Caiman - New Case?

First off, I hope everyone had a great Christmas :)

I have been umm and arr'ing about designing and building a new case for my Caiman. Mainly so I can fit more goodies inside it and not be restricted by the size of the case, but also because (to my knowledge) no one else has done it yet. :lol:

I planning on giving it a solid aluminium front and back, with CNC milling/engraving for the buttons, power, inputs/outputs, volume, headphones, etc and then having only minimal text on the front to keep it sleek looking. I might even consider changing the buttons, etc but that depends largely on what my wallet will allow.

I am undecided on what the sides of the case should be made off (stained hardwood maybe?), but the top will likely be transparent.
The base will probably just be a sheet of aluminium with fixings attached for mounting the boards on.

When I get some free time I will draw up a model of what I'm planning for people to provide some input.
This will be my first adventure into building a case for something and hopefully not the last, so if anyone has done something similar before, I'd love to hear from them.

This is very interesting....I for one look forward to reading your opinions on how it sounds after the case swap.

You should post step by step photos of the process.


Regards D S D L

Good luck with this James - I've posted before that I would like to see a Caiman in a nicer case, (though in my 'case' I would also like to see it become a full-blown pre-amp, with a couple of analogue inputs and remote control...)

Although I think the main improvement will be visual, there should definitely be potential to improve the sound as well, so will be interesting to see (hear) how you get on.

Yea, I am looking forward to this little project. I have no idea how long it will take, or how much it will cost. I'm going to keep it as cheap as I can, without compromising on quality.

I have created a 3d model of the sort of thing I shall be aiming for. I am rendering a model of the new case as we speak, though it might be a couple of hours until I upload it as it taking some time to render. :lol:

I just need to sort out the back of the case then render the back and i should have everything I need to get started.

The render of most of the case has completed. What are everyone's thoughts?
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/8268/caimancase1.png

I will sort out a render of the back of the case soon.

Looks good - rough dimensions?

I've just noticed that I needed to enlarge the case slightly to get the internal dimensions I was looking for, so the last picture is a little out of proportion.
(A couple of new ones will be up soon)

Either way I'm looking at an external size of:
D - 216mm
W - 350mm
H - 100mm (Not including feet)

and an Internal size of:
D - 200mm
W - 300mm
H - 80mm

Thanks for that James - roughly halfway between a "standard" hifi size and the current Caiman, then - is there a particular reason for the width at 350mm? I'll wait to see the new images before saying anything else, if the proportions differ.

Beauty! Looks really good, il folow this one I think!

I know that the bdac case CAN be changed to make positive changes to the sound.
I lined the case of mine with aluminium flash tape (effectively Dynamat type stuff) and the sound tightened up nicely.

Will be watching this one closely :)

good render by the way, nice table texture.
What 3d software did you use?