werent any solutions for my particular needs, and decided to share the design for anybody that wanted to try something different…
this just with 14 2.5" ssds would be nice
That's sweet
what a lovely design, could it be done in aluminium and what about standard ATX, E-ATX and Server Sized Motherboard versions?
Thanks for your comment… Aluminum with that level of complexity is not something an individual can do so at that point a commercial solution is a better option.
For something like this I would highly suggest the use of ASA for the better heat resistance, epically if you put in a higher end GPU that is going to get hot.
PLA's glass transition point is only about 70c before it starts to get soft, so I would not suggest using PLA for a computer case.
I agree PLA is not a good idea, that's why I recommended PETG which is what I've been using and is more than enough for this application.
@@replicrafts I generally just skip PETG and go to ASA, if its not going to work in PLA, I just go to ASA even if its slightly overkill. Its not like PETG isn't good, and a new one on the market called PCTG is almost the best of everything. Almost a perfect filament (check out Zack Freidmans videos about filament, his ranking one talks about PCTG).
@@SirLANsalot Thanks for the tip, PETG has been so easy to use for me that I've not looked into other filaments. Will look into ASA.
Amazing case.
Is it possible to print multiples of the centre HDD piece so you can have two or more rows of HDD for larger capacity NAS cases?
an extended caddie was planned for 2 extra hdd’s, however time constraints have not allowed me to design it. The files include the fusion 360 files though so anyone can try and add stuff to fit their needs. Thx for the comment!
best ever, handles?
Which motherboard would you recommend using?
Cool design .. do the HDDs get enough air flow? .. what is the max temp?
Yeah, there are 2 fans dedicated to blowing air through them. Average temps are 35-40 C... In the hottest days of summer, a stubborn 8 year old WD RED 8TB reached 45C... that drive likes to run hotter than my newer RED 16TB's. Thx for your comment!
Amazing. Do you plan to build something similar for mATX motherboard? To be able to accomodate GPU, HBA and network card? Thank you.
So I've gotten this question quite a few times... To be honest, it would be too resource intensive to make a 3d printed case that fits mATX when the common print area is just around 250x250 mm. So current 3d printing limitations would make something niche even more niche and it's hard to dedicate time to that...but never say never.
This case already has support for a dual-slot PCIe expansion card btw. Won't fit a full-size video card but there are many smaller solutions that will.
Thx for your comment
how the heck u made a better system the 45Drives HL8 I they had money and metal and COST . All they built it hyper small box with tiny fans and FLEX ATX powersupply & tiny fans
Wow i have to say, this is quite incredible!! Alas i'm no longer using 3.5" drives, instead i have 2(boot)+10(data) = 12x drives (all 2.5" SSD's, about 7mm high), and i just ordered a pair of enclosures (IcyDock MB608SP) that hold 6-drives each, in a 5.25" form-factor. Do you provide the design files i could modify for redesigning the center portion that is expecting 3.5" drives? I also don't need the fan part underneath, as each enclosure has its own fan. What did you use to design this, something like Fusion or Solidworks? Assuming it's a parametric modeler, i should be able to just adjust the dimensions that are inputs to the design, right?
@@cynikalX fusion360 files are included in the download, see my other video. cheers!
This is awesome! Wish I had a 3D printer. Do you think any parts might sag from any heat sources? 🤔
Warping/sagging is not an issue if you use petg!
@@replicrafts Ah, did not know that. #3dprintnoob 😁👍
If only I had a 3D printer....
Bought mine last year. One of the best and coolest purchases I made the entire last year!
Отличный получился корпус.
Сколько времени прошло с момента как ты продумывал это в голове до реализации?
Thanks, around 6 months from idea to final implementation I would think. Having a single 3d printer didn’t help with the times though.
my ender 3 has 310 x 320 mm print area. I think it would work?
It won't, i'm sorry... working on a version that will...no ETA though, those missing millimeters really complicate things.
Are there any plans for a 4 bay one? It costs me 280$ to only order the parts that dont fit on my own printer :(, I don't know anything about splitting the parts..
Sorry but no plans of a smaller yet… I’m soon releasing the cad files so people mod as they please tho.
*cries in ender 3 v3 ke*
it is 240mm vertical though. maybe it could work. think ill give it a try or maybe you could make a ender 3 friendly version
parts are designed to be printed in a specific orientation, you would be better off splicing the parts but like I said, its untested and not recommended. Making it fit the ender 3 would mean sacrificing two drives, which was not the design goal.
Have you considered the following variation on your design? Instead of individual 3.5" drive bays, each holding a drive in a caddy, provide space to slide in one of the existing commercial 4 or 5 drive bay enclosures that has a SATA/SAS hotswap backplane - these usually are designed for adjacent 3x 5.25" optical bays in conventional older PC tower cases (like Antec). This removes the mess of SATA power and data cables running to the individual drives. Instead the power and data are routed to the backplane from the rear of the enclosure, which typically has its own cooling fan. The main downside is that you lose 1 or 2 drives over your existing design. I purchased a 4 bay Athena Power enclosure (on sale from newegg) that has toolless drive bays, 2 SATA power connectors and a MiniSAS SFF-8643 data connector on the back side. Very cool, and the MiniSAS connector supports 12Gbps SAS 3 if I use an HBA that supports it. I envision one of these sliding "toaster style" into a modified version of your case. What do you think?
Thanks so much for your comment.
So one of the challenges I wanted to do was to have something that worked and was fully 3d printed. The minute you start adding off-the-shelf parts then the design becomes a little more complicated since those parts might be hard to get, discontinued, or have variations.
Don’t get me wrong though… suggestions like yours would certainly make the design better in some ways as 3d printing quality is just not able to compete with mass-produced products. I certainly would like to have variations to the case with suggestions like yours but at the moment I cannot afford to invest more time in something that is very niche.
I want to get some other ideas out before going back to this case… I am working on releasing the CAD files though, that way people can take the design and make it theirs or adjust it to their needs.
There are many ways to improve the design, I just wanted to set the baseline for something that was completely different to other 3d printed offerings, as I have never seen another 3d printed case that’s held together by 3d printed parts.
Cheers!
@@replicrafts Thanks for the quick reply! I appreciate your goal in this NAS case, and the results are excellent. You clearly spent a LOT of time refining the design and it shows. Definitely worth the $10 for the print files. I especially appreciate your detailed documentation. I've seen some other cool printed NAS cases on youtube and printables, but the instructions and pictures are somewhat lacking. Maybe not a problem for those experienced in 3D printing, but I have 0 experience and no printer - the learning curve looks steep, and I have some other priorities at this time. Maybe later.
As far as these 4 or 5 drive bay enclosures with hotswap backplanes, they are quite common (on Amazon and Newegg) and have standard dimensions defined by 3 x 5.25" (legacy) optical drive bays. Strictly speaking, two of the dimensions are restrained by the PC case standards, but the depth can vary somewhat depending on the size of the cooling fan in the back. For many people building their own NAS, a hotswap backplane with easy drive access has become a common requirement, so this seemed like a straightforward way to incorporate this feature into your design.
I look forward to your future case modifications. You might check out the NASCompares youtube channel for some ideas. Cheers!
@@dktol56 Appreciate the compliments on the manual, believe it or not the model was ready since summer of last year, I had just put off the release because I wanted to do a proper manual and since it's not exactly a fun task, I kept putting it off lol.
Thanks for your comment and hopefully the design will be of use to you in the future.
What I can say is this. I do enjoy this design for the interior aspects. Everything for quick assembly, adequate space and 6+2 design? Fantastic. What I can say is some of the exterior is just hideous. I get that it’s functional but looking at certain sides? Woof.
This is super dope!
Very nice! If I hadn't already built my NAS in an 8 bay case, I'd be downloading this as I type this.
Regardless, that's a very well thought out case.
*Sad Ender 3 noises*
Good design, hdds separate from the board and well cooled. Still, limited to mitx... Unless you're space constrained, see no real need to do that. Much more hassle to build and cable manage, much less capable boards, few bays.
I wanted something compact that wasn't a pain to disassemble (had a fractal 304), and that was completely toolless to make component swap as fast as possible as uptime was the priority... I couldn't find any commercial options that fit my needs so I tried to make it myself. So far it has met all my expectations and of some people close to me, hope it does the same for anybody else that thinks it could be useful to them.
In the end, it's just another option for anybody that is interested in a home server/NAS.
thx for the comment
@@replicrafts I have had a node 304 and I feel you :)
For me, anything smaller than an eatx tower is too small to bother building in. Don't appreciate working in tight spaces.
Pretty cool.
Impressive
Having trouble finding mini itx supporting 6 SATA most under $100 are 2 ,or 4 but at SATA 2 speeds.If I spend $200+ for mobo i might as well build full size PC fro ML/AI.
Or you could buy an HBA card. I'm running an LSI 9300-8i in my NAS ($80).
If you will do not use m.2 slot for nvme search google for asmedia asm1166 m.2
@@johngelnaw1243 who is ripping you off? i found it for $38 including sas cables
Nice! But why are we 3d printing to slap HDDs into? SSDs or bust. Shave weight, heat, etc