Antec P180 - Worth getting a replacement? (via warranty)

googlcmplx · Post by **googlcmplx** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 8:51 pm

Regarding the subject of the warped doors on the p180, I believe the problem may possibly be due to an engineering oversite. It could be caused by differential coefficients of thermal expansion between the tightly attached plastic and metal layers of the door. The CTE for aluminum is around 13.0 micro-in/in-deg F and around 45.0 micro-in/in-deg F for ABS plastic (unless it is highly glass-filled). At one temperature the door might be flat but at lower (ie. room) temperatures, the door bows out and at higher temps, the door will actually bow in. This works just like the bi-metallic strips used to actuate automotive radiator thermostats. If you don't believe me, get out a hair drier, open the P180 door and lightly (CAREFUL!! - only LIGHTLY!!) warm it up. Then close it right away and see what happens!

rbpolaris · Post by **rbpolaris** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 10:49 pm

I think googlcmplx might be onto something here...

I received my P180 a couple of days ago from Newegg. I'm very impressed with the case quality and design, but like the others here I seem to have some degree of bowing in the front door. It seemed very slight at first (like the pics in a previous post), but tonight I started building my machine and noticed it seemed more warped...I locked the door down with the keylock for the night to see if that "trains" it back at all.

Interestingly though, in the process of building the machine I have had both side panels off for several hours. I picked them up and examined their flatness and they seem to have a certain bow to them as well when not connected to the rest of the chassis. Now...this most certainly is not an issue because once installed onto the chassis they are held down flat on all 4 edges. It does make me wonder however, about the bowing of the door and if this has something to do with the "tightly attached plastic and metal layers" and some sort of thermal expansion/contraction as googlcmplx has postulated.

There have been enough posts on this forum and other places I've read about this door warp issue that I'm pretty sure someone at Antec has had to have seen it. I have noticed someone on this site's forum by the handle of AntecRep as well. Could we get an official response to this? What can be done about this? Will affected front bezel/door assemblys be replaced under warranty or could Antec provide some sort of kit to fix the problem?

maxdido · Post by **maxdido** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 3:37 am

I just got my second P180 case and with my first case I didn't had any problems with the door. But with the second case the door curved as many of you experienced too.

I found that the aluminium part was to large to fit in the plastic frame.
I removed the aluminium out of the door by gently tipping over the hooks at the back of the door and now (without the aluminium) the door fits perfectly in the case. The only thing is that it doesn't look very nice without the aluminium part.

When I put the alu. back in place the door curved again.
I will contact my retailer about this. Perhaps I can only send in the door.
Otherwise I have to uninstall my computer out of the case

Allen55 · Post by **Allen55** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 11:21 pm

[quote="maxdido"]I just got my second P180 case and with my first case I didn't had any problems with the door. But with the second case the door curved as many of you experienced too.

I found that the aluminium part was to large to fit in the plastic frame.
I removed the aluminium out of the door by gently tipping over the hooks at the back of the door and now (without the aluminium) the door fits perfectly in the case. The only thing is that it doesn't look very nice without the aluminium part.

When I put the alu. back in place the door curved again.
I will contact my retailer about this. Perhaps I can only send in the door.
Otherwise I have to uninstall my computer out of the case

[/quote]

I had the same issues as everyone else with the warped door. I contacted Antec directly and they sent out a new door free of charge. This "new" door became warped over night even though it was delivered flat so it's what was said before- the raised edges on the aluminmum panel are slighty larger than the grooves in the plastic door and the contraction/expansion issue just makes things worse.

What I finally had to do is carefully remove the aluminmum panel from the plactic door and grind down the raised horizontal edges only (top/bottom and the two angled edges next to the USB/audio jacks) with a dremel tool flush to the back side of the panel. This allows the panel to fit better into the groove of the plastic door. I also had to enlarge the small slots in the plastic door where the aluminmum panel tabs slip through, again with a dremel tool. The slots in the door do not align with the tabs exacly so when the panel contracts, it warps the plastic.

Doing these two things allows the door to be completely flat against the case.

scorp · Post by **scorp** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 3:26 am

I have the same door problem, but much more sever than what i've seen until now. The door is of by some 7-9mm towards the middle. I sent the entire case back to the retailer where I bought it from, because they didn't accepted a door-exchange. Cheesy retailer

spiffy102 · Post by **spiffy102** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 5:39 am

I wish the Antec rep would comment as to whether their current production runs have fixed these issues... I'm planning to buy a P180 in the next 2-3 weeks, and would prefer to buy one that doesn't have all these quality issues.

rbpolaris · Post by **rbpolaris** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 8:55 am

Kudos to Allen55 to finding a fix to the problem. I don't happen to own a Dremel tool nor the time to fix Antec's mistake.

I've built my system and I love the case except for this one obvious flaw. The degree of warping changes day to day, it is surely related to expansion/contraction due to temperature.

Now would be a great time for AntecRep to make a post in here about how they will provide us with properly sized aluminum inserts for our front doors under warranty.

Allen55 · Post by **Allen55** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 11:11 am

[quote="rbpolaris"]
Now would be a great time for AntecRep to make a post in here about how they will provide us with properly sized aluminum inserts for our front doors under warranty.[/quote]

It's funny Antec missed this flaw in the design process considering how other details of the case were addressed. All that is needed is to simply stiffen the plastic on the door to resist bending or like you said properly size the aluminum piece to fit the door.

Either way, replacement under warranty is required. But like it was said before, without a re-design first, it does no good asking for the replacement. Another option I though of is to mod the case by replacing the aluminum panels with wood veneer that are more stable to heat and cold. Maybe just mod the front door would look cool.

And not having a Dremel tool might not be a problem since plastic and aluminum are soft materials to work with using a hand sander or file. It took me about 2 hours using the Dremel.

wainwra · Post by **wainwra** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:41 pm

Very cool first post, Allen55...

Welcome to SPCR!

scorp · Post by **scorp** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 5:08 am

Got my replacement. The door is worse now. The case is great, but this door problem is kind of ruining it. I don't see whay I should mod my case in order to look like it should. Antec should come up with a solution to this annoying problem

. I'm very6 very disapointed

Big Fat Duck · Post by **Big Fat Duck** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 6:35 pm

yeah i have that bulging of about 3 mm at the middle of the front door. I was so pissed when i realized that this thing was defective.. but it will cost way too much to rma and do all that shipping stuff.. while its sorta a gamble anyways since you're probably going to get another defective one.

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 10:33 am

I just gave the case back to my retailer, for it to be replaced by the distributer.

He said something about handpicking one without the problem. I hope they do, however this is looking more like a design flaw than a manufacturing fault. It's still a great case, but not perfect.

This should be reported more in the reviews though.

EDIT: Just saw the pic. That looks bad. I don't remember my 'silver bit' sticking out from the black bezel...just had the warp and 'slightly difficult to open' factor.

scorp · Post by **scorp** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:35 am

Mine was "handpicked" by the retailer after I RMAed it ... great handpick, what more can I say

. I wrote directly to Antec and they told me that they'll send a replacement door. I'm keeping my fingers crossed

. Until now I spent $200 on a case that looks very bad .

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 11:32 am

Yeah...looks even WORSE than a standard (non hand-picked P180). But my case also had very loose hooks, which broke off in about 2-3 days, and had manufacturing stratches in some (not severe) areas of the case. The features and looks are good, but these iffy problems stop it from being an 'ultimate' case.

Slackenerny · Post by **Slackenerny** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 10:16 pm

I've had a problem where the side panels are starting to separate as well as the front panel issue:

I'm trying to arrange replacements now. I'll keep you posted.

piptt · Post by **piptt** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 2:19 pm

As a fellow P180 owner, I have a bulging door. I took the door off its hinge and bent it back flat, however, it didn't take long to return to its original shape.

I wrote to Antec and they said its a manufacuting problem and directed me to this:
http://www.antec.com/p180/p180.html

They assured me it would also fix the bowing problem. So I tried it again, but I worked it a bit more this time (for about 30mins). This did show more improvement, but its still wanting to bend away from the frame.

Finally Antec tell me that its caused by the cold weather and that they were working on a fix which should be completed by January.

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 7:53 pm

piptt wrote:As a fellow P180 owner, I have a bulging door. I took the door off its hinge and bent it back flat, however, it didn't take long to return to its original shape.

I wrote to Antec and they said its a manufacuting problem and directed me to this:
http://www.antec.com/p180/p180.html

They assured me it would also fix the bowing problem. So I tried it again, but I worked it a bit more this time (for about 30mins). This did show more improvement, but its still wanting to bend away from the frame.

Finally Antec tell me that its caused by the cold weather and that they were working on a fix which should be completed by January.

Thanks for the link, I tried it, but unfortunately it did not help, my front panel still bulges about 4-5mm in the middle. What is this fix they are working on, are they going RMA all defective doors? I'm thinking about applying Allen55's fix, but I'm not sure I have exactly the same problem so I'm not sure it will work in my situation and if Antec is going to RMA defective doors I would rather not mess with it.

Anyway, it appears the combination of plastic and alluminum is a really bad combo because my side panels are also slightly warped, not as much as the front panel, but noticable enough when I try to put them back onto case, I just hope this side panel warping won't break the plastic hinges. Otherwise it will be really ugly, $100+ case with no side panels and front door that won't stay aligned.

djnotepad · Post by **djnotepad** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 7:35 pm

piptt wrote:As a fellow P180 owner, I have a bulging door. I took the door off its hinge and bent it back flat, however, it didn't take long to return to its original shape.

I wrote to Antec and they said its a manufacuting problem and directed me to this:
http://www.antec.com/p180/p180.html

They assured me it would also fix the bowing problem. So I tried it again, but I worked it a bit more this time (for about 30mins). This did show more improvement, but its still wanting to bend away from the frame.

Finally Antec tell me that its caused by the cold weather and that they were working on a fix which should be completed by January.

just wanted to bring up that this solved my bowing problem. i didnt have the bowing aluminum problem, just the door slightly, and now its flush. pretty easy fix, but it shouldve came flush IMO.

djnotepad · Post by **djnotepad** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:17 am

djnotepad wrote:
piptt wrote:As a fellow P180 owner, I have a bulging door. I took the door off its hinge and bent it back flat, however, it didn't take long to return to its original shape.

I wrote to Antec and they said its a manufacuting problem and directed me to this:
http://www.antec.com/p180/p180.html

They assured me it would also fix the bowing problem. So I tried it again, but I worked it a bit more this time (for about 30mins). This did show more improvement, but its still wanting to bend away from the frame.

Finally Antec tell me that its caused by the cold weather and that they were working on a fix which should be completed by January.
just wanted to bring up that this solved my bowing problem. i didnt have the bowing aluminum problem, just the door slightly, and now its flush. pretty easy fix, but it shouldve came flush IMO.

actually i stand corrected. this fixed the problem for all of one day. and now its back to the way it was

has anyone been in contact with antec about this issue? any further updates?

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 8:36 pm

Update.

I finally got arround to trying to get the case replaced. While I didn't manage a replacement (leaving me with the broken clipped door and some manufacturing scratches), they did give me a new door (whole front piece). This must be an updated design, as the warping is completely gone. There are a few differences, 1 being the power switch and reset switch I think are magnetic, and there's now magnets in the centre of the door (lines up with the power switch). So there's no warping at all.

I'll probably show some pictures soon. I wonder whether it'll become standard with new cases or something.

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 10:38 am

Good news, but will antec send a replacement for the rest of us? It's one thing to send a replacement door to one person, and another one to send it to anyone who requests it.

depravedone · Post by **depravedone** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 10:48 am

I almost feel guilty. I have no problems with my case whatsoever. I bought mine before Newegg even carried it yet, so I'm assuming I have an early version too.

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 5:50 pm

JazzJackRabbit wrote:Good news, but will antec send a replacement for the rest of us? It's one thing to send a replacement door to one person, and another one to send it to anyone who requests it.

Yeah, I hope that they at least use it for every future version of the case, and I guess you have a good retailer who can deal with a distributer, you should be able to get one.

CloudST12345 · Post by **CloudST12345** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 1:02 pm

jermaink wrote:Update.

I finally got arround to trying to get the case replaced. While I didn't manage a replacement (leaving me with the broken clipped door and some manufacturing scratches), they did give me a new door (whole front piece). This must be an updated design, as the warping is completely gone. There are a few differences, 1 being the power switch and reset switch I think are magnetic, and there's now magnets in the centre of the door (lines up with the power switch). So there's no warping at all.

I'll probably show some pictures soon. I wonder whether it'll become standard with new cases or something.

I asked for a replacement door not too long ago and this was what I got. The door is now straight with no noticeble bulging. In addition, they added two magnets on the inside of the door so when you fully rotate the door, it "sticks" to the side panel.

Antec P180 - Worth getting a replacement? (via warranty)

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