Drawer-puter!

[O[H]-Zone]

Ok, I'll start with the "caveats":
This is my first case mod.
It was done in 4 hours, with the tools my buddy and I could carry in one trip (advanced laziness)
It's not pretty.
It's functional!

Ok, I guess it's time for the actual unveiling...
I built a drawer-puter. But I kind of went beyond a regular drawer-puter. I have this huge desk (it has 2 x 19" and 2 x 17" monitors on it right now!) It has two hanging drawers; the bottom one was for "hanging files", so it had a nice steel "rim" around the top. I spent one night staring at it and measuring to make sure it would all fit...the next morning, I called my buddy, and we were on it.
I wanted to tidy up my network. I have a server (POS 300 AMD K6-II) that does DHCP, DNS and routing for my network.

But then I figured that just putting the server in a drawer wasn't enough...and the drawer is deep! So I put 2 switches, and a KVM switch in there too!

A: KVM switch
B: 5-port Netgear switch
C: CD-ROM drive (FD and HD are under)
D: 8-port Netgear switch
E: Motherboard

The KVM, 5-port switch and drives are hung from 1/4" plexi sheet. Where the "E" is in the pic is a 8" x 8" cutout for access. When the CD tray is open, it takes most of the opening:

But when it's closed, I can get to the other things I need to:

All you can see from the outside is one switch, and two LED's (my vid camera choked on the LED's):

(By the way, I don't have the keys for the locks...anyone help?)

With the drawer closed, it's really quiet. My super-scientific temp measurements (non-contact thermometer) show the case temp never goes over about 85F. I have two NIC's in there now, but I'm going to add a MODEM (ugh) so I can use it as a fax server.
Well, that's the general idea; I won't bore you with details (unless you want to be bored, then just ask!). Like I say, it's not pretty, but it does clean up my network a lot! (if you ignore the tangle of wires I haven't gotten to cleaning up yet) The upper drawer will fit another comp, too! Oh, and a gratuitous shot of my observatory, since I haven't seen anything but clouds for MONTHS!

Comments/criticism wanted!

 

[lamarth]

Great idea! But aren't you concerned with any heat buildup in the drawer?

 

[O[H]-Zone]

Actually I was very concerned, but it doesn't seem to be a problem. A few weeks ago the fan on this PS started getting noisy, so I replaced it with a bettr ball-bearing one. Between the new fan, and all the openings in the case it never really has a problem. Like I say, I point the IR thermometer around inside, and non-heated parts never get over about 85F. Using the super-nonscientific method (sticking my hand into the space under the drives), it never even feels warm...

 

[lamarth]

Actually I was very concerned, but it doesn't seem to be a problem. A few weeks ago the fan on this PS started getting noisy, so I replaced it with a bettr ball-bearing one. Between the new fan, and all the openings in the case it never really has a problem. Like I say, I point the IR thermometer around inside, and non-heated parts never get over about 85F. Using the super-nonscientific method (sticking my hand into the space under the drives), it never even feels warm...

Isn't it great how things work out With the gap that's between the drawer and the one above it, it sounds like convection is pulling the heat out well enough- wonder if drilling a few holes near/on the bottom of the drawer would help....well, that is if it turned out that you needed to have the extra cooling.....

 

[O[H]-Zone]

That was one option I was thinking of, but I would eventually like to put a second comp in the upper drawer, so I'd rather not let the heat migrate upwards. Or did you mean the bottom of the bottom drawer...that's not a bad idea either. Another thought was some fans on the right side, blowing in...but I didn't think I needed it. Yeah, it is nice when things work out!

 

[somecallmeTim]

I showed this to my wife and now she wants me to mod her comp into her desk. The bottom drawer on either side are deep filing drawers and she would like to have the case off her desk. Since she uses a wireless mouse / kybd most of the cables won't be an issue.

Props for the good work and "thanks" for the work I may have to (not to mention I'm supposed to build a waterfall behind her desk as an evap cooler)

Good jeoooorb!

Peace,
Tim

 

[O[H]-Zone]

I showed this to my wife and now she wants me to mod her comp into her desk. The bottom drawer on either side are deep filing drawers and she would like to have the case off her desk. Since she uses a wireless mouse / kybd most of the cables won't be an issue.

Props for the good work and "thanks" for the work I may have to (not to mention I'm supposed to build a waterfall behind her desk as an evap cooler)

Good jeoooorb!

Peace,
Tim

Heh...sorry man. Perhaps I can help!
I butchered an old case to put it in there...
I cut the whole section around the back of the power supply away and mounted it to the back of the drawer; that gave me a place to mount the PS.
The drawer has sloped sides, so the motherboard tray doesn't sit parallel with the bottom...the "forward" edge is held up by longer screws set up like standoffs.
The CD / HD / FD mount was cut away from the case and flanged at the top to give a place to put screws.
The whole rack of drives is wired to a female molex connector. Then the PS leads are wired to a terminal strip, and a male Molex is wired to the other side.
I used a round FD cable, but I was too lazy to actually go to the store to get a round IDE cable, so I used a new flat one.
On this motherboard there's a proprietary flat cable that goes to the monitor connection; I just ran that directly to the KVM switch.
Let me know if I can help at all (more / better descriptions, etc.) Good luck!

 

[Hinokagutsuchi]

It looks really good and I'm surprised the plexi hasn't warped or cracked.

 

[JiveBologna]

Great idea! But aren't you concerned with any heat buildup in the drawer?

Heat actually isn't as bad as you'd think, depending on the setup. I've been running a network print server out of a wooden drawer for almost a year now with no problems. I didn't have a case handy, so I just threw it all in kinda haphazardly to see if it'd work.

That's an old Pentium Pro, with 8 MB RAM and a NIC card running a modified flavor of the Linux Router Project off of a floppy disk. (Link) You can see the drive upside-down in the back corner, with the activity LED rewired to the controller piece (an erector set beam). Bootup takes about 40 seconds, but once the OS is loaded into RAM, it's nearly silent and works like a charm. No keyboard, mouse, display, or any other cabling needed.

 

[User Name]

Heat actually isn't as bad as you'd think, depending on the setup. I've been running a network print server out of a wooden drawer for almost a year now with no problems. I didn't have a case handy, so I just threw it all in kinda haphazardly to see if it'd work.

http://www.binarytoast.com/aaron/images/printserver.jpg[IMG]

That's an old Pentium Pro, with 8 MB RAM and a NIC card running a modified flavor of the Linux Router Project off of a floppy disk. ([URL=http://pigtail.net/LRP/printsrv/]Link[/URL]) You can see the drive upside-down in the back corner, with the activity LED rewired to the controller piece (an erector set beam). Bootup takes about 40 seconds, but once the OS is loaded into RAM, it's nearly silent and works like a charm. No keyboard, mouse, display, or any other cabling needed.[/QUOTE]

no heatsink?

 

[ballistic]

Ahh, nice job.

I've been thinking of doing something similar with an old filing cabinet I have lying around.
I was actually going to put something with a little more heat output into it though, so I'll need some fans mounted in it.