Scratch Build – In Progress Raspberry and Banana Pie (Ice Cream Sold Separately)

So this project is already a couple months into it, Its been more "Ghetto Mod" than a nice tidy project up to now.
Time to tidy it up a little.....

Currently looking like this......




As you can see from the picture, I have 1x Banana Pi, 1x Raspberry Pi B+ and one Raspberry Pi B in a mini cluster used mainly for file sharing, webhosting, downloads and home automation.

My next addition is going to be......


As I would like to do away with two of my routers and add 1 last pi, this seemed the obvious choice....

My plans for the current setup are;-
* Remove all hardware and install shelves inside unit for all hardware (IN PROGRESS)
* Install LED Power Supply to run the Pi's, Hard Drives and USB hub (NOT DONE)
* Move 1 external HDD to BPi-R1 and one to the sata interface of the Banana Pi and add another through USB (NOT DONE)
* Install BPi-R1 and 4 port switch & surface mount Network Connectors (IN PROGRESS)
* Install Adruino for Home Automation (NOT DONE)
* Install 7" Touch Screen (NOT DONE)
* Reinstall All OS and Software (In what way i dont know yet but I have an idea) (NOT DONE)

I've not really had much electronics experience other than soldering a few cables together so should learn quite a bit from this, esspecially when i come to make the power circuits.

Anyway looks like ive got a bit to do so best start cracking.....

 

Ok so bit of an update time.

So while I am waiting for parts to arrive I have dismantled my unit and started laying out where i want everything to be....
(Sorry for the quality of the pics, my sister has my camera so im stuck with my phone and i dont have very good lighting in the house)



I have ordered a Raspberry Pi 2 to take up the room in the top right corner.



I have finalized what i want each SBC to do and its function in life, and i have figured out the layout so should be quite quick once all the parts start rolling in...
Hopefully today I'm going to get the floor and sub floor cut and fitted.

 

Today i managed to squeze some time in and make and fit the floor panel and the shelf for the 4th raspberry. Also got the arduino mounted and ran a couple of cables to start thinking about the nightmare that will be the wiring......




Appologies for the glare off the case. I am planning on painting the insides but not till its almost done.

 

A few parts came in today

 

Oh, and i found a mounting place for the second hard drive

 

And so the fun begins

 

Keep up the good work
Will be following this one!

 

Last few bits I was waiting on, time to get cracking properly now

 

Little bit of an update, I'm in work one more day tomorrow before some well earned annual leave

Anyway, started making the power circuit first so i can get it in to place. I couldn't mock up any further because i didn't know the dimensions of it before the psu turned up.

First of all i wired up the kettle lead socket and put crimp terminals on the other end.




Next came the feed wires for the regulators, same treatment with the terminals.
Tested it all worked and then set the voltage on the regulators.



Then I sat and stared at it all for a while as to how i was going to fit it all in the bottom....... hmmm

Anyway, the solution i have to come up with was to mount the regulators on top of the psu. It was a) one of the easier solutions and 2) more aesthetically pleasing to me

First step was to wine and dine the psu so i could get it naked.....



Once that was out of the way, I threaded some bolts through the holes and secured them with some wood anchors i had lying around.



Then used the prototyping boards with holes drilled through and some stand-offs inserted to mount the regulators.





The downside to this is, the regulators have obviously made the psu grow, thus i have had to raise the floor inside. I was planning on extending the floor round the front to cover up the wood anyway so not all bad. I am also going to swap out the wood anchors for some thinner nuts to claim a little space back.




I have also started work on the main power cable that is going to power all the little bitty servers and started making the hole for the kettle lead socket, but i havent made enough progress on either to warrant photos just yet.

Anyway, 1 more 12hr shift then hopefully will have it wrapped up by next week.

 

Hi guys, bit of an update. I'm nearly done with mock up, just a few parts to order today to arrive next week for GPIO input and some wood for the top and bottom.

First thing i got working on was the power supply and looms. I lowered the regulators and moved one in slighly, added a terminal block and then mounted it on the subfloor.





After that I made support brackets for the rear of the floor and then fixed it into position.

Once that was in its final place I could start work on all the external conncetions.
First up was the power socket



Then came the HDMI.


Then the front USB hub for the Banana Pi that will be connected to the TV.





Then came the network connection.



The HDD mount clashed with the USB ports on the Banana Pi so have refined that a little by shortening it.


After that I flashed all the SD cards while putting in a few cables to start testing.
All the Pi's are up and running at the moment.
I will hook up each Pi individually to the BR-1 once i have that set up as a router to set them up as I am still waiting for my switch to arrive to make the ethernet cables.
The power loom and sata cable will hopefully get sleeved in one nice chord...



While I am setting each up i have made the loom to make some USB ports external, just havent cut the hole in the case to mount it yet.

 

Ok guys bit of an update. Not much construction/modding has been going on as of late. With work and being busy setting up the software side of the cluster and the rest of my home network hasnt left me much time to do anything.

I have however, had time to go off on a tangent with the concept of this project. Initially the concept for the project was to fit it all inside the metal case i had, keeping the footprint as small as possible and as un-assuming as possible...........scrap that lets go BIG.........



Lets build a new TV unit with it all inside.......

I'll explain a little bit about what's going on in my head, the purpose of the project and the technology going into it, and where I hope I will end up at the end.

I have been collecting films on HDD's for a few years, and have ripped alot over the years. I currently have 10 hard drives in my main PC, with something around the 30Tb mark in total. Up untill about 18months ago my main PC was running 24/7 for Media centre, web server and file storage for my network, it was running Debian so I couldn't game on it (the main purpose i bought this pc) and was wasting a lot of electricity runnning constantly.

My solution was to setup a few raspberrys to do all the server and media centre functions which freed up my pc for playing games and saved quite a bit of money. Made a quick and dirty chassis (first pic in first post) which worked and was reasonably tidy considering, and it worked really well so I thought that it would be staying around for a while so i would tidy it up and upgrade it with better hardware hence starting this project.

Now i have proof of concept that the new setup works and I can do what I need to construct the wiring and things, plus set the network and software up I got to thinking how can I improve it and find solutions to some of the problems and ambitions I have.

First problem was access to all my hard drives. The whole purpose of was not to waste electricity with my main pc and automate ALOT of stuff around the house. I want to be able to use wake on lan to wake up the pc to access the films on there from Kodi, guess what?? Because my main PC is a, please dont shoot me i got it at a really good price, Alienware, so Dell, It hasnt got wol. Plus I have a few other motherboard and cpu's that will be perfect for this knocking around. So will be usuing my old Intel Q6600 and an Asus Mobo to have as an "on-demand" storage server.

The Raspberry PI's function as Follows;-
Banana Pi Router - Router (Obvs) Web Server, File Server, Backup Server
Raspi 1 - MySQl Server, Torrent Server, Home Automation Server (GPIO)
Raspi 2 - Mail Server, Network Admin GUI, VNC Server
Raspi 3 - Tor Proxy Server, Tor Wi-Fi Access Point, PXE Server, File Server
Raspi 4 - Kodi Front End, Emulators Front End, Sickbeard and Couchpotato

Then an an Arduino will go in to control somethings inside the unit like temperatures, fans and lights.

Its going to be made out of 12mm MDF and painted to begin with, but will end up casing it with something else. Most of the design is there and I know how I'm going about most of the major pieces with the main unit on the left. The slim slot top right is for the tivo, then the square in the middle is going to be a cupboard for storage, and finally the one on the right is going to be for Input and output for the unit, so making the usb's, ethernet and hdmi externally accessible.

Again, shopping has taken place for some of the components, and I am just finalising some of the dimensions and layout in sketchup before going to the timber yard to have it cut. I have started some physical work on a new PSU for the Raspberry cluster, but sssshhhhh dont tell anyone and i may show you some pictures......

 

This looks very interesting. Can't wait to see the end result.

 

Some great thought process behind this, well done bro

 

Cheers guys, last design update as i have all the dimensions worked out and ready to give to the timber yard and have ordered the fixings im going to use to put it all together.

Anyway, heres a glimpse into the mess of my mind and the ideas i have for this project.



Iain

 

Hi guys, anyone fancy throwing two pennies in on a decision ive got.

The way i want to mount the PCBs for well everything, Full size mobo, raspberry's, routers and the power converters is to mount the PCBs to a piece of aluminium. Then drill in to the wood to fit some nuts flush with the surface of the wood then using standoffs mount the aluminium to them.

Will normal 2 part epoxy be enough?? Or can I drill the hole slightly smaller than the size of the nut and press fit it in?? Or does anybody have any better ideas......

Cheers
Iain

 

How about drilling a hole though your wooden board, then putting a screw in it that threads into a female-female standoff on the other side and then mounting your aluminium tray to that?

 

Thought about that, but with the motherboard being mounted on an external wall i want to keep the outside as smoooooth as possible

 

I guess you could drill part way into the board and then glue a threaded rod in there. Alternatively there are fasteners for your exact application. Just google "threaded inserts for wood".

 

Ive got some wood inserts for holding the unit together, theyre M6 ones but cant find any with the thread for standoffs for a price im willing to pay for this project. Its a shame cos theyre brilliant, but £20 for something im not going to see very often, I can live with a little improvisation.

Threaded rod may be a viable option....

 

And so the real fun begins