I created a 100% 3D printed and toolless 6-Bay PC NAS case
Hello everyone, I’ve had a NAS for well over 10 years now and a couple of years after setting it up, some things became clear to me. First, as time went by, I was becoming more dependent on it since I was using it for everything, from family backups, to Plex, to storage of work files. The second thing was that over time we all know parts fail or need to be upgraded… every time I needed to replace or upgrade a component, even something as simple as a hard drive, I dreaded having to take apart my NAS case since they were always too cramped and the component placement never made sense to me. I…
In plain words
This is a 3D-printed, toolless NAS case designed to hold six hard drives. It addresses the accessibility problems of traditional NAS enclosures by using 3D printing and a tool-free design that makes it easier to access and upgrade components like drives and other parts. The case is intended for people who build their own network storage systems and want simpler maintenance and component replacement without the cramped conditions found in commercial NAS cases.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hello everyone, I’ve had a NAS for well over 10 years now and a couple of years after setting it up, some things became clear to me. First, as time went by, I was becoming more dependent on it since I was using it for everything, from family backups, to Plex, to storage of work files. The second thing was that over time we all know parts fail or need to be upgraded… every time I needed to replace or upgrade a component, even something as simple as a hard drive, I dreaded having to take apart my NAS case since they were always too cramped and the component placement never made sense to me. I have always avoided ready-made solutions (ie Synology) because in the event of a board/psu failure, I can’t exactly go to the local computer store and get a new PSU to swap and be done with it in 1 hour. So, after building PCs for over 20 years now, and having been tinkering with 3d printing for over 5, I asked myself If I could build something that would suit my needs better. Here were my design goals: - At Least 6 3.5 hdd capacity - At least 2 2.5 ssd capacity - Full-atx PSU compatibility - PCIe expansion slot - Direct HDD cooling - Toolless - EASY to print (no support removal, no special print settings) - Modular and super easy to take apart After a lot of prototyping, I believe I met the goals I set for myself. I’m happy to have 3 of these running in the wild for well over 6 months and I’ve gotten pretty good comments. The first prototype was more of a proof-of-concept. Took me a weekend. I quickly realized it was something that was possible… I started prototyping after that and 6 months later I had the final version. You can see the very first prototypes here: https://imgur.com/a/XNG7TTy They were printed in PETG so heat hasn’t been a problem, even when being stuck inside a closet with the past summer heat of over 40 C. This was sort of a side-project that wasn’t ever intended to be publicly released. However, as people close to me saw it, they pushed me to put it out there. In December I teased it on reddit and got a ton of positive comments. There was a particular person that contacted me and pushed me harder to release it, to make a video and what-not. I have been releasing and selling 3D printing models for a while now, with some of them getting a lot of positive feedback… and being an Industrial Designer I’ve always thought about a way of transitioning that venture from hobby to something more serious. So, I decided to launch my YouTube channel with this project. Being honest… the whole YouTube thing has been overwhelming as everybody tells you to “do this, and do that, or else you’ll fail” … My idea with the channel is to keep sharing projects like this and see where that takes me. The video/model is out now, it took me a while to get the documentation ready for it, but I’m proud of how it turned out. The model is priced at 10 USD, I figured this was a fair price since it was a ton of work… So anyways, I realize that this is very niche, I would love to be able to massively create a product like this that is not 3d printed but that is just another completely different beast so I've been thinking about just making it open-source and see where the community takes it, would love to hear people’s opinions on this. For the moment though, HN readers can get it completely free on Cults3d using “YCOMBINATOR” as a checkout code, since I really don’t want to use this platform as a means of monetization. Thank you for reading Get the model here: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/gadget/rnas-6x-a-completely-... Introduction video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVXr8KzjCM8 Specs, requirements, and manual: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QZkp2sARLcYNBjBg7D9Y2qvV6EL... you can see more of my work/models here: https://replicrafts.com
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