Project NANO -- A Scratchbuilt Home Server

[davidbuss]

Introduction

The purpose of this project is not to show off any crazy hardware; It is to show off the case and the mods. The server will be stewed discretely into my closet along with one of my families routers and a printer. This "server" is less of a conventional server and more of just something to run backups of my main rig, store some files, and occasionally run some game servers for my friend and I. If you feel like you have seen this exact thing done before, you have. I have two other iterations of this project that I have started without finishing, mainly because they did not come out the way planned. If you would like, you can see those here.

The Plan

So, as I said before, I have two other versions of this that didn't turn out so well. Since those, (I stopped the last one around January) I have learned a lot about working with metal and just the process of building things from scratch in general. My main goal for this project is to create something visually pleasing. Although it will be shoved into my closet, my closet is something I have to go to multiple times per day, so if it doesn't look good by the time its done, it isn't done yet. My second goal is to make something that functions the way I intended. Although I am breaking the rule of "form follows function" here, I do intend to actually use this, so although I may not document the software side of this project as much, it is a big part. Next, I want to make something that I can completely take apart. Often times when I build something, I have a mentality of "once I put the lid on, its not coming off." I do this honestly because 90% of the time its just easier. This is a forum full of geeks so I'm sure you all know as well as I do, there is always a need to go back into a computer whether your changing something or not. My final goal would be to actually finish this project. As I stated above, I have tried this project two other times, both of which have failed mainly due to the time I spend on hockey and school. Now that hockey is mostly out of season and there's no school in summer, I have plenty of time to work.

Conclusion

The computer itself will include the tower, and then a small screen that I have already built a stand for (I'll show it later.) The parts came from an old PC we had lying around so the specs aren't that great, but it does exactly what I need. Eventually, I may add some more ram or storage but that's about it. If this project continues to go as it has so far, it should be epic. I appreciate all of your feedback and can't wait to share more. Hopefully it all goes smoothly.

Table of Contents

1) More CAD and the beginning of the project

2) Front panel glowing NANO logo

3) Front panel decisions

4) Working on the frame and modding the PSU

5) More work on the frame and motherboard tray

6) Even more work on frame, finishing motherboard tray, and starting front panel

7) More work on the front panel

8) Colorado randomness

9) Finishing the front panel

10) Random work on panels

11) Fixing the frame and starting the Electronics

12) More work on the electronics

13) Finishing the electronics

 

Other Stuff

Here is a link to the imgur so you can see all the photos in one go if you want

Here is another link to the first two attempts (read above)

And of course I couldn't leave you without a little teaser. More to come later.

[Guest Generallee]

reservednotimeforspace

[Tearass]

I like shelves.

[davidbuss]

Update 1

I've had most of this done for a couple of days now but I just needed to find the time to write the post. I'm not gonna bore you so here's all the stuff I've gotten done so far:

 

To start, here's some more of the cad work, mostly from different angles.

 

Like I said above, the front panel is just a concept. I can already tell you that it will not look like that when I'm done.

 

Finally starting the project now... I got some angled aluminum and did a little work on it to make the frame.

 

I don't have any calipers to just make these marks manually so I resorted to making a template in CAD.

 

 

I ordered some hardware from McMaster-Carr to hold this entire project together. Sadly, I drastically underestimated the amount of M3 bolts I need, so I will probably be ordering more soon.

 

Jumping ahead quite a bit, I mirrored the first angled piece and bend a piece of sheet metal around them. I then attached the two with the hardware shown above.

 

You guys don't even want to know how long it takes to put in that many nuts and bolts. Its gonna be about 30 minutes every time I have to put it together or take it apart.

 

I just got a new camera (Canon S110) that I'm planning to take on some upcoming family trips, but I've also been enjoying taking some macro photos.

 

This should give you an idea of what it should look like when it's all said and done.

 

Here's a close-up of the screen which is already done. I used it as kind of a slow going project while I was still in school. I think it turned out pretty nice.

 

This is the back side of the screen. I might make a cover with a piece of acrylic or something but as you can tell from the picture above, you can really see the back at all. If you're wondering why the pcb is so big, I ripped it out of an old portable DVD player and need the PCB to process the video. I looked online for another smaller PCB but the connection to the screen is far from standard. I did hack it though so that it switches to AV in as soon as you turn it on.

 

I've also been experimenting with glowing acrylic. That being said the next update should be pretty nice.

 

That's all for now. Next update should be later today or tomorrow. Let me know what you guys think!

[davidbuss]

Update 2

So last update teased a bit of glowing acrylic. I hope you liked it because that's pretty much all this update is.  Enjoy:

 

We start out with some more templates.

 

I glued it to a piece of aluminum and started cutting out the letters. Looks pretty straight forward but after I drilled the holes to start, It took 3 HOURS to file and sand all the letters. Not fun.

 

I was having some trouble with getting the "O" to be a perfect circle, so I found the best way to achieve that was to wrap my small finger in sandpaper and just spin the piece.

 

After about a half hour of spinning, my finger started to swell up and I decided it was time to stop. Good circle though.

 

Drilled some holes in the 4 corners.

 

Cut a piece of acrylic to match.

 

I mirrored the holes from the aluminum to the acrylic.

 

And viola. Looks pretty nice doesn't it  Sadly I have to sand it to make it glow so...

 

Here's the frosted piece. Not as nice as the clear piece though.

 

I had some problems with a gap between the aluminum and the acrylic so I put a slight curve in the aluminum so that when I screw it down, it lies completely flat.

 

There it is put together with the frosted piece.

 

Looks pretty epic on the camera but I promise you its even better in real life. Anyone whose ever taken pictures of LEDs will know exactly what I mean.

 

I was having a problem where I needed a strip of 5 LEDs, but you can only cut the strip in sections of 3.

 

Upon closer examination, I should be able to just jump the gap between two of the copper traces to get a strip of 5.

 

I cut it at 5 and put a bead of solder over the two traces.

 

And I'm really proud of the end product.  :lol:

 

If you're wondering where this is gonna go, It will be screwed on to the front panel. Not in the CAD drawing but I might post some updated concepts for you guys to choose from. Tell me what you think!

[Tearass]

Update 2

So last update teased a bit of glowing acrylic. I hope you liked it because that's pretty much all this update is.  Enjoy:

 

snips

 

 

If you're wondering where this is gonna go, It will be screwed on to the front panel. Not in the CAD drawing but I might post some updated concepts for you guys to choose from. Tell me what you think!

 

Do you have plans on painting the metal?

[davidbuss]

Do you have plans on painting the metal?

 

Yup. It will all be the same paint (black) as the screen shown in update 1. Should look pretty nice.

[Tearass]

Yup. It will all be the same paint (black) as the screen shown in update 1. Should look pretty nice.

 

The pictures don't do it justice, as it looks like black arts and crafts paper. 

[alpenwasser]

Ah, this looks promising, very nice work so far!

[davidbuss]

The pictures don't do it justice, as it looks like black arts and crafts paper. 

 

Yup I cut it from a pretty thin sheet of aluminum. I may actually end up changing the specific paint I use, but the final case will definitely be black.

[Guest Emrye]

Subbed, it looks amazing so far! I just love custom PC chassis. <3

[bbqsauce]

that is a heck load of bolts. lol

 

looks good though

[davidbuss]

Ah, this looks promising, very nice work so far!

Thanks man! I love your builds as well 

[davidbuss]

Subbed, it looks amazing so far! I just love custom PC chassis. <3

Thanks! And aren't they great? Cases are always better when they're build by hand 

[flibberdipper]

I shall be waiting for this.

[davidbuss]

that is a heck load of bolts. lol

 

looks good though

Haha and I don't even have enough. Ordered more today though so I should be good to finish.

[davidbuss]

Update 3

I've been doing some more cad work and I have a few things to get your opinions on. I have 4 potential front panel designs that I have to choose from before going further on the project. CHOOSE THE ONE YOU LIKE THE MOST!

 

All of them together,

 

Number 1.

 

Number 2.

 

Number 3.

 

Number 4.

 

Tell me what you guys think is best. Just 1-4. I kinda like 4 the best but we'll see.

[Anthony_95]

My favorite: Number 3 , the number 2 looks gorgeous as well !

[Guest Emrye]

4, definitely.

[Wyzzy Moon]

I vote number 3

[alpenwasser]

I'm partial to No. 3 as well.

[Tearass]

Update 3

 

CHOOSE THE ONE YOU LIKE THE MOST!

 

Number 3.

 

Number 3 for sure. I love how everything is positioned into the corner.  :wub:

[Kittke]

3 :-) awesome work.

-Edit: followed

[davidbuss]

 

My favorite: Number 3 , the number 2 looks gorgeous as well ! 

 

4, definitely.

 

I vote number 3

 

 

I'm partial to No. 3 as well.

 

3 :-) awesome work.

-Edit: followed

Thanks for all the feedback guys! 3 it is. Only problem will be how far to the right I can get the fan grill because I may end up running into the motherboard with the fans. I'm totally open for a challenge though 

[nick99n]

i was about to start getting disapointed by the fact that everyone wants to show off fancy 2000+ hardware and not doing actually anything the the pc to make it stand out 
You sir you deserve a cookie