AWUK Empty Metal Hitbox Case - Build your own Hitbox controller

The good : - well machined, no rough edges, has a bit of weight to it. The top acrylic is rather thick so there's no bending when playing the bad : - mounting the PCB requires you to buy separate mounting feet or use double-sided tape to secure the board - the pre-installed USB passthrough does NOT fit a Brook Fusion board, the pins simply don't line up - the acrylic top is attached via grommets and not screws, I'd advise against using these altogether since it makes opening the case a massive hassle once fully assembled - If you decide to use a brook wiring harness you'll also run into issues in regards to button placement, this can be negated by doing the wiring from scratch All of those issues aside, my biggest gripe with the box is the top panel layout. It forces your hands to be in an uncomfortable position due to how far up the buttons are placed, I resorted to using an improvised wrist rest for my right hand when playing, but this all could have been avoided if they simply cut off the bottom lip of the panel. In short, well produced but horribly designed.

The metal case is really strong and durable and the faceplate is very good too. I was slightly concerned about it due to reviews I saw about the plastic rivets that secures the faceplate, but as the instructions shows, these can be removed and reused by taking off the stand at the bottom of the case and pushed out. The preattached usb cable is very useful too. The only issue I had was mounting the fighting board in the case. There are standoffs in the case but it doesn’t align to the holes on the fightboard which was frustrating. For people that still don’t like having to take the stand off to open the case. You can get a magnetic strip and glue it around the faceplate which then closes onto the metal case quite firmly (due to the case being metal). Which is what I did and it’s even better that having screws and it’s easier to open and close. Very good and sturdy case perfect for complex customisation with multiple button layout if you want to drill your own face plate, the metal has very minimal profile on the top as well as being light despite being metallic. I’d definitely recommend it.

The quality of this enclosure is unquestionable. It's extremely solid and very well-built. The reasons I have given it 4/5 stars are: 1. No PCB mounting available. 2. No screws for attaching the top (uses grommets). However, I have found solutions for both: For PCB mounting, I used super glue to attach some screws upside down inside the enclosure. Then, I placed the PCB on top of these screws and secured it with nuts. To address the issue of no screws for securing the top, I also used super glue. I glued six nuts to the underside of the holes meant for attaching the top. This allowed me to use screws to secure the top. The solution worked extremely well, and now I can easily remove the top whenever I want. Lastly, I would like to address a review stating that the USB cable is incompatible with the Brook UFB. This claim is simply untrue. The Brook UFB has a 4-pin USB header, which I am currently using.

The metal case is solid. The acrylic looks amazing. So... Why not 5 stars? Because one major flaw. The plastic grommets. "these will pop out" yeah... not in their best shape tho! I had to open up the controller few times. The first one was because of my mistake. I didn't connect properly one ground on L2.Even following the instruction made me ruin completely the plastic grommets. So, how have I solve this situation? One simple answer. Zip ties. Zip ties saved my life. I'm sure there are more elegant solution, as using a screw and a bolt, or even more sofisticated method, but hey, zip ties worked. This is undoubtely a well done controller, fully customizable, with lot of space and countless possibility, but the fact I have ruin so fast the plastic grommets make me wonder how good could have been if they have used a screw and a bolt. As dimension and everything else, this case is amazing. I also didn't like that much the USB adaptor installed. It work absolutely fine with the brook universal fighting board, but the cable tend to slip up a little bit too much, so I ended up removing it and connecting the USB directly on the board. Overall, this product is totally worthed, you just need to know you need to work with it a little to find how to fix some issues. It's not a "plug and play" thing. You can't just place in the board (You will also need some plastic feet for it), connect the buttons and call the day. You need to work with it to find the best possible configuration. I wasn't disapponted. The quality is there.

Doesn't come with screws to mount a board and they're weirdly sized so I didn't have any to hand. Motherboard screws are too large, HDD screws are too small. The "pre-installed USB adapter" passthrough does not work with Brook boards despite description "recommending brook boards" . You will have to buy a "USB-B to USB-B panel mount" as the USB-B to 4-pin adapter doesn't work with Brook boards. Very inconvenient to open the case once it's been assembled due to using cheap plastic fixings instead of screws. Bought a Chinese case very similar to this on Amazon last year, was expecting better from this one. Only difference between this one and the Chinese one is ArcadeWorldUK's is slightly bigger and deeper. The Amazon one had the same plastic fixings and incorrect passthrough.