Mk.6 EMP -Experimental Modular Project-

This looks to be an absolutely incredible project. I'm def. looking forward to this being finished. Subscribed for sure.

 

Looking forward to see how this progresses. I'm not really understanding how your going to attach the plug-bus, but I guess as the project comes on, all will be clear.

 

Very interesting project!
The physicality of the case looks good. The modular design certianly looks promising. Going to be really interested to see how you work out the design problems inherent with this type modular concept.

With regards to the Plug-Bus I'm not really sold on its usfullness or need. Being able to remove the motherboard without needing to remove any connectors does sound good. However, I only do this when I'm upgrading my motherboard really and then I'd have to take out the connectors anyway. Plus the features on the installed motherboard will usually be different, i.e. my old motherboard had an IDE raid so I would have needed 4 IDE connectors, where as my new one has SATA.
Also the position of connectors on a motherboard is not standard so you would need patch leads long enough to reach the far side of the board creating a large excess if the socket was on the near side.

Perhaps multicore cables would be a better idea?
Say for the front audio: 7 cores: 3xLR and a common ground.
But you'd only save 2 cores. Maybe if you intergrated this with the front LEDs and swtiches then the saving would be higher. But it would definatly be cleaner.

Still a great idea - subscribed with interest

 

MODULARITY (if thats a word) being semi redundant it will help, as it means he can just swap motherboard tray and done, no changing cables etc etc, its a great plan, and hope it works well!

 

As great of an idea it is, and believe me I've toyed with it as I am sure BIG companies have too, there are too many variables and it seems too cost/profit prohibitive.

But, I will like to see how this pans out...

 

Captain Slug,
That is some very nice design work. I am not quite clear on how your drive slides work, but they look like a very good idea.

I too like to model and plan my projects extensively prior to construction, accepting design changes at build time as part of the process.

Suscribe me to this one.

 

Amazing. Subscribed. You've got one hell of a talent for astheticly appealing functionality. Can I ask why how you decided on your PSU placement? Why the top instead of the bottom or side?

 

This looks interesting, though I dont fully understand exactly what you're going for. Ill let future updates of yours sort that out though. I look forward to seeing physical work soon

 

From my point of view its like an ikea shelf, you can buy different peices and parts for different needs to keep everything tidy.

In the case of a computer, you can buy parts for componants you need.

 

The power supply is in it's usual position. Having it in the bottom of the case would inhibit the installation of a large radiator.
Plus, having it installed in the same end of the case as where the optical drives are prefereably installed will allow me to have 2 fewer molexes on the plug-bus.

Everything is quite conceptual at the moment and I apologize if anything I've posted is too vague to be understood. Rest assured it will make more sense as progress is made. And hopefully that will keep everyone on their toes.

The end goal is to make the process of assembly, reassembly, disassembly, and customization as simplistic and easy as possible. Ease of customization is basically the theme for this case.

 

Be careful though not to make it more complex by trying to make it modular... Do you get my drift?

The whole modular thing is a great idea but it seems it would need the backing of hardware manufacturers to be truly useful.

I do wish to see more of your concept idea's as I've said I've toyed with this previously and can give some helpful suggestions.

 

Well, I warned everyone this project was going to go slow. Atleast I see there are alot of people interested despite me only having concepts. Rest assured everything that's been posted in this thread by me is feasible for me to accomplish as presented. Provided I find the time.

I haven't made it to the plastics shop yet because I've been taking care of some medical problems and futzing around with an HTPC client machine for my entertainment room.

 

i dont often pay much attention to project logs here, but i must say you have a very interesting imagination (i was a bit disappointed to see you were using acryllic, but i suppose thats preference ) i do like your ideas though, especially the drive rails. an idea for those though, add a handle that attaches to both spring screws; as pulling on four seperate spring screws to pull out the drive would be difficult compared to just two handles, one on each side. good luck with the motherboard dock, that looks very interesting!

 

I will be using almost exclusively polycarbonate, with only a few parts in acrylic.

And the drive retention clip is one piece of plastic holding four pins, held down with a spring-loaded screw. All you have to do is lift up the plastic brackets and slide the drive out. It's already meant to work exactly as you described.

 

You may have a problem with the IDE cables thinking that the cableless jump is a master HDD or CDROM (I'm not exactly sure on how the computer notices the difference between a drive being on the master or slave end of the cable, but I thought I should point it out b/c it could be a potential problem).

Looks Great! I don't know how you get so much time to do all of this stuff.

 

On a 2-device cable one of the wires (I think it's pin #32) is missing between the master and slave connectors and that is how cable select is detected and assigned. It has nothing to do with length so as long as all of the pin connections are included in the extension cable the functionality will not be affected.

 

updates??????

 

The plug-bus design has evolved considerably over the past few weeks. I have alot going on right now so this project is delayed a little. The first step is getting the plug-bus made, but until I can find someone to make it an afford to commission it then I'll be at a stalemate.

 

This really is a stunning and innovative case, i'm very impressed. The drive bays sound well thought out and the plug-bus idea I think is a cracking one, though prolly a bit of a wiring headache for anybody less than very talented. It's good to see builds where scope for upgrade and change isn't ruled out, too many mods and builds restrict the hardware that can be used through albeit impressive but ultimately impractical case additions. I'd love to see this go all the way to completion. Best of luck Cap'n!

 

Thank you. I'm currently occupied with both my new part time job, and a pair of paid machining projects. Once I have more free time (and someone to help with the plug-bus prototype) this project will see more progress.

The biggest hurdle in this project is also the most important part. Once the plug-bus gets made everything else will be able to fall into place.