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Not exactly a 'cool case...' New Fileserver case

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’m‚³‚ñ

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jun 20, 2003
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7,300
I have a couple old ATX cases laying around, one in particular just screamed to be modded. It's a cheap-o case I bought from Fry's for cheap, it's made of sheet metal. I decided, after throwing a fit one day and 'removing' the part of the case where the PCI and AGP slots are, that it wouldn't ever do as an actual ATX case. So, I stuffed some SCSI drives in that bugger, wired it up, and got the go on. Well, after running it like that for a while, my ears started ringing 24/7 due to the noise. Plus, the floor in this room isn't very stable, so it shook the entire room.

Yesterday, I took my new little rotary tool (10-18k rpm) and started hacking at it. Well, lets just say, that thing really doesn't have the power for this project. Pa came out and helped me, and he hooked me up with the Nakita power drill and a grinding bit used to sharpen hoes and farm tools. Daaaaamn, that thing works so well. I had to remove 4 bolts to remove the HDD rack to put the second brick of SCSI in. Those bolts vanished. I removed the racks and thought that was it for the front of the case...

Today, I went back out and looked at it. The SCSI brick on the top was so heavy, it was bending the metal down. I had to cut part of the HDD rack and screwed it back on, to support the weight of the SCSI brick.

Tomorrow, I'm going to drill holes for mounting the PSU, and cut the metal away on the back for the second PSU, drill holes for it as well, and probably cut a hole for my cooling fan.

Things I'm going to look for... I need something to dampen or elimiate sound. I was thinking about using the stuff used in car door panels, any suggestions on what brand, or where I should buy this stuff? I'm in Medford, Oregon, so I'm a little limited. The stuff at Circuit City looks really cheap, and I don't need that much. Also, if I put felt pads on the bottom of the case's feet, will that help eliminate vibration transferred to the floor?

While working tonight, I got some nasty cuts on my hands. The grinding bit was also so loud while grinding part of the case apart, I needed earplugs. Man, I never thought the drill was a modding tool, but this thing is like a dremel. :cool:

I don't really have a camera, but i'm going to get pics soon I hope. :)
 
Check out what RagE used on his car for sound dampening material

Also, what is a SCSI "brick" ?
 
by SCSI brick.. i believe he means SCSI HDD... :) Those bastards are huge and heavy.. i have one.
 
Originally posted by el bob
Check out what RagE used on his car for sound dampening material

Also, what is a SCSI "brick" ?
Click to expand...

Arr, I wish Search worked. :(

SCSI Brick == a SCSI hot swap bay from an HP server. It's a metal enclosure that holds 3 trays, and each tray holds a SCSI drive. ;) They weigh quite a bit empty, and are a total bitch when loaded. :p My drives are all standard heighth drives so far, none of the 1.6 inch tall deals. I think they will fit in this thing too... Planning on upgrading the drives from 3 four gig drives and 3 nine gig drives to 5 18 gig 10k rpm drives and possibly another 9 gig drive. We'll see, though. ;)
 
Yeah, somewhat similar... Only, the SCSI drives are all SCA 80 pin, not 68 pin. And my case is just an ATX case, with a plastic front... Yours has a neat steel front, I'd love something like that. Also, there isn't a computer inside the case with mine, it's an all external SCSI server. :)
 
Okay, update on the project... I killed the case with a hammer (see other thread) and now I'm going to go get some plexi. I'll post pics here, and I will post pics of the components that will go into this server. Perhaps someone can help me make a blueprint for the new case, which will be made with Plexi. I'm going to work on some wicked window designs for this, and I might even try putting an actual computer in the case along with the SCSI file server. :)
 
Okay! Just what you've all been waiting for! Pics!

Most of these will be self evident. This is the bottom corner of the case that I went to town on.
case1.JPG

case2.JPG

case3.JPG

You can see in this pic where the PCI slot seperators used to be. They are completely gone... I think part of them remain on my roof. Those were the first things to go from this case.
case4.JPG
 
case5.JPG

case6.JPG

This shot was mandatory. ;)
case7.JPG

This shot was mandatory as well. :p I'm underage here, so I simply put it back after I was done with the photo thing.
case8.JPG

Here's my cat. He was trying ot eat, but I kept bugging him until he gave me the picture.
case9.JPG
 
More pics... Here are the parts that are going into the computer.

In this picture, I have one of the hot swap bays. It is next to an IDE hard drive. I have two of these bays, so I need two identical spots in the case I'm going to make for them. When the hot swap bays (usually, I call them SCSI bricks) have all three drives and treys in them, they weigh a ton. Hence I only brought one in. I have a third bay, if anyone would like to PM me about buying it (with treys, assuming I can find them) I'd be glad to work something out. I might also have a spare SCA board (you plug the molex power connectors and 68 pin cable into it, and it has 3 80 pin SCA connectors on the other side).
parts1.JPG

This is the control board for the SCSI stuff. At the top, on the right, is there the little on-off switch goes, it also has a number display. On the right side of the board is where the board puts out the molex connectors. It has 8 in all, only 6 will be used for drives, plus one or both of the remaining ones will be used for fans. On the bottom of the board, there are 2 standard ATX connectors to plug the PSU's in.
parts2.JPG

Here is a picture of one of the PSU's next to the hot swap bay.
parts3.JPG

Same components turned around.
parts4.JPG


Sorry about the crap quality. I used my webcam and the piano light to get these... I can take more pics if you guys want, or whatever.

Thanks to my girlfriend for letting me use her website (she gets it for free through a friend). I personally know the webmaster of this website (this website is hosted by the same dude who hosts 8-Bit theater, btw) and I know he won't care about me doing this. In fact, he's so screwed up on Vicodin, he probably doesn't care about a lot of things...
 
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