Case Mod - In Progress Project: Vax R400x - design update Sept14

I have recently acquired an old Vax machine, when I saw it sitting on a pile destined for a recycling plant, I knew I had to rescue it. This thing is a beast.



I'm still working on the design, but in the mean time I decided it was time for some demo. I started gutting it yesterday, and so far things have gone smoothly. It was already stripped of the hardware and yet it still weighed 25-30 kilos. I was sure it was going to be a nightmare removing all the steel. Here's a pic of the interior before demo.



I was pleasantly surprised when the shell came off as 1 piece by only having to remove 8 screws, and once the shell was off, I saw the back panel was easily removed as well. here's a shot of the 2 pieces with the back removed.



the bottom is removable with 4 bolts.



I was lucky enough to score 3 fan trays with the tower. 6 monster fans in total. I doubt I'll be able to incorporate them into the mod though, as they are 24v, and they can get pretty loud. here's a couple pics.





I'll continue on with more demo over the weekend. To help with the design I marked in some measurements. Here's a few pics with the measurements included.

the top:


the side:




the back panel (measurements are internal size aka the white part):


That's it for today. I'll upload a few more pics tomorrow after I get some more demo done.

 

Thats big.

 

so what is a vax machine?

 

VAX was a mini-computer made by DEC. One of the first 32 bit minis made. I think this is a micro-vax, which was the micro-computer implementation that came out in the 80's.

 

Dude, that's cool! How big are those monster fans? You may well be able to use them. They shouldn't be so loud if you undervolt the at say 12v or mabye even 17v. Click here on how to get 17v. It's a bit hard to follow but with a bit of comon cence and some basic elctronics knoledge you should be able to work out what he means.

If you need a hand let me know. I'll help you work it out.

Looks awsome. Mod on!

 

HOLY! This is the case that I dream about! Soo nice. I love the case and the space inside it, I want one Also that 2 fans are KICKASS! they will make that case fly to the sky if you put them into the wall 220V they will make the case fly for 1 sec and blow up they look like jets! I will keep my eyes on this, Keep it up. Show more

 

Thank you sooooo much for that link. I would love to be able to use those fans, since I have 6 of them. I appreciate the offer to help, and if I run into any snags, I'll give you a shout. I'll grab the measurements on the fan sizes when I do the rest of the demo today, and I'll get some more pics uploaded.

 

Dacust summed it up nicely, thanks. If you want more info...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Equipment_Corporation

 

I say you should send a few of those fans Extreme Air's way. -So he can get rid of those helicopter blades!
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=134071&highlight=EXTREME+AIR

 

I'm gonna watch this one close. I got an old AS/400 that is begging to be a server case...

 

I got a little more done today. Check out the display "tent" I got from one of the local grocery stores. They were going to throw it away, so I offered the manager $5.00 to take it off his hands, and he agreed. The canvas top didn't make it home with me, but here's a pic of the aluminum frame.



It folded out into a 6' x 6' frame about 7' high. Thats alot of extremely cheap aluminum tubing that would have cost me alot more than 5 bucks if I had to buy it. I stripped it down, so that I could take a better inventory of what I had. From the top down 16 x 67.5cm, 10 x 40cm, 4 x 48cm, 4 x 93cm, and 4 x 113cm.



This tubing is going to save me alot of weight on the completed tower, and it is extremely easy to cut and work with. The last thing I need is a computer that needs 2 people to lift.
I test fit a few pieces just to check the look, and to help get a sense of scale. For the next week I'm planning on working on the design of everything. To be honest, I still have too many ideas kickin around with this project. The size of it alone opens up alot of possibilities, and before I start cutting holes and mounting pipe, I want to be sure things go where they need to be. Here's a pic with a few of the pipes test fitted with a cdrom, and PSU shell.



I found the perfect heatsink to use in this case. I'm thinking that it will make a sweet hard drive cage, and I shouldn't have to worry about my hard drives overheating ..... ever. I placed a 120mm fan on it to help show the size of this thing. there is enough surface area that I can mount up to 8 hard drives, and have ample space between them. I could probably get 10, but they would be pretty crowded, and really I don't need 10 hard drives.

almost 7 inches across. here's a pic of all 6.



Thats all I have today. I probably won't have alot of updates until next weekend, as I'll be working on the design now that I have some measurements to back up the plan(s).

 

you could also get 24v from your power supply too
connect the 12v to the -12, and so on, as you would to undervolt.
but anyways, impressive case you have, and good find on the cheap alu.

 

I've been working on a first draft for my concept images. I used Google SketchUp ( http://www.sketchup.com/ ) for the pics. The software is very easy to use, and has enough features for my current needs. This design is far from set in stone, but I decided to upload a few pics to give you all a general idea of where I am going with this. When I get closer to finishing the design, I'll update the pics.





There will be more support pipes in my actual design, as I plan on using them to route my wiring in wherever possible. I hate seeing wires in my pc, so hopefully I can hide 90% of them in the pipework.

Only the 2 pics today, I hope to have more updates after this weekend.