- School
- Secondary technical school and college Brno, Sokolská
- Field
- Mechanical engineering — computer graphics
- Year
- School year 2023/2024
- Software
- SolidWorksFlow SimulationVisualizePhotoView 360Cinema 4D
- Brand
- MTYL — Made To Your Likings, own logo and identity
- Output
- Model · variants · exploded view · drawing · renders · logo
Introduction
My graduation project at the secondary technical school and college in Brno, Sokolská — field mechanical engineering with computer graphics, school year 2023/2024.
The brief was a graphic study of a PC case that still has to work — airflow, dust resistance and the internal layout of the components. Plus several design variants, an exploded view, renders, a drawing with the main dimensions, a promotional sheet and my own logo.
I added the main idea myself. I play a lot of games, and when I looked at cases, they were all built for one side of the desk only: glass facing the user, and only when the computer stands to the right of the monitor. But my friends and my brother had theirs on the left, and had to turn the case sideways, otherwise they'd see the cables from the back. So I wanted a case that can stand on either side of the desk, always has its controls at the front, and shows its inside from the side.
It was a design project, not an engineering one. The result was meant to be a concept and renders, not production drawings. So the hardest part was coming up with a concept that is simple, makes sense and still looks good.
The base is a double-sided sheet inside the case. All components sit on it, so when converting, it is pulled out as one piece, rotated 180° and screwed back in. The power supply stays in place and has its own hole in the sheet.
After rotation, however, the graphics card and motherboard connectors point into the case. An extension cable solves that by bringing them back to their original position. Over lengths this short, transfer speeds are not affected.
Rotation also broke the airflow the whole design depended on. So I designed plastic exhaust ducts that are inserted depending on the configuration the case is in. In the right configuration they exhaust air through the back and the side; in the left, only through the side.
The side panels, front panel and top cover are held by magnets. You only need a screwdriver for the rear panel, which together with the frames keeps the whole frame rigid — so the case is designed to be as symmetrical as possible.
The outer parts are replaceable. The top cover has four shapes and each comes in five colours, so everyone can put the case together their own way — buy it whole, or just buy the parts they want to be different.
How it came about
01 The load-bearing part of the whole idea
Double-sided sheet
Everything else follows from this one part. The components hold together on it, so during conversion they aren't removed individually — the whole sheet comes out, turns 180° and goes back in. The power supply hole is therefore the same on both sides, so the power supply doesn't have to move at all.
02 Fixing the airflow
Guide ducts
Turning the inside broke the airflow the whole design depended on. So I designed plastic exhaust ducts that are inserted into the case depending on the configuration and direct the air: the right one through the back and side, the left only through the side. They're not just blanks — their shape decides how fast air leaves, and between the left and right variants the guide openings differ in length.
03 Flow Simulation
Airflow in both configurations
The case can't be calculated once — each configuration has a different number of exhausts, differently long guide openings and a differently sized internal space. The left one exhausts air only through the side and has shorter openings, so air leaves faster and it's quieter; it pays for this with worse heat removal. The right one exhausts air through the back and side, has more fans and removes more heat, but it's louder, and in a larger space vortices can form, where air circles instead of leaving. Each frame shows both views of the same configuration; a switch lets you flip between left and right, and clicking shows them side by side.
04 Own brand
MTYL
Part of the brief was to come up with my own logo. I tried a pictogram, but ended up with a simpler solution: a short slogan, and an abbreviation made from it. The slogan reads “Made To Your Likings”, meaning made to your ideas, and the first letters became MTYL. The logo's colour depends on what it's placed on. It's not just lettering on the cover — it refers to the case not having just one form.
Parts
Gallery
01One case for both sides of the desk. Left with glass to the right, right with the inside turned and glass to the left — that is the whole brief I added myself. Switch between them, or click and see them side by side
02Shape and colour variants. The grilles in the top cover don't have to be elongated and diagonal — circles, hexagons or triangles work just as well, and the shape of the holes changes the look of the whole case
03Exploded view — panels, frames and glass. Only the rear panel is screwed; everything else is held by magnets, so the case opens without tools
Rozklad sestavy
Conversion step by step
Seven steps from the right configuration to the left. Scroll through them at your own pace.
Result
Dokument
PC case design — graduation project
The whole submitted work to read on the page. Analysis of individual parts, the conversion procedure, airflow simulation results, the brand's creation and the image appendix.
46 pages · 2024 · Secondary technical school and college Brno, Sokolská
The idea worked. Converting from one configuration to the other takes seven steps and needs nothing but a screwdriver — the only screwed part of the structure is the rear panel, everything else is held by magnets. So the case can stand on either side of the desk and be seen into from both.
A side effect I didn't expect: service. Anyone repairing computers can pull out the whole double-sided sheet with the components, lay it on a table, and doesn't have to dig around in a cramped case lying on its side.
I calculated the airflow in Flow Simulation for both configurations separately, and they came out with different characters. The right one exhausts air through the back and side and has more fans, but it's louder and vortices can form in the large internal space. The left one exhausts air only through the side and has shorter guide openings, so air leaves faster and it's quieter — at the cost of worse heat removal. The simulation didn't give temperatures; that would have needed a thermal solution I didn't know how to do at the time.
The submitted work contains a complete model with all components, shape and colour variants, an exploded view, a drawing with the main dimensions, a promotional sheet, my own logo and a set of renders from Visualize and Cinema 4D. Exactly what the brief asked for — a graphic study of the case that also holds up functionally.
I didn't build a prototype; there were no options for that at secondary school, and it wasn't the aim. I defended the project before the committee without any reservations.
Where it’s heading
This work taught me SolidWorks and Visualize more than anything before — mainly how much work goes into making a model renderable at all. I compared PhotoView 360 with Visualize, and the difference was convincing enough for me to stay with Visualize.
Today I see things in the design that I'd do differently. I haven't got to version 2.0 yet, but the next step is clear: take the case from a graphic study to a production basis. That means a bill of materials, fasteners and a thermal calculation instead of airflow alone. Today I'd have the tools for that; back then I didn't.
I still use the model from this work — it's the one that rotates at the top of this page, with the glass and the lit backlight.
Specifications
- parts in the assembly
- 120 mm fans fit in the right / left configuration
- panes of glass that look like one
- dust filters — bottom and top
- Dimensions
- 224 × 470 × 543 mm (w × d × h)
- Motherboard
- All standard formats
- Construction
- Aluminium sheet
- Glass
- Tempered, no frames
- Panel mounting
- Magnets — screws only on the rear panel
- Fans
- 120 mm; 140 mm don't fit the frame
- Intake
- Bottom and top
- Exhaust
- Right through the back and side, left only through the side; plastic ducts
- Front ports
- 2× USB · 2× USB-C · 2× 3.5 mm jack
- Documentation
- Main dimensions — no bill of materials or production drawings
What I learned
01
Making the case truly universal
It wasn't enough for it to be rotatable. I wanted everyone to be able to put it together their own way from replaceable parts in various shapes and colours. The solution is a frame to which the covers, side panels and front panel attach by magnets, and a top cover in four shapes and five colours.
02
A double-sided interior that converts easily
Conversion had to be simple, and cables had to run in both configurations. So all components sit on one sheet, which is pulled out as one piece and turned. Graphics and board connectors that would point into the case after turning are brought back by an extension cable.
03
Where the air goes out
When the inside was turned, the airflow path turned too. I built the cooling around how intake and exhaust fans are usually placed in standard cases, and solved it with plastic exhaust ducts: the right configuration exhausts through the back and side, the left only through the side. Then I calculated both configurations separately in Flow Simulation.
More renders
The field was mechanical engineering with computer graphics, so renders were not an attachment but half the work. At school we were taught Cinema 4D; I added SolidWorks Visualize and in the end combined both. These don't come with the design; they're here as examples.