Project: Serverama - Frame finishing - 9th Oct

So, another project log for a server, i tried to start one the first time i did this case but i didnt have anywhere to host the images, however now with hosting sorted from the isp, i can do something. The case was started a couple of months ago but i did what i usually do and tried to do as much as possible as fast as possible. And as a result, nothing on the case was as it should have been. Mistakes were made, holes were drilled. damn.

Anyway, ive done a lot of scribbling and theres a new version of the case designed and ready to be built. Basically its the same as the existing one that was started... and then scrapped. The main problem with the current build is that its knackered, nothing on the case si the right size. every single corner is different and none of the sides match.

So, theres a few pictures here of what the case will look like, but i stress, these picture are of the knackered case.

First of all, as the other case has proved to be a little bit small here and there and dimensions didnt match what they should have, i started with all the measurments for the smallest size it could be, front and back. From this they could be matched to make the case as big as it needed. the follwing links are the first 5 pages of scibblings form the deisgning. If you can be bothered to decipher my scrawl.

Page 1 - Case Front
Page 2 - Case Back
Page 3 - Rough Sizes
Page 4 - Panels
Page 5 - Other Bits

They dont show much, more then ramblings of a tired mind staring at a pile of metal. They let to a better drawing done to scale, of what the case *should* look like.


if these dont work, then use these links instead.
Front and back drawing
Side drawing

As you can see, the case is going to be 22" high and 22" deep, and 9 1/8" wide (the extra 1/8" is needed, look at the drawings more ). The frame is made of 1"x1" aluminium 'L' bar, 1/8" thick. The idea is to put 12 removable hd bays in a case which isnt much bigger than a normal tower, thus enabling easier transport to a lan.

Again, i stress the picture is of the old case, and so has a lot of other crap done to it, which is gonna be done again, but differently .



There are a lot of pop rivets holding the pieces together, infact, there are 96 of them, each uniquely drilled so no side is alike, yet another problem. On the next case, the beams will be bolted together using countersunk bolts to avoid the problem of raised fixings needing to be ground or filed later.



The old case has a lip at the front, shown above, this allowed the HD runners to be attached inside the case and make for a smoother join between the frame and the runners, however, it didnt work quite as well as planned as you can see below.





The new design uses 1/8" 'L' bar instead of 1/16" to make the frame inside, it should be easier to build. The drawings on Page 1 (linked above) but its small and a mess.

The runners are used to hold sets of HD bays. Each of the bays are bolted together in sets of 4 to make life easier mounting the bays. Before, this was done using a sheet of metal bent up at each side to hold it in place.



This didnt work, it was too hard to get all 6 of the bracket to locate perfectly as the case wasnt square (9" wide at the top and 9 1/8" at the bottom, damn). So a new plan has been devised which overcomes a number of the problems.



From the pic above, you can see the 4 bays bolted together, this is fine, except for the bolt heads. these stick up too far to allow the rack to slide in and out of the case on all 3 levels (at the base, the bolts catch on the lip at the front). In the new deisgn, the 4 bays are held together with a single plate which only covers the outside dimensions of the bays, not folding up the sides like before.

To overcome the bolt heads catching on the frame, a piece of the same 'L' bar used for the sides is attacked to each corner of the bays. (as seen on the right of page 1). This *should* make everything work, but that remains to be seen, ultimately, this is the best plan yet.

I need to go and buy the metal for the new frame on monday, then drill all the beams and the triangular braces. That means another 96 holes and this time countersinking on the outside of the case, so technically its 192 holes. Thankfully ive built a jig which holds 2 sides at a time along with a brace so it should be much faster to drill the corners. I'll post a pic once ive checked it works . ive measureed everything concievable on it to make sure its perfect, but sods law will always prevail.

There'll be a better ratio of text to pictures once work starts, but that wont be for a couple of days.

 

Hmm... nice work so far. I like. Very clean design on the drawings, clean and functional. Oh, and nice movie posters. Gotta love Dogma and Shrek
On a side note, I'm hoping those removable drive bays are not going to remain beige if it can be helped?

 

There'll be a door on the front to cover tham up, but im not sure how that'll be mounted yet. As far as the beige of the bays, theres 12 of them to do and im not sure how dying them silver would be if its possible, and painting would be a pain, i could use a spray but again, im not sure how the finish would be and how resistant it'd be. I think the door'll be the best way at the moment though.

Thanks for the poster compliment i have erm... *counts*.. 29 of varying sizes, there pics Here and about 150 or more postcards

 

A Dilema...

So... talking to a mate today and he brought up a subject which had crossed my mind, namely, cooling the hard drives. Theres a product ive seen which uses 2 5 1/4" bays for 3 HD's and an 80mm fan (Linkie).

This got me thinking, i could use the remoavable HD bays i have (got 6 so far) in 3 sets of 4. This is fine, however thats 12x40mm fans screeming. so the problem becomes cooling the HDs if they're disabled.

The Lian Li idea is cunning, but ultimatly not removable and $25 a pop + shipping, which is $150 for a full set. Which is bad . As the server has to be killed to pull a HD out anyway i could make some bespoke HD racks which pull out. Almost identical to the current plan for the HD bays, but obviously smaller. Because its smaller i could theoretically fit more in.

So, to the dilema. I could have 12 ready built easy to remove Bays, OR i could have more, slightly harder to remove bays. ive done some measuring and it works out that each drive is about 1 1/8" high, this means i could put 6 HDs across each row, 5 if i wanted more space between them for cooling. Each drive is about 4 inches high, taking in to acount the metal work for the removable section, its about 4 1/2". This means 4 rows of 5 or 6 drives.

On the one hand this is overkill as i have got yet and cant afford 20 200GB HDs, but the expansion space would be nice for the future.

So, opinions please on which would be better, i know which is easier but i AM building the case from scratch, so a little more stuff to build would be that much fo a chore. Also, i ordered the metal today so work can start in the next few days. Woohoo

 

looking cool phat ass

 

i would help you out on your delema but i don't quite understand what you are talkign about so i will leave the helping to other people (my mind is mush right now)

 

I meants to draw a better picture of the new layout but fell asleep, i'll draw one and post it sometime soonish. Probably didnt help that i was half asleep when i wrote that lot

 

Why not use countersunk screws? I an using that im my case, just get some short 3mm countersunk bolts, and countersing the alu, no problem..

 

The metal plate is only 1/16" thick and the frames for the HD bays are made of plastic so i cant use machine screws. I did want to use countersunk screws but the thickness of the material meant that i couldnt (well i could, but it'ddefeat the object). Theres a new plan anywya, which i'll try and post tonight some time.

 

Righty. Last night i got around to drawing a few more pictures to illustrate the alternative method for HD mounting.



The width of the gap is 6 7/8", and one HD is exactly 1" high. This means including a gap for air flow between the drives, 6 HD per row is possible. Given that each HD is 4" high and the Rack and mounting system uses another 1/2", 4 rows of HDs fit in the case with enough room for a CD Drive

The space left over (approx 7/8") ise used for part of the Rack and partly for air flow. roughly 1/8" between the HDs and 1/8" each side for holding the HDs in place (see diag below)



As a side note, the metal is delayed but the jig is complete for drilling the holes in the sides and brackets. And it does seem to function correctly.




The metal for the sides is held in under a lip which also hyolds the brackets in place (better pictures of this once i have some brackets to use)



On top of this is a bracket which sits against the side pieces and is held in place by the clamp. (Again, better pictures when i have more materials to use to demo it)



Anyway, the metal might be done tomrrow, if not, bugger, roll on saturday...

 

This is a really nice idea, have you thought about making it rack mountable? it may seem like a waste to me, but most gamer/ computer geeks want to bragg about thier fancy racks in their house. I know I want 1.

As for the hdd mounting are you plaanign that when you make your own mounting system that the hdds will be in that little sealed hot swappable container or not? If they aren't gonna be then i'de suggets the Lian-li coolers. Although I am always all fr home made goods rathern then "store" bought.

-Bob

 

Each row will be removable, but sadly not hot swappable, none of the caddies i found cheaply did it reliably with a different card. If the cady was cheap and did hot swapping, the card was either hard to find or too expensive, or vice versa. So i opted for the cheap bays and live with having to power off to change a drive, so im not really losing anything with the custom racks as its till only 4 screws holding each Hd in palce (plus 2 holding each rack)

Aside from this.... a problem (yes another). got the metal today, and the brackets were the wrong saze, got that sorted, came home, checked the cuts, and they're 60 degrees not 45 . so tomorrow i need to go and get them to re cut each end, the metal is fine right length and thickness but each end needs recutting. So thats the next hurdle.

Once thats done, i ahve 6 days to build it ebfore i want to use it, but thats not gonna happen realistically unless i rush everything, so screw it. If i can get it done going at my own pace, fine, if not, tough. (i was going to use it at a lan, but a random spare case'll do)

'Nother update tomorrow once ive spoken to the metal place, they were good about the triangular brackets, so this shouldnt be a problem. but nm.

 

Sigh...

Took the metal back today, doesnt look like it'll cost me anything to fix em (as i expected) but the guy who owns the place wasnt too pleased that the order was wrong twice and had to come back 3 times (he doesnt know that the bracket arent square yet, but nm).

So another delay till monday. damn

 

noooooo

 

Too bad you didn't go SATA since it is natively hot-swappable. Either way, awesome so far!

 

Theoretically i *could* use SATA convertors and get an SATA card, somthing which i discounted because of the size of the Bays (9" deep) hoeveer, as a HD is only 5 3/4" an SATA convertor would still only make it about 7". This is something that crossed my mind after i'd ordered the metal and decided almost certainly gonna go with the 4 sets of 6 HDs.
The case was designed for a 12" space for the mobo, and a 9" space for the racks, with a small space in between, however, now the smaller HD racks mean the bays only need to be 7" (with SATA convertors) at most. so the cables will be managed better (hopefully).

The cost of SATA convertors put me off also, £100 on convertors wasnt a pretty option. But im not populating the entire case yet, so its not really a problem as i can buy SATA drives indtead or, more likely, buy PATA and a convertor so i cans till use my HD in my desktop removable HD bay (so i dont have to stream across the network or copy files about when i want to watch stuff)

Anyway, metal on monday, assuming they can get it right :/

 

Using a SATA converter on an ATA drive doesn't enable hot-swapping. That's possible because of how the power things are wired on SATA drives, with the grounds sticking out a bit further so you don't cause a short.

Great idea though, hope it works out well. It looks nice so far. That's a LOT of hard drives

 

wow i just quickly glanced and noticed your location says sunderland u macem i only live just over the water from you in newcastle sorry for the off topicness ne way nice mod thats sum killer hard drive array, btw what is hot swappable?

 

Heh, im actually in newcastle atm for uni, living in Heaton. hot swappable just means that it can be removed while the comp is on, rather than having to power down each time you want to pull one out, used mosytly on big-ass servers fo when a drives dies, just pull it out and pop in a new one to rebuild it via RAID.

Firehed: will the SATA convertor not be wired this way on the grounds of the convertor itself?

 

Hoorah, got the metal at last, the place i got it from had some problems with the cuts (hence the delay) but its all done. the cuts arent 45degrees but they're close enough to only need some slight filing to fit perfectly. So with a bit of luck there'll be some progress tomorrow, pics will be up that night.