Cube Frame - A Modular, 3D Printed ITX Enclosure & Frame System

Looking for affordable and cool-looking ITX cases, I found it was pretty easy to make this and share.

What it is

I normally sell access to my prints, and for others in my collection you do need to subscribe- but this year I thought I'd make one free to get the STL files. This setup is a dual ITX system printed entirely with matte black PLA. You could use carbon fiber like I normally do- but I really like the matte look on this build (even if it's exceptionally hard to photograph the details). Both ITX systems are the N100-based Latte Panda Mu, which puts the N100 and RAM on a small board, then pairs it with a motherboard with a host of peripherals like dual 2.5GB Ethernet and more. I chose dual NVME via the PCI-e slots, even if one of the NVME drives is limited to a single channel.

Evolution from the Obelisk

You can read more about my Obelisk here, as well as listen to the discussion on the Hackaday Podcast here. That build tried to channel all the heat up the stack like a chimney, and it was actually pretty reasonable- but the noise from the fans (even when they were usually idle) was still noticeable. I wanted something that could live on my desk, and they've done well here- although I did add one large fan underneath to help keep those idle CPU temps cool.

I don't have any CPU fans on these builds, so I wanted to vent this as much as possible, taking advantage of the 3D printed part walls to help add some rigidity. I did some early tests with different designs, but I immediately liked the angled slots you see in the photos for this post.

Modular

I am frequently changing designs around here, constantly moving parts from one chassis to another as I explore ideas and test different approaches to tech here in the lab. Although I have two ITX-based systems here, I left the enclosure double-wide so that I could make a larger single ITX system, and I left mounting holes on the top, bottom, and sides for grouping the cube frames together. I ended up using the bottom holes to adapt a fan bracket, which meant adding it later didn't require a redesign.

Each ITX box is also modular- the corners of the motherboard are each their own mini-bracket, attaching to three sides to help form the outer skin. Each outer plate can be lengthened if you just want to make a taller enclosure without the cube frame. Want a deeper enclosure to encase the USB peripherals at the front or rear? Just make the side brackets deeper and make the top and bottom plates deeper. The front handle might need a redesign if you change the front, but it's just mounted on tabs and shouldn't be too hard to update either.

The parts list is at the end of this article, but it's pretty short with a couple motherboards, plastic filament, a PC fan, and a whole bunch of 10mm m3 screws. I get a small fee from Amazon for purchase through those links- thank you for your support!

Easy to Print

If you read along with my projects, you will know I despise support prints. I hate peeling them off, and they ruin the smooth finish I like with so many prints I create. As always, you don't need any here and only the top/bottom plates are kinda-big, but should still print on most printers. PETG would probably be a better print material, but I really like this matte finish. Since I went the PLA route I knew it would be easier than ever to strip some screws with power tools, so for this build this can be done with just a single hex screwdriver by hand. I've also doubled the screw mounts for each location, so if you accidentally strip a screw, just use the other one for structure- there are one or two screws a little loose with this builder.

Use Less Filament

For this build I also wanted to use far less filament that the Obelisk, so the cube frame is very minimal and quite strong, thanks to the funky corners in the back (that's by far my favorite part of the design). Overall this project uses about one roll of filament, so even with the fancy matte PLA from Bambu, this case only cost about $25 in plastic.

Even with minimal plastic, I did manage to sneak in a couple features here and there. The top and bottom frame parts are identical, as are the left/right. You will still want to print with one of each rotated 180 degrees if you want the finish from the build plate to match on each side. The top and bottom also have the rails built in, so all you need are some 3D printed or laser cut parts to slot into them. I found out pretty quickly that the ITX cases slide out a little too easy, so I made my first latch! It makes the whole vertical frame post twist just a little so they should last a long time- and they run along the outside of the case with just the right amount of tension, making it easy to slide the PC's back in when you're ready.

Looks Cool

I draw a ton of inspiration from movies, maybe someday something I make will end up in one? I am excited that one of my cyberdecks made it into an Amazon Prime show - "Night Sky" season 1, episode 5, just a little under 17 minutes in.

This one is a little more from my science fiction movie favorites, landing somewhere between Dune and Alien. I am still developing my own look, and I am happy to say I have some mods for this in the future, hopefully ahead of the holidays.

Silent

Without any speed reducers on the fan, this thing is dead silent. I want to avoid throttling the CPU's, so I added the single fan on the bottom. I am sad to say the fan cooler that comes with these boards is still pretty noisy- not a part I plan on using anytime soon. With no spinning hard drives and only the one fan, this patiently chugs away on my desk, only getting slightly warm.

This build is something I am pretty proud of and part of my daily use here- while these are servers for me, I am looking forward to possibly tackling a full PC build in 2025.

I have one more build this year, and this is my THANK YOU to all my readers, and especially my subscribers for all your support. Your paid subscriptions allow me to go from 1-2 projects a year to about one per month.

Anyway, here are some photos of the units I built- I hope you like them!

Photo Gallery - Compute Units

Gallery - Cube Frame

Parts List

Here are all the parts used for this build- remember that I only provide tech parts for one PC, you would just need to order double if you want to recreate the whole thing as seen here. There are no instructions for the build, but the photos and parts are designed in such a way you should be able to assemble like a moderate complexity puzzle.

• N100 chip with 8GB RAM - DFRobot
• Full Mainboard - DFRobot
• Wera 2.5mm Screwdriver (for the M3 screws) - Amazon
• Wera 3mm Screwdriver (for the M4 screws) - Amazon
• USB Panel Mount Header (for USB ports in the rear) - Amazon
• NVME Adapter x1 - Amazon
• NVME Adapter x4 - Amazon
• NVME drives of your choosing (not SATA M.2)
• M3x12mm Screws - Amazon
• M4x12mm Screws - Amazon
• 140mm Noctua Fan - Amazon
• Rubber Feet - Amazon
• Matte PLA - Bambu, Amazon

(Added 10/9/2024 as errata - I forgot to include these at publish time - these are for mounting the motherboard to the PLA frame. You may be able to find cheaper standard screw sizes, but 3.5mm is what I used with the parts below. You only need 4 inserts and 4 screws for each motherboard)

• 3.5mm Heat Set Inserts - McMaster Carr
• M3.5mm Screws - McMaster Carr

3D STL Files

The STL files are released under the Creative Commons Attribution/Non-Commercial license. Simply put, if you create a modification of this design you're free to do so, but you need to credit the original design- links back to my site really help me, and I love to see modifications, just email me at jay@doscher.com. I am also open to commercial licensing for designs, just drop me a note and I'm happy to discuss licensing. The CAD files aren't released for free- you need a paid CAD membership (even just for a month) to get access to those. Thank you for your support!