I'm in a process of building my own PC case. I ran into a big problem: How to make the case happen.
There are two choices I'm currently considering;
1. Protocase
Protocase is probably the best custom PC case manufacturer. They can make you a case, even from sketches. Their quality is great, they provide things other than the case (like SSD bracket), and most importantly, they actually make sure that the case works first before manufacturing it. This means that you will only need to pay once, and you will be guaranteed a working case with all the compatibilities that you wished.
However, the convenience comes at a price, and it's heavy. As long as the files and descriptions that you give them are not 3D print-ready, they will charge you for extra adjustments on the CAD or the sketch-to-CAD conversion itself. I haven't tried quoting my incomplete CAD file, but from other experiences, the CAD adjustment service might cost around $100 per hour (depending on how long the designers work to fix the CAD). That's pretty expensive. It might turn your supposed-to-be $250 case to $500-$600. And I just can't spend more than $400 for a small case. I don't think I can do that.
2. 3D print
The advantage of 3D printing is that it's not very expensive. My PC will have 445mm x 305mm x 64mm dimensions. Let's say that the material has a thickness of 2mm, the outer panels (top, bottom, left, right, front, back) will have a total weight of around 0.7 kg. There is a 3D printing service that only charges 8 cents per gram using PLA or ABS. This means that one almost complete case will only cost $56. This is good, because the money that you lose if there are design errors or you want to change the design will not be too much and if you don't succeed, you can try, try again. Having a case in plastic also means that you don't need standoffs to mount your motherboard and you can have maximum clearance for CPU air cooler height.
However, ABS is weaker than steel and requires more thickness to be as rigid. I'm not even sure if 2mm is enough for a PC case. There's also the matter of 3D printer's accuracy. A PC case can only tolerate little errors in printing. And, the biggest disadvantage of 3D printing, you have to make sure that your CAD file is as detailed as the real case itself, and I definitely can't do that. I don't really know someone who can do that, either. The service cost isn't a problem, because I'm certain that it will be a cheaper than Protocase's, but finding someone who can do it will be very hard.
What do you think should I choose?
Are there any better options for this?
Your answer will be highly appreciated.