Designing/engineering desktop "docking hub"

[tankman1989]

I can't place my tower in a convenient location at my desk and I hate having 4-10 different devices and wires cluttering my desk. I also have a number of devices that I use on almost a daily basis that are a mess of wires as well. I want to consolidate all these devices into a single usable unit. This is going to be a workstation for a computer/electronics technician. I designed a 6 monitor stand (2 rows of 3) and under each stack is room for a 2U case/chassis of some kind (I'm limited to about 18-19" deep). I will do my best to fit everything on one front panel but if necessary some parts will be eliminated or moved under another monitor stack - which would basically be just a face plate with ports/switches mounted on it & cabling running into the main control unit.

One of the biggest issues will be the chassis as I haven't found any that really suit what I need so it looks like I'm going to have to fabricate one. The pricing on most of these is prohibitive as well and there is no need for most of what is included.

What is needed is a plain box 19"x19"x3" (give or take a few mm). I am thinking aluminium plate for the front and rear panel (probably whole body) but I'm not sure what kind of finish can be put on aluminium, maybe brushed or polished? Maybe a carbon fibre veneer/laminate would look nice on the front.

Since this is going to be sitting on a desk and I'm trying to keep price down, I was also thinking about acrylic or ABS as I already have that. A clear acrylic top might be a nice idea on the aluminium to see inside.

I will be designing PCB's to mount many of the ports.

All independent systems will have their own power switches
*I'm sure I have left some things out, lol. If you think of anything that can be added post about it.
**If anyone is interested in building this or a variant of this we can work together on common aspects.

Front panel
-Blue Ray burner (standard or slim line - dependent upon room needed)
-3 1/2" HDD bay w/ adapter for 2.5" drive (insert into slot like a cassette tape - or actual caddy if available)
-Power & reset buttons/switch (from/for computer)
-Power & HDD LED's (from/for computer)
-Unit power
-USB 2.0 ports or hub
-USB 3.0 ports or hub
-SD / TF card reader
-SATA/eSATA port
-Molex & Sata female power
-RJ45 jacks (4) pass through (patched through to router/switch or computer NIC)
-Network Switch (5-8 port) of some kind (jump to RJ45 jack in case multiple connections needed on same network
-RJ11 (telephone) connection
-3.5mm Audio Jacks (Line in, Headphones, Microphone
-1/4" headphone jack
-Audio selection switches - Play speakers, play headphones, play both
-Audio Input selector
-DC voltage output jacks (& ground) 3.3, 5, 12 volts
-Variable voltage output 1.2v - 42v DC (input supply from dedicated 48vdc PSU)
-Volt/Ammeter LED panel (Multimeter if possible - AC/DC voltage, Amp meter, Ohm meter, Capacitance meter, continuity test)
-3 probe ports



Rear Panel
-120V AC Pass-through (fused or breakers) located on back - plug monitors into this
-Speaker outputs
-3.5mm Audio input jacks
-USB 2.0 Female B jack
-USB 3.0 Female B jack
-eSATA port
-Fan


Internal Parts
-PC PSU powers unit
-High voltage DC power supply (probably 48v, 3-5A)
-Raspberry Pa
-Sata to USB converter
-USB 2 hub
-USB 3 hub
-fan


Possibilites
-HDMI input w/ output on back (cable pre-run to a monitor)
-VGA input w/ output on back (cable pre-run to a monitor)
-Firewire
-Thunderbolt (leave area for this)
-5.1 Audio Jacks In & Out
-Speakers (2 on either side)
-Subwoofer output
-Amplifier for speakers (speakers in unit and or external speakers)
-Component A/V (RCA A/V & digital audio) in & out

-Raspberry Pi b+ board w/ ports (USB, network, SD card, 3.5mm) - HDMI wired to monitor internally - not through front port.

-FM Radio
-AM Radio
-MP3 Player w/ LED or LCD screen

 

[RedWagnum]

Fascinating. Looks like an interesting project! Sounds completely doable, The only issue I can see is the length of the SATA cables needed, With a 19" case depth you are already at half the max length (1m / ~39") for a SATA cable. That means that the SATA ports on your motherboard must be within 20" of the back of your workstation. Might work with F-F adapters as cable extenders but would you trust your data to it?

 

[TheEschaton]

forgive my ignorance, but to what device(s) will the six monitors be attached?

 

[tankman1989]

Fascinating. Looks like an interesting project! Sounds completely doable, The only issue I can see is the length of the SATA cables needed, With a 19" case depth you are already at half the max length (1m / ~39") for a SATA cable. That means that the SATA ports on your motherboard must be within 20" of the back of your workstation. Might work with F-F adapters as cable extenders but would you trust your data to it?

That is my hanging point as well. I am contemplating using Sata to USB (3) adapters and use USB 3 as the bus between the box and the computer. eSATA has 2x the cable length as Sata which may allow some leeway by using any sata connection from the rear panel to the main box (use esata as connection) and then use regular sata within the box, so even if I'm connecting to a sata terminal on the front panel, it is going to be connected to the box via esata. The only other option is to use USB as a bus.

I'm also looking into USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt as a bus between the box and computer.

I have been looking into cat 6 extenders for many of these ports like USB, SATA, HDMI & VGA. I've seen extenders using cat 5e/6 with each of those connections using passive (non-powered) converters. IDK how well they work, but I'm interested in seeing if they actually work without problems.

I just don't see how something like USB, with a length limit, can have that limit removed by placing a length of network cable as an extender between the two usb end terminals. It just doesn't seem logical. The only reason I could see that this may work is if the distance is limited due to wire guage (32g vs 24g). That may be the limiting factor and if so, is a great revelation as it will most likely work with SATA as well.

 

[tankman1989]

forgive my ignorance, but to what device(s) will the six monitors be attached?

The main computer which this hub/docking station will be connected. The computer is in a very difficult location to access so this "hub" is to allow easy access to the ports and equipment on the computer.