• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

LIAN LI Double Wide

H

HICKFARM

Gawd
Joined
Jun 18, 2008
Messages
547
So I have been looking at cases with the most 5.25 drive bays available for my Media Center storage server. I want to install 5 in 3 5.25" Hard drive adapters. And I want at least 3 or these.

The Ideal case I would want is the Sharkoon Rebel 12 case, but I can't find anywhere to buy it. Or the Lian Li D600 with the double wide design. This is what i want to copy.

I have 2 Lian Li cases that look exactly like this, except mine have removable motherboard trays as well. They are identical except one is black and one is silver. I picked them up at a yard sale for 1$ a piece and they have a few scratches and wear marks.

So I plan on Riveting them together to make a double wide case. Looking from the front the left side would have the PC components and the right would house all the hard drives. That right side I plan on cutting more 5.25 bays all the way down the case. So I also need to figure out a bracket that will hold the hotswap bays. Since they have removable motherboard trays I was also thinking of removing it completely and installing a different plate. This would allow me to have a removable hotswap bays as well in the back.

Any ideas on how to do this, or if you know of anybody who has done this before would be appreciated. I am open to all ideas, except for buying a 500$ case instead that can do all of this.
 
For the project I was discussing on my other post, I’ve decided to put a “spacer” in between the cases. I figured that if I didn’t do that, I’d be unable to access the “inboard” sides of the drive racks to screw/unscrew anything. I’m probably going to go with a 5-inch space, which will be enough for me to squeeze my hand in there to put in or remove thumbscrews (thus no space needed for tools).

I’m going to use four sections of U-channel: one each top, bottom, front, and back, with the open end of the U facing inwards, bolted together to make an open square matching the depth and height dimensions of the cases. I’ll drill holes in the right and left “legs” of the U-channel to attach to the cases on each side. I can attach a piece of trim to the front face of the front of my U-channel spacer to aesthetically bridge the transition in the front. In my case, it's pretty easy to find some aluminum trim that'll match the "outboard" trim already on the case; for you, a simple flat piece of black anodized aluminum would do. Cut it out of the two "inboard" case panels you won't be using, perhaps? I’ll probably then put a piece of painted metal or maybe plexi on the top of the cube to hide the joint on top and add some rigidity.

My plate is so full right now that it’ll be a while before I can actually get to work on this (hence no worklog or pics as of yet), but hopefully I've described my brainstorming coherently enough to give you some ideas on how to proceed. . .
 
Thanks for the response Tuthmose. I don't think I will have to worry about gaining access to the back screws for holding my HDD hotswap bays. My hotswap bays will be mostly permanent and i am just going to bolt my case together, so if need be i will just unbolt it.

I also plan on bolting both cases onto 2 pieces of aluminum for horizontal structural support and then having 4 casters for moving the case around. Need to talk to the machinist at work and see if he can be any help.
 
Is it just budget that is driving this project OP or what?

Because Case Labs or MM cases are designed for exactly this kind of thing...and will be sturdier and higher quality than just about any 2 cases you can find to rivet together. Quality costs a bit of coin.
 
Skripka said:
Is it just budget that is driving this project OP or what?

Because Case Labs or MM cases are designed for exactly this kind of thing...and will be sturdier and higher quality than just about any 2 cases you can find to rivet together. Quality costs a bit of coin.
Click to expand...

I am sure it would be worth the cash. I can easily afford it, but I feel the money could be more wisely spent, like more hard drives.

I like customizing things anyways, like my green and yellow John Deere case and my computer inside of the original PS3 clam case. Also I have been sitting on these 2 Lian Li cases for well over a year and didn't know what to do with them. This just seems to be the perfect use for them since they are identical.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top