[Build Log] -Aurora Cubes- A RGB 3D Printed Case by 8-Bit Builder

[thorkon]

Hello and welcome to my newest build ​

I've been modding for 10 years now and usually my themes are of a pixelated design. This mod is named Aurora Cubes as the case will be built to look like it's made out of hundreds of cubes that each have a LED and will pattened lighting effects. It will be quite a light show (I hope!). I will be 3D printing this case and expect to use about 6 lbs of plastic to make. Here are a few designs so you can visualize the project.

My sponsors for this mod​

Components
ASUS ROG MAXIMUS X HERO WI-FI
ASUS GTX 1070 STRIX
TEAMGROUP T-FORCE Delta RGB 16gb DDR4 RAM
TEAMGROUP T-FORCE Delta RGB 250gb SSD
Raidmax NV-R120B RGB FANS (5)
CPU undecided
Heatsink undecided


Heres a few photos of my previous work:

I'll be back soon with some progress of printing and programming!

PS: Do you guys think a mid range PSU can handle 400 leds on its 5v rail? I did the math and it seems like it should but if anyone has experience with something of that nature, I'd appreciate their input!

 

[thorkon]

Back with some new progress now that I've printed a few sections out. Having some stringing issue due to a mod I put on the printer so I've been troubleshooting it but still giiving some issues.

THE STRINGINGGGGG

Fix'd after some easy cleanup

Next issue was the this tall section having a weak stability

Nothing a little 3d pen cant fix. This section will be strengthened once the whole frame comes together.

And heres the base being clamped together. Its a bit bigger than I expected honestly but not an issue. I'll be back with the rest of the frame coming together.

 

[thorkon]

Going to be some rapid updates as I move into finising printing most of pieces now. I've ran into a few issues...

Spaghetti monster, colorized
What happened: I was printing 3 pieces but the 3rd piece dislodged from the printbed and began printing in the air. Luckily the 2 pieces were easily salvageable and cleaned up for use.

This is the top in sections. Will house a 120mm fan, a usb hub and a power button.

This is the window section of the case. I'll be adding plexiglass to it last. Still brainstorming ideas on how to have the glass removable while still looking nice.

 

[thorkon]

Just about the whole body done.

These are the MoBo mounts:

The front with the fan placements about to go in:

Top fan:

 

[Caring1]

With a symmetrically designed case such as this, won't cable management be an issue?

 

[thorkon]

I'm not too worried about the wire management. I'm going to make a false bottom to hide the led wiring, and I'll make some channels for the psu wires.

 

[thorkon]

The equipment!

ASUS MAXIMUS X HERO (WI-FI AC)

ASUS ROG GeForce GTX 1070 STRIX

TEAM GROUP T-FORCE DELTA RGB DDR4 GAMING MEMORY 16 GB

TEAM GROUP T-FORCE DELTA SSD

 

[thorkon]

I got caught up with Halloween costumes and waiting on a few pc components for the build. This is going to be a big post to catch up!

After doing some testing, I ran into an issue where the light wasn't being diffused as great as I wanted. I ended up sanding the case to rough up the texture to help even out the leds.

Hard to see sanding on transparent plastic so just this one photo of it outside

Light test (gif embedding doesn't work, so heres a link of the lights)

https://imgur.com/asG3hsw

My work area for all the wiring and soldering

Did this about 100 times. Pre-tinned the wires

Installing the LED strips

I was using this setup to test the lights as I went to make sure my solder skills were working

Sparkly test

Wiring so each can be removed individually if needed]

Wires before cleanup

Baby approved lighting test

I'm onto installing the pc components and cleaning up wiring. Shouldn't be long until I'm finished with a nice setup. Still need to program a few different things on the lighting though so that will be an interesting challenge.

 

[lexluthermiester]

That is really cool! Your kiddo seems to like it.

 

[thorkon]

Thanks! Yeah, she enjoys the patterns. Shes gotten used to my other mod (Metroid) and its pulsing lights so I'm not sure how long this one will keep her attention once its done.

 

[thorkon]

After doing some math I decided to get the lights their own PSU. Here it is:

And after some handy dandy hiding magic...

The power button is going to be installed in the top near the usb hub

All the components!

All the wires!

Starting to hide the wires behind the mobo

From here its going to be the finished photos!

 

[Rahnak]

Very unique case. Definitely gives me a Tetris vibe (especially in the pic with the baby). Congrats on the work.

 

[thorkon]

Final Photos!

Gif of lights in motion here!

[Imgur](

https://imgur.com/YxVzBaV

)

 

[Deleted member 67555]

I watched your other builds and always thought they were neat but this one is IMPRESSIVE AF!
Nice.

 

[lexluthermiester]

So bad-ass! Have you thought about starting a company to make these kinds of cases for retail? I'd buy one and I can think of at least 3 of my clients who would too.

 

[dorsetknob]

Do you Regrind your waste for Recycling/reuse ?

 

[thorkon]

So bad-ass! Have you thought about starting a company to make these kinds of cases for retail? I'd buy one and I can think of at least 3 of my clients who would too.

The only problem is the cost. Materials alone is about 300-400. I've gotten a few offers but once I break down the cost people back off. Its time intensive also with all the wiring so I charge for my time obviously. I've been meaning to contact a few pc case companies though but its all new to me so still learning.

Do you Regrind your waste for Recycling/reuse ?

Its pretty expensive from the little research I did to regrind 3d plastics. You have to do a large volume to break even on it.