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Tempered Glass...?

3K views 50 replies 15 participants last post by  allikat 
#1 ·
Any plans for tempered glass side panels...? I know everybody is doing it now, but they do look quite sharp.

I would love to buy a full tempered glass side panel for the SM8 I just ordered.
 
#2 ·
They do look sharp. I did a scratch case (Cigar Case in sig) and used glass that came from a picture frame.
biggrin.gif
 
#3 ·
No plans in the future to incorporate it. At the volumes that we produce, even if we got glass from China it would bump the cost of the cases considerably. Just a rough estimate, but probably somewhere between $100-200 just to have a piece of tempered glass. Unfortunately at the volumes we produce there's no way to incorporate it without passing off considerably cost to clients.

Then we have to worry about shipping it, and even worse, should at any point it become weekend, the glass exploding in someone's build (tempered glass doesn't shatter, it literally explodes into millions of pieces).
 
#4 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by JasonCL View Post

No plans in the future to incorporate it. At the volumes that we produce, even if we got glass from China it would bump the cost of the cases considerably. Just a rough estimate, but probably somewhere between $100-200 just to have a piece of tempered glass. Unfortunately at the volumes we produce there's no way to incorporate it without passing off considerably cost to clients.

Then we have to worry about shipping it, and even worse, should at any point it become weekend, the glass exploding in someone's build (tempered glass doesn't shatter, it literally explodes into millions of pieces).
Curious (polite term). Other manufacturers are putting out cases with tempered glass and don't have the problems with cost and shipping you are predicting nor do they have a major price bump, especially $100-200. Of course, if Chinese glass quality is anything like Chinese steel quality (or, rather, the lack of consistent quality), then yes, there may be problems if you used Chinese glass. One internet company I just looked up can make a single 1/8" x 16" square piece of tempered glass with polished edges (no drilled holes) for $31 (before shipping; ground shipping from Vancouver, WA to my location, a commercial address in the Phoenix, AZ area, is only $16 for one piece). Both the price of the glass, and especially the cost of shipping, would go down dramatically with larger volumes. You could cut costs further by not having the edges polished.

Shipping isn't that big a deal. Companies have been shipping tempered glass products for decades without problems or excessive cost.

Then there is your absurd allegation about tempered glass exploding. When tempered glass does break, it does so into small pieces instead of large sharp shards which is much safer. Also, tempered glass is far less likely to break. While there have been instances of tempered glass breaking spontaneously, often with a loud bang (but not an actual explosion), it's fairly rare and usually happens only with large pieces, such as shower doors or, far more often but still fairly rare, table tops where the glass' own weight stresses it. It used to happen occasionally with automotive glass when increased pressure due to extreme heat in a sealed vehicle would cause the glass to crystalize (very slightly cracking a window open prevented that). Even then, the broken pieces would often stay in place. When they didn't, the pieces would just drop straight down due to gravity. It's been a decade or two since I've seen or heard of that happening anymore.

Case Labs seem to be good at coming up with excuses for not incorporating new to you technology in your cases (such as excuses for not offering front panel type C USB 3.1 ports).
 
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#5 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by JasonCL View Post

No plans in the future to incorporate it. At the volumes that we produce, even if we got glass from China it would bump the cost of the cases considerably. Just a rough estimate, but probably somewhere between $100-200 just to have a piece of tempered glass. Unfortunately at the volumes we produce there's no way to incorporate it without passing off considerably cost to clients.

Then we have to worry about shipping it, and even worse, should at any point it become weakend, the glass exploding in someone's build (tempered glass doesn't shatter, it literally explodes into millions of pieces).
Curious (polite term). Other manufacturers are putting out cases with tempered glass and don't have the problems with cost and shipping you are predicting nor do they have a major price bump, especially $100-200. Of course, if Chinese glass quality is anything like Chinese steel quality (or, rather, the lack of consistent quality), then yes, there may be problems if you used Chinese glass. One internet company I just looked up can make a single 1/8" x 16" square piece of tempered glass with polished edges (no drilled holes) for $31 (before shipping; ground shipping from Vancouver, WA to my location, a commercial address in the Phoenix, AZ area, is only $16 for one piece). Both the price of the glass, and especially the cost of shipping, would go down dramatically with larger volumes. You could cut costs further by not having the edges polished.

Shipping isn't that big a deal. Companies have been shipping tempered glass products for decades without problems or excessive cost.

Then there is your absurd allegation about tempered glass exploding. When tempered glass does break, it does so into small pieces instead of large sharp shards which is much safer. Also, tempered glass is far less likely to break. While there have been instances of tempered glass breaking spontaneously, often with a loud bang (but not an actual explosion), it's fairly rare and usually happens only with large pieces, such as shower doors or, far more often but still fairly rare, table tops where the glass' own weight stresses it. It used to happen occasionally with automotive glass when increased pressure due to extreme heat in a sealed vehicle would cause the glass to crystalize (very slightly cracking a window open prevented that). Even then, the broken pieces would often stay in place. When they didn't, the pieces would just drop straight down due to gravity. It's been a decade or two since I've seen or heard of that happening anymore.

Case Labs seem to be good at coming up with excuses for not incorporating new to you technology in your cases (such as excuses for not offering front panel type C USB 3.1 ports).
A few things to point out here: The glass would need to be sized according to our panels, AND drilled, and shipped. Cost significantly decreases when you order in the huge quantities, sure, but we wouldn't be able to do that. We have multiple window sizes and don't ship 1,000+ cases at a time.

As for breaking, you can tell that to my desk that sent pieces into the wall 10 feet away when no one was sitting at it, and pieces on a shelf ABOVE the height surface of the desk. There wasn't just large pieces, but we had to vacuum up dust sized particles from everywhere as well.
 
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald View Post

Curious (polite term). Other manufacturers are putting out cases with tempered glass and don't have the problems with cost and shipping you are predicting nor do they have a major price bump, especially $100-200. Of course, if Chinese glass quality is anything like Chinese steel quality (or, rather, the lack of consistent quality), then yes, there may be problems if you used Chinese glass. One internet company I just looked up can make a single 1/8" x 16" square piece of tempered glass with polished edges (no drilled holes) for $31 (before shipping; ground shipping from Vancouver, WA to my location, a commercial address in the Phoenix, AZ area, is only $16 for one piece). Both the price of the glass, and especially the cost of shipping, would go down dramatically with larger volumes. You could cut costs further by not having the edges polished.

Shipping isn't that big a deal. Companies have been shipping tempered glass products for decades without problems or excessive cost.

Then there is your absurd allegation about tempered glass exploding. When tempered glass does break, it does so into small pieces instead of large sharp shards which is much safer. Also, tempered glass is far less likely to break. While there have been instances of tempered glass breaking spontaneously, often with a loud bang (but not an actual explosion), it's fairly rare and usually happens only with large pieces, such as shower doors or, far more often but still fairly rare, table tops where the glass' own weight stresses it. It used to happen occasionally with automotive glass when increased pressure due to extreme heat in a sealed vehicle would cause the glass to crystalize (very slightly cracking a window open prevented that). Even then, the broken pieces would often stay in place. When they didn't, the pieces would just drop straight down due to gravity. It's been a decade or two since I've seen or heard of that happening anymore.

Case Labs seem to be good at coming up with excuses for not incorporating new to you technology in your cases (such as excuses for not offering front panel type C USB 3.1 ports).
Writing polite term in the beginning of a post doesn't take out the rudeness of pretending so much
wink.gif


If you want a glass side panel on a product that didn't have it when you bought it, and the producer can't develop it as an extra and he clearly explains agreeable reasons as to why.... Just place it yourself? Can't believe I have to explain the possibility of modding a case, in a computer modding community.
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by JasonCL View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by JasonCL View Post

No plans in the future to incorporate it. At the volumes that we produce, even if we got glass from China it would bump the cost of the cases considerably. Just a rough estimate, but probably somewhere between $100-200 just to have a piece of tempered glass. Unfortunately at the volumes we produce there's no way to incorporate it without passing off considerably cost to clients.

Then we have to worry about shipping it, and even worse, should at any point it become weakend, the glass exploding in someone's build (tempered glass doesn't shatter, it literally explodes into millions of pieces).
Curious (polite term). Other manufacturers are putting out cases with tempered glass and don't have the problems with cost and shipping you are predicting nor do they have a major price bump, especially $100-200. Of course, if Chinese glass quality is anything like Chinese steel quality (or, rather, the lack of consistent quality), then yes, there may be problems if you used Chinese glass. One internet company I just looked up can make a single 1/8" x 16" square piece of tempered glass with polished edges (no drilled holes) for $31 (before shipping; ground shipping from Vancouver, WA to my location, a commercial address in the Phoenix, AZ area, is only $16 for one piece). Both the price of the glass, and especially the cost of shipping, would go down dramatically with larger volumes. You could cut costs further by not having the edges polished.

Shipping isn't that big a deal. Companies have been shipping tempered glass products for decades without problems or excessive cost.

Then there is your absurd allegation about tempered glass exploding. When tempered glass does break, it does so into small pieces instead of large sharp shards which is much safer. Also, tempered glass is far less likely to break. While there have been instances of tempered glass breaking spontaneously, often with a loud bang (but not an actual explosion), it's fairly rare and usually happens only with large pieces, such as shower doors or, far more often but still fairly rare, table tops where the glass' own weight stresses it. It used to happen occasionally with automotive glass when increased pressure due to extreme heat in a sealed vehicle would cause the glass to crystalize (very slightly cracking a window open prevented that). Even then, the broken pieces would often stay in place. When they didn't, the pieces would just drop straight down due to gravity. It's been a decade or two since I've seen or heard of that happening anymore.

Case Labs seem to be good at coming up with excuses for not incorporating new to you technology in your cases (such as excuses for not offering front panel type C USB 3.1 ports).
A few things to point out here: The glass would need to be sized according to our panels, AND drilled, and shipped. Cost significantly decreases when you order in the huge quantities, sure, but we wouldn't be able to do that. We have multiple window sizes and don't ship 1,000+ cases at a time.

As for breaking, you can tell that to my desk that sent pieces into the wall 10 feet away when no one was sitting at it, and pieces on a shelf ABOVE the height surface of the desk. There wasn't just large pieces, but we had to vacuum up dust sized particles from everywhere as well.
I don't doubt that it happened to your desk but, again, I haven't heard of tempered glass actually exploding, just breaking which suggests that glass actually exploding is pretty rare. Glass experts state that so called spontaneous breaking of tempered glass is usually due to poor quality glass (remember what I said about crystalizing auto glass is now pretty rare, probably because the quality has improved), glass that is too thin, or glass that is mounted in a way that it can flex excessively. I've had three homes over the past 50+ years that all had sliding glass doors with tempered glass panels (one had two) and never had one break. The home I currently live in has a sliding glass shower door (one panel being mirrored) and it's been there for over 20 years without breaking.

Other manufacturers are able to put out cases that have tow or even three drilled glass panels for less than $200 and some for less than $100. I just read about a dozen reviews of cases with tempered glass panels on Newegg and saw only one complaint about a broken glass panel (and that one was on an off brand case and was already broken upon opening the box; btw, all the reviews for this case commented that it seemed flimsy). Granted, those manufacturers are making and selling way more cases than you are, allowing them to charge much less for them but that is also true of the rest of the case so it makes sense your cases will cost more since you make so far fewer. People think your cases are worth that extra cost (otherwise, you wouldn't still be in business let alone doing so well you occasionally can't keep up with the order volume, something most manufacturers only wish would happen to them) because they offer features other cases do not have, including being highly customizable, so it stands to reason they would feel the tempered glass panels would also be worth the extra cost. The limited research I did shows the panels can be made at a cost that is commensurate with what you have to charge for your panels.

Also, if the case panel is designed correctly, there would be no need for holes in the glass. From what I've been able to see from pictures on your website, your current case panels have the windows secured by studs spot welded to the panel. If the edges of the glass are polished, the studs could be omitted and the glass can be simply mounted to the inside of the side panel with a mounting tape, such as 3M VHB (based on my personal experience with the stuff, that would be more than adequate plus that method is common with case modders) or even a good adhesive (automotive windshield is glued in now). You may even be able to eliminate the cost of edge treatment if the glass is mounted inside a flange that would also reinforce the panel or a thin sheet metal angle is placed over the edges on the glass to cover the edges and trim out the panel. Or, if the studs were mounted further from the edge of the opening, a sheet metal frame could be used to clamp the glass into place (and it would cover unpolished edges).

People are buying cases with tempered glass so the demand is there.
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by SHNS0 View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald View Post

Curious (polite term). Other manufacturers are putting out cases with tempered glass and don't have the problems with cost and shipping you are predicting nor do they have a major price bump, especially $100-200. Of course, if Chinese glass quality is anything like Chinese steel quality (or, rather, the lack of consistent quality), then yes, there may be problems if you used Chinese glass. One internet company I just looked up can make a single 1/8" x 16" square piece of tempered glass with polished edges (no drilled holes) for $31 (before shipping; ground shipping from Vancouver, WA to my location, a commercial address in the Phoenix, AZ area, is only $16 for one piece). Both the price of the glass, and especially the cost of shipping, would go down dramatically with larger volumes. You could cut costs further by not having the edges polished.

Shipping isn't that big a deal. Companies have been shipping tempered glass products for decades without problems or excessive cost.

Then there is your absurd allegation about tempered glass exploding. When tempered glass does break, it does so into small pieces instead of large sharp shards which is much safer. Also, tempered glass is far less likely to break. While there have been instances of tempered glass breaking spontaneously, often with a loud bang (but not an actual explosion), it's fairly rare and usually happens only with large pieces, such as shower doors or, far more often but still fairly rare, table tops where the glass' own weight stresses it. It used to happen occasionally with automotive glass when increased pressure due to extreme heat in a sealed vehicle would cause the glass to crystalize (very slightly cracking a window open prevented that). Even then, the broken pieces would often stay in place. When they didn't, the pieces would just drop straight down due to gravity. It's been a decade or two since I've seen or heard of that happening anymore.

Case Labs seem to be good at coming up with excuses for not incorporating new to you technology in your cases (such as excuses for not offering front panel type C USB 3.1 ports).
Writing polite term in the beginning of a post doesn't take out the rudeness of pretending so much
wink.gif


If you want a glass side panel on a product that didn't have it when you bought it, and the producer can't develop it as an extra and he clearly explains agreeable reasons as to why.... Just place it yourself? Can't believe I have to explain the possibility of modding a case, in a computer modding community.
Oh believe me, I could have been really rude if I wanted to (and didn't mind getting banned).

Yes, I can install a custom made tempered glass window into a side panel (and will be doing so in the case I was building once I'm able to resume working on it) but OP was asking if the manufacturer had plans to ever offer them. I feel the manufacturer gave invalid reasons for not planning on doing so and explained why plus pointing out that this wasn't the time they did so.
 
#9 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald View Post

Oh believe me, I could have been really rude if I wanted to (and didn't mind getting banned).

Yes, I can install a custom made tempered glass window into a side panel (and will be doing so in the case I was building once I'm able to resume working on it) but OP was asking if the manufacturer had plans to ever offer them. I feel the manufacturer gave invalid reasons for not planning on doing so and explained why plus pointing out that this wasn't the time they did so.
Your second post made your point very clear
thumb.gif
while I agree with you on the "catching up" part, in the end it's they who run the business and make the decisions.
And with this I don't mean that you as a customer should shut up, don't get me wrong. Getting feedback and opinions directly is the absolute best.

The point is that every business thinks about all these little details seriously, and it's impossible and a lot of times even counterproductive to explain everything that's going on to the customer - specially because they usually see only the tip of the iceberg, nobody really wants to write nor read a reply long as a book.

Sometimes these choices turn out to be good, and sometimes they turn out to have been stupid. But it's their money, reputation and job at stake in the end - not ours - and customers that don't get the whole picture and pretend things while knowing almost nothing of your job, well, when it happens to me it feels really insulting.

And the worst thing is that to those that are agreeable you would like to explain more but you usually can't for a lot of reasons.... And to those that are plain idiots, you would really love to flip the bird to them as a person but again you can't since, well, you're representing your company.

Does it suck for me that barely anyone is still doing high density radiators? Hell yeah. Do I go bugging EK or HWlabs to make them? Well, no, cause they're not stupid and they have their reasons for not making them. I'll just get the point, and give my money to Koolance that still sells them. Simple as that.
 
#11 ·
Tempered glass is a fad. Soon everyone is going to have one and they won't be cool anymore. Well made brushed/anodized aluminum finishes make more sense IMO.

Of course most of the people here are rich trust fund kiddies who don't mind buying a new $500+ case every 3 years. To stick their 2x [current top GPU] and [20 core intel at 50GHz] into.
 
#12 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by JasonCL View Post

A few things to point out here: The glass would need to be sized according to our panels, AND drilled, and shipped. Cost significantly decreases when you order in the huge quantities, sure, but we wouldn't be able to do that. We have multiple window sizes and don't ship 1,000+ cases at a time.

As for breaking, you can tell that to my desk that sent pieces into the wall 10 feet away when no one was sitting at it, and pieces on a shelf ABOVE the height surface of the desk. There wasn't just large pieces, but we had to vacuum up dust sized particles from everywhere as well.
Totally off topic... Nice Kontrol S4, are those Chroma caps you have on the encoders? To this day a small (yet vocal) part of me wishes I had gone with the S4 (or the S8) instead of my Z2.

As for on topic, I suspect those other cases have been able to add the option due to ordering ten thousand at once and using glass from China. The cases on the market that have tempered glass nowadays are only available with one option (aka "Henry Ford style", any colour you want so long as it's black), whereas most CaseLabs cases usually have 20-30+ options and/or configurations available. They discontinued the option for different types of windows a few years ago due to various reasons (main ones being having to have several sizes on hand since you could order 3-4 types of window size at the time, not to mention people were mainly ordering clear instead of red/blue/smoked)
 
#13 ·
Yeah, The S4 is a pretty good deck, and yes, those are Chromas
smile.gif
The S8 has some really sweet additions that can make remixing a lot more fun, but there's no Jog wheels and the touch strips don't have the same feel.

And your assertions are pretty much right on the money. A lot of those other cases are made in factories that can produce thousands, even up to a million cases a month (not an exaggeration). It would take us years.... Many many years to produce that much. Not to mention most companies don't have their own factories, they contract out to OEMs. Ever wonder why some cases from other brands look so similar in the interior? Because they're done in the same OEM factory. Unfortunately a boutique company with products made in the USA is just not capable of handling that kind of load, nor are we able to order that much material in one go.
 
#16 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by 44TZL View Post

All my acrylic windows get scratched and it ruins the clean looks of the case. So I welcome glass and probably not a fad..
I agree that tempered glass is not just a fad. It beats the holy hairy heck out of acrylic when it comes to durability.
 
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald View Post

I agree that tempered glass is not just a fad. It beats the holy hairy heck out of acrylic when it comes to durability.
Nope. Not even remotely. Try hitting a piece of acrylic with something hard/massive. Like try carrying a tempered glass case and bump it into a brick wall accidentally. Oops, now you have an emergency room visit for glass in your arms and legs and feet.
 
#18 ·
After owning a few tempered glass cases
In Win 805
In Win 303
In Win 509
Anidees AI Crystal Lite
Anidees AI Crystal Black
Bitfenix Shogun
Be Quiet Dark Base 900 Pro
Azza Photios 250
NZXT S340 Elite

I'd be ready to say I prefer tempered glass over the cheap acrylic case manufacturers use.
 
#19 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheHorse View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald View Post

I agree that tempered glass is not just a fad. It beats the holy hairy heck out of acrylic when it comes to durability.
Nope. Not even remotely. Try hitting a piece of acrylic with something hard/massive. Like try carrying a tempered glass case and bump it into a brick wall accidentally. Oops, now you have an emergency room visit for glass in your arms and legs and feet.
Yes, tempered glass isn't as impact resistant as acrylic. However, it takes a pretty good blow to break tempered glass and, if it does break, it breaks into small, pieces, like gravel, instead of sharp shards and will not be likely to cause serious injury (that's the reason it is required for auto glass other than the windshield and for shower and patio doors. The biggest advantage to tempered glass is it will not easily scratch or be etched from repeated cleaning.
 
#21 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheHorse View Post

Easy to say a $400 glass case is better in every way than a $100 acrylic case when everything in life is handed to you and you never actually had to work for a dollar.
Woah, woah, woah, calm down there buddy. @Lady Fitzgerald has worked more than the vast majority on Overclock.net, I'm pretty darn sure of that.

As for myself, I work, like everyone, but as a quality assurance manager.

Also, tempered glass cases start well below $100 : https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811517041

Another also, none of the cases I listed are at that $400 mark you're referring to.
 
#23 ·
#25 ·
Yeah ... I watched a vid on this yesterday ... spent most of my time just shaking my head.


You have to love the banana for size reference.
 
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