Watercooled Small Form Factor PC
THe inspiration
From my earlier computer case designs, the 3d Printed Portable PC giving me confidence in designing compact systems and making it easy to transport and the 3d Printed Watercooled PC giving me the confidence to use water in my computer systems, I wanted to combine these two designs to make a 3d printed portable PC. Before I could design this new system, I would first need to figure out what was good about the previous systems.
The 3d Printed Portable PC was an excellent portable system, the handle on top made it extremely easy to transport, even making it through the TSA. However, the I/O was face-down on this system. While it helped make it as compact as possible as I determined a vertical shape would make it more compact, it made it very annoying to change the parts used. On top of that, the handle could get in the way when not in use since it was always present on the case.
The 3d Printed Watercooled PC on the other hand, showed me just how stiff a 3d printed computer can be and gave me the confidence to attempt a 3d printed computer reservoir for the next system.
So, for this Watercooled Small Form Factor PC, I would maintain the same vertical orientation to ensure the most compact design possible and use panel extensions so that the I/O was easily accessible on the sides of the system. I would attempt to incorporate a collapsible handle into the system as well, so that the system looks better. Finally, I would attempt to make a water-tight custom reservoir to keep as compact of a design as possible.