Project: Server and Gaming Case

PopcornMachine · May 27, 2011

Very nice work. I know nothing about working with aluminum. Like a class.

xrealm20 · May 27, 2011

Looks awesome dude. Subbed!

Thrackan · May 27, 2011

Spotswood said:
The sides of the HD cage consists of three pieces of .125-inch thick 1x1.5-inch u-channel held together with some threaded bolts. The cage will be bolted to the frame of the case via some .5-inch angle.

http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww153/Spotswood_/Server and Gaming Case/HDCageSides.jpg

The holes in the angle were used to guide the drill bit into the side pieces.

http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww153/Spotswood_/Server and Gaming Case/HDCageSidesDrillingCU.jpg

http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww153/Spotswood_/Server and Gaming Case/HDCageSides2.jpg

http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww153/Spotswood_/Server and Gaming Case/HDCageSidesCU1.jpg

Quarter inch slots were routed out of the u-channels to eventually accept .25-inch threaded rods.

http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww153/Spotswood_/Server and Gaming Case/HDCageMockup1.jpg

http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww153/Spotswood_/Server and Gaming Case/HDCageMockup3.jpg

http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww153/Spotswood_/Server and Gaming Case/HDCageMockup2.jpg

Are you going to line the inside of the HDD cages with some dampening material?

Spotswood · May 27, 2011

Thrackan said:
Are you going to line the inside of the HDD cages with some dampening material?

No plans to do so at this time.

Spotswood · May 28, 2011

Santoprene rubber/plastic tubing was slipped over 1/4-inch threaded rods to form a "cage" to contain the HDs.

Here's why the routed slots are superior to individual holes.

Spotswood · Jul 2, 2011

A last minute design change was to go with SATA backplanes. This required having to route-out 24 phalanx shaped areas for the LED and power cables to pass through.

[These photos are just quick mockups, the perforate aluminum will eventually get mounted to the bottom of the drive cage. ]

The backplanes rest on some soft rubber grommets and are attached via two #4 socket head cap screws.

The 1/16-inch perforated aluminum was a good choice because I didn't have to drill a boat load of holes.

Spotswood · Jul 15, 2011

I finished the bottom of the HD cage by adding four support beams made from 1x.5-inch u-channels.

To further dampen vibrations some 1x.25-inch soft foam will be stuck between the beams and the perforated aluminum.

Sinzia · Jul 15, 2011

Looking at your aluminum work is like looking at the Mona Lisa, everything's simply beautiful!

Spotswood · Aug 5, 2011

Finally managed to mount the HD cage to the case via 12 #6-32 stainless steel socket cap bolts.

TIGR · Aug 5, 2011

Nice work Spotswood. I will watch this project closely.

Funtoss · Aug 5, 2011

How much more awesome can this get?? dude your work is amazing!

Shou Miko · Aug 5, 2011

nice, i can't wait to see how it ends out ^^

erm what hardware r u planing on? ^^;

Spotswood · Aug 10, 2011

Another requirement for this case is the ability to mount six SSD drives. The original plan was to mount them to the bottom of the case, but if there ever was a leak in the water cooling system, all of the SSDs would be toast. So instead, I came up with the idea to mount the drives to the underside of a motherboard tray.

Half-inch standoffs were screwed into the MB tray's existing PEM nuts.

And onto that a .10-inch thick sheet of aluminum was bolted.

Spotswood · Aug 13, 2011

The front inner sheet was turned into Swiss cheese via 9 holes for the 120mm intake fans. The holes were cut with a 1/2-inch flush trimming router bit, guided by a template.

Spotswood · Aug 14, 2011

The top motherboard tray support is the last piece of the case frame.

Spotswood · Sep 26, 2011

I spent a full day squaring up the case frame, squaring joints, re-aligning joints etc. in preparation of fastening the sheeting.

The steps I use to attach a sheet are:

Drill a hole in the sheet.
Use the hole in the sheet to guide the drill bit for the hole in the frame.
Thread the frame hole.
Countersink the sheet hole.
Admire work.

The case with the inner front, bottom and lower back panels attached.

Thrackan · Sep 26, 2011

This will be so frickin' awesome. I love the detailed touches with sunken screws and stuff!

hhumas · Sep 26, 2011

its awesome ... i am curious to see the final stage

erixx · Sep 26, 2011

I love aluminium and like your work, very much!

Only 'but' is : a server doesn't need a big mobo, and a gaming rig doesn't benefit from the heat and obstacles of a neigbouring server in the same case, but i am sure you will solve this!

Spotswood · Oct 11, 2011

My client selected some nice low-profile casters (with 2-inch wheels) which I mounted right away since the case is all nice and square.

Three of the #8-32 stainless steel bolts were screwed directly into the frame via hand tapped holes.

Spotswood · Nov 14, 2011

I attached the .1-inch thick side and front panels with 6 stainless steel flat head socket cap screws. The front panel extends past the tops of the side panels by .10-inch in order to hide the top's front edge.

The process to attach the panels is:

Drill pilot holes along the edges of the panel
Clamp the panel to frame and use the pilot holes to drill tap holes into the frame
Remove the panel and tap the frame holes
Countersink the panel holes

The side panels extend past the top of the frame by the thickness of the hinge. These will later be scribed and cut to length along the back of the case.

de.das.dude · Nov 14, 2011

sub'd and that thing is huge. but i guess its small compared to your other builds

vladmire · Nov 17, 2011

insane project!

---subscribed!

Huddo93 · Nov 18, 2011

Absolutely MAAD build, Sub'd

Spotswood · Feb 20, 2012

I made the top back plate for three 120mm exhaust fans. Once the back was completed I was then able to scribe and trim the sides to their final depth.

System Name	Vulcan
Processor	i6 6600K
Motherboard	GIGABYTE Z170X UD3
Cooling	Thermaltake Frio Silent 14
Memory	16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB)
Video Card(s)	ASUS Strix GTX 970
Storage	Mushkin Enhanced Reactor 1TB SSD
Display(s)	QNIX 27 Inch 1440p
Case	Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s)	On Board
Power Supply	Cooler Master V750
Software	Win 10 64-bit

System Name	Beast
Processor	Intel Core i7 860 @ 3.8GHz
Motherboard	eVGA P55 FTW
Cooling	Coolit Eco ALC with Yate Loon 1700RPM fans
Memory	8 GB Patriot Viper @ DDR3-2000
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX280
Storage	2x 1 TB WD Caviar Black
Case	Thermaltake Element V
Power Supply	Seasonic X760
Software	Win7 x64 Ultimate

System Name	Acer Aspire V3-771G-53218G75Maii
Processor	Core i5 3210M (2,5-3,1Ghz)
Memory	8GB DDR3 SODIMM
Video Card(s)	Geforce GT650M
Storage	Samsung 830 256GB - 750GB Toshiba drive
Software	Windows 7 x64 Home Premium (non-acer-bloatware)

System Name	FragBox
Processor	Intel Core i7 2600K @ 5.0GHz/1.45 volts
Motherboard	Asus P8Z77 WS
Cooling	Custom CPU loop
Memory	Kingston 12GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s)	Galaxy GTX 680/Zotac GTX 680 in SLi/EVGA GTX 650Ti
Storage	2 Vertex 3 120's, raid 0, 2 Seagate Momentus XT 500GB's in raid 0, 1 Hitatchi 2TB for backup
Display(s)	3 Acer S232HLX2 in nvidia surround
Case	Corsair C70 White
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair AX1200
Software	Win 7 x64 Pro

System Name	TaichiTig
Processor	i7 6800K
Motherboard	ASRock X99 Taichi
Memory	32GB DDR4 3200
Video Card(s)	RTX 4070
Storage	SSD + Misc. HDDs in DrivePool
Display(s)	BenQ PD3200U, Samsung C32HG70
Case	Antec Twelve Hundred
Audio Device(s)	Behringer UMC404HD, LSR308, Shure SRH840, AKG K612, Etymotic HF5
Power Supply	Corsair 750TX
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Deck Legend Ice Tactile
Software	Win10

Project: Server and Gaming Case

PopcornMachine

xrealm20

Thrackan

Spotswood

Spotswood

Spotswood

Spotswood

Sinzia

Spotswood

TIGR

Funtoss

New Member

Shou Miko

Spotswood

Spotswood

Spotswood

Spotswood

Thrackan

hhumas

erixx

Spotswood

Spotswood

de.das.dude

Pro Indian Modder

vladmire

New Member

Huddo93

New Member

Spotswood

System Name	My Heater
Processor	Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.2ghz
Motherboard	Asus P5B-E Plus
Cooling	Zalman CNPS 9700 NT
Memory	Patriot 4GB 800MHz DDR2
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 460 1GB
Storage	2x Western Digital 640GB (1.28TB)
Display(s)	Viewsonic VX2349wm 24"
Case	Raidmax Hurricane
Audio Device(s)	C-Media 8738
Power Supply	Aywun Megapower 650w 80+
Software	Windows 7 64 Bit

System Name	Lynni PS \ Lenowo TwinkPad T480
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Raphael \ i7-8550U Kaby Lake-R
Motherboard	ASRock B650M PG Riptide Bios v. 2.02 AMD AGESA 1.1.0.0 \ Lenowo 20L60036MX Bios 1.47
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15 Chromax.Black (Only middle fan) \ Lenowo WN-2
Memory	G.Skill Flare X5 2x16GB DDR5 6000MHZ CL36-36-36-96 AMD EXPO \ Willk Elektronik 2x16GB 2666MHZ CL17
Video Card(s)	Asus GeForce RTX™ 4070 Dual OC GPU: 2325-2355 MEM: 1462\| Nvidia GeForce MX™ 150 2GB GDDR5 Micron
Storage	Gigabyte M30 1TB\|Sabrent Rocket 2TB\| HDD: 10TB\|1TB \ SKHynix 256GB 2242 3x2
Display(s)	LG UltraGear 27GP850-B 1440p@165Hz \| LG 48CX OLED 4K HDR \| AUO 14" 1440p IPS
Case	Asus Prime AP201 White Mesh \| Lenowo T480 chassis
Audio Device(s)	Steelseries Arctis Pro Wireless
Power Supply	Be Quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W Goldie \| 65W
Mouse	Logitech G305 Lightspeedy Wireless \| Lenowo TouchPad & Logitech G305
Keyboard	Akko 3108 DS Horizon V2 Cream Yellow \| T480 UK Lumi
Software	Win11 Pro 23H2 UK
Benchmark Scores	3DMARK: https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/89434432? GPU-Z: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/details/v3zbr

System Name	Hhumas-PC
Processor	Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Extreme CPU X9650 @ 3.00GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
Motherboard	Asus P5W DH Deluxe
Cooling	ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet
Memory	OCZ Platinium 2x2GB
Video Card(s)	ZOTAC GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
Storage	WD Green 500 GB , WD 500 GB
Display(s)	Dell U2410F
Case	Casecom
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro
Power Supply	Corsair HX1000
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate 32 Bit

System Name	Monke \| Work Thinkpad\| Old Monke
Processor	Ryzen 5600X \| Ryzen 5500U \| FX8320
Motherboard	ASRock B550 Extreme4 \| ? \| Asrock 990FX Extreme 4
Cooling	240mm Rad \| Not needed \| hyper 212 EVO
Memory	2x16GB DDR4 3600 Corsair RGB \| 16 GB DDR4 3600 \| 16GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Pulse RX6700XT 12GB \| Vega 8 \| Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB
Storage	Samsung 980 nvme (Primary) \| some samsung SSD
Display(s)	Dell 2723DS \| Some 14" 1080p 98%sRGB IPS \| Dell 2240L
Case	Ant Esports Tempered case \| Thinkpad \| Antec
Audio Device(s)	Logitech Z333 \| Jabra corpo stuff
Power Supply	Corsair RM750e \| not needed \| Corsair GS 600
Mouse	Logitech G400 \| nipple
Keyboard	Logitech G213 \| stock kb is awesome \| Logitech K230
VR HMD	;_;
Software	Windows 10 Professional x3
Benchmark Scores	There are no marks on my bench

System Name	Gaming Rig
Processor	i7 2600k @ 4.5GHz
Motherboard	Asus Z77 Deluxe-V
Cooling	Corsair H100
Memory	RipjawsX 8GB @ 2133MHz 11-11-11-30
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX670 SC @ 1300MHz core
Storage	OCZ Vertex 4 256GB + 1TB Samsung HDD
Display(s)	23" LG W2343T
Case	Corsair 650D
Power Supply	Corsiar AX-850

System Name	vladmire
Processor	Intel E2140 1.6Ghz OC'ed to 2.8Ghz
Motherboard	MSI P965 neo-f v2
Cooling	Thermalright Ultra 120
Memory	2 x 2GB kingston ddr2-667
Video Card(s)	8600GT
Storage	4 x 500GB Seagate Sata2
Display(s)	Viewsonic 22" VX2240w
Case	Frontier Achilles
Audio Device(s)	Soundblaster Audigy 2 zs
Power Supply	Hec Win+ 550
Software	Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit