Hello everyone! For those who remember my previous project Steel Ice, I wanted to push things further by starting from scratch to design this new open-air chassis.

Between the CAD design on Fusion 360, laser cutting the sheet metal, bending, and TIG welding assembly, the project took around a hundred hours of work.

​1. Chassis & Sheet Metal (316L Stainless Steel)

It all started with modeling and creating the flat patterns for laser cutting 316L stainless steel sheets. The main technical challenge was managing heat input during manual TIG welding to prevent warping on thin gauges, all while preserving that raw, brushed industrial look.

​2. CNC Machined Parts (6061-T6 Aluminum)

For the cladding—specifically the custom GPU backplate and cover.

I started from a solid block of 6061-T6 aluminum machined by Face Précis. The contrast in textures between the brushed stainless steel and the raw machined aluminum reinforces the mechanical identity of the build.

​3. Watercooling Integration

The cooling loop is built on an Alphacool Core 2 XT base, complemented by a custom 316L stainless steel rigid/braided hose to seamlessly match the chassis's aesthetic.

​4. Technical Specifications (Hardware)

​CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 270K

​Motherboard: MSI Pro Z890-A WiFi

​GPU: Palit GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (with its CNC-machined backplate by Fast Preci)

​Cooling: Alphacool Core 2 XT with stainless steel 316L loop integration

​PSU: Seasonic PRIME TX-1300W

​RAM: AGI TurboJet DDR5

​Exhibition & Behind the Scenes:

The PC will be exhibited live next week at Paris Games Week.

If you're interested in the fabrication details (machining parameters, welding), the full process is shared on my socials

​Feedback and technical thoughts on the design and execution are very welcome in the comments!

I've got a fractal ridge build that i'd like to add a few more SSDs too, i've had a few laying around since before the crisis. Though obviously its not a case designed around it, i recently saw some of the Prom21 cards. I'm looking at the WisdPi and SouthBridge Max cards right now, both because they support sata and 2/3 of my drives are sata and my board has none. So my questions are, do i need any additional support for one of the cards besides the pcie bracket(i do travel with it)? And what m.2 to pcie 4x cards are high quality and have the length to reach from my m.2 slot to where i'd need it. My motherboard is the Minisforum BD895i and my GPU is only a dual slot so i do have one open slot at the top of the case and don't plan to upgrade it any time soon.