Timber Case - Made with Shapeoko, Kickstarter Launched

CNC Machines Shapeoko
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Hey Everyone,

I launched my Kickstarter today for my wooden & 3d printed case.

The entire project is open-source and anyone with can build/sell the product. Depending on if the launch is successful, I would be interesting in talking to people about helping out with some of the manufacturing.

Thanks!

Ian

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Nice job! I backed the $10 teir. Hoping the best for you. Always have to support a fellow Shapeoko person.

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Thanks! I appreciate it.

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I like what you are doing, especially as a guy who builds my own PCs. A couple of thoughts:

For your kits, (production not the beta version), do you think there will really be a market for customers to assemble and finish (wood finishing that is) an unfinished kit? Seems to me, if I have the skills and knowledge to want to finish the wood myself, I donā€™t need you to provide even the wood. Just the plans, and I can make it myself. Maybe some of the other components like the 3D printed pieces. What are you thinking in that regard for the final product?

For the finished cases, are you really planning on making 5 models? Seems like to me that most folks in the market for a custom machine that they are going to provide the hardware for are going to either want ATX or EATX case, especially if they want to install water cooling or other custom cooling options.

It seems tough to get to your $50,000 goal in less than a month. Have you thought about getting yourself some more exposure? I would think some place like /r/pcmasterrace might be a good place to start.

Cable management space planned in at all? Thatā€™s a big thing now with all the transparent windows on cases and the RGB memory fad thatā€™s in style these days.

Lastly, I really like that Ryzen build. How is it working out for you, what are you using it for, and your thoughts on Ryzen performance?

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I agree with EvanDay,

If you havenā€™t been building buzz for your campaign, to ā€œwarm-startā€ it, then 50k is ambitious so Iā€™d suggest looking at some ways to build awareness and maybe do some promo giveaways to encourage social sharing.

Depending on where you are, maybe you can find a group like the Red Blue Collective near you who can help you with the strategy and execution on this. Theyā€™ve had a few successful crowd funding efforts so they can help you do the same :slight_smile:

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Thanks Evan.

I think I made a few mistake in the launch. I think 50,000 was WAY too high of a goal. I also think I should have release 1 case only, instead of an entire line with 100 difference choices of wood/color/etc. To me it seems like very few people make it through all the content on the page.

I have driven a ton of traffic to the page from pcmasterrace. I did a huge giveaway there.

Iā€™m thinking of launching a new campaign in a few weeks with a single ITX case with like a 10,000 goal. I will have the case pretty much ready to ship. Iā€™m make the Kickstarter page much cleaner and more concrete as to what your getting.

Hopefully that will help.

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Hello UnionNine,

I did a ton of pre-marketing on reddit and I drove probably 30k+ visitors to the campaign.

See my response to Evan for my conclusion. I would like to know what others think.

Thanks,

Ian

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First of all, I love your design. Secondly, I think youā€™re right on track with the single case option for the time being. Just my two cents, I wish you the best of luck!

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I lurk around in PCMR from time to time, although Iā€™m low on the ā€œascensionā€ totem pole, so I donā€™t show my ignorance by opening my mouth much, lol. Sorry that I missed your promotion efforts there and that I was redundant with the suggestion.

Keep working at it, and keep us posted here. I would like to see it become a successful effort, if nothing else but to broaden awareness.

Maybe in the next Version 2 funding page, maybe just keep some photos at the bottom of various finished cases to show the art of the possible. Maybe even some with some custom engraving / V-carving in them. Donā€™t offer them as options, maybe just show what can be done.

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Thanks for the feedback Evan.

I just got back from the lumber yard with 6 feet of African Mahogany and 9 feet of White Oak.

Iā€™m going to work on a new design that is as absolute compact as possible. That seems to be a growing theme in DIY PC building. An ITX board with a really powerful GPU.

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Hi Ian,

All this sounds like youā€™re getting (and responding well to) some great feedback. Good luck with the re-design, and definitely take the current campaign down if the KickTraq doesnā€™t show it making it in time. Itā€™s better to have a cancel-and-go-back-to-the-drawing-board outcome than just a failure to raise.

Some other great input can be had from people like ā€˜the Crowd Sourceressā€™ Alex Daly: https://vimeo.com/87351711

And sheā€™s got a book out too, if you want to read up more on pro-tips :wink:

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Hello UnionNine,

Thanks for the advice. Iā€™ll definitely take it down before time runs out.

Iā€™m getting a lot of feedback from the ā€œSmall Form Factorā€ community on what they want in a PC. Iā€™m going to try and target that demo (as itā€™s the one Iā€™m the most interested in as well.

Weā€™ll see how it goes.

Thanks again,

Ian