Project NANO -- A Scratchbuilt Home Server

[davidbuss]

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

Haha yeah I can assure you this is not 2000+ hardware   Most of it is just ripped right out of an old family PC. A cookie sounds great!

[silentanarchy]

I love it. Good craftsmanship I'm modding a Mac g5 pro and I'm having trouble taking my time, I tend to rush it. Im turning it into an all in one. I really like this idea though of integrating the case into the shelf

[davidbuss]

I love it. Good craftsmanship I'm modding a Mac g5 pro and I'm having trouble taking my time, I tend to rush it. Im turning it into an all in one. I really like this idea though of integrating the case into the shelf

I've really wanted to do a G5 mod for a while but I don't actually have a computer to put in it or a place to put the final product.   Maybe some day. Do you have a log on it? I'd be interested in seeing your progress. If not you should make one. As for the rushing it, I totally get what you mean. I just made a mistake earlier that I'll be showing in another update or two because I was moving too quickly. Integrating it is definitely a challenge because of how cramped the shelf is. I'm a bit hesitant of posting a picture of my entire closet but I might later just to give some reference. Thanks for the feedback!

[silentanarchy]

I don't have a system for it but I think I'll put a cheap one just so it will work. I don't have a build log but I could start one its just a bit late because I'v done a little already. I guess I could try.

[davidbuss]

Update 4

Massive update guys! So, although it doesn't look like it, this is more than 8 hours worth of work so I'm pretty fried and I don't know how much I'll be posting tomorrow. There was a lot of tediousness involved but I'm glad I got it over with because the project should be pretty straight forward for at least a little while. Thanks for all of your support so far; Enjoy the update!

 

I started by making the other halves to the curved frames.

 

There's a close-up of how I bent them. I have a plan on how I'm gonna make the corners completely "pointy" I guess; I just ordered some epoxy putty and I'll show how I'm gonna use that later.

 

Those aren't attached in any way, but that kind of shows how its all gonna go together.

 

Another angle of the frames.

 

I started to put together the two pieces. This is the bottom corner.

 

I had to do the top corner in a bit of a special way but it's a bit hard to explain. If you look at the picture above, you can see that I alternated the bolts every 1/2 an inch, however, in the top corner that is a bit of a problem. If I were to alternate the screw, it would miss the piece of angle completely, thus making it not actually hold anything together. You can see how I got around that in the pictures below.

 

If you remember from towards the beginning of the build log when I had to cut out the rectangles from the angle pieces to get make the curve, I saved those pieces. To start solving the problem above, I cut a little square from one of those saved pieces.

 

Normally, making cuts is pretty easy, however this time it was a bit hard to figure out. I couldn't hold the piece with my hands while I was cutting it because it got too hot. I don't have a vice and when I was just holding it in pliers the piece shifted around too much. I solved that by clamping down on the pliers that were holding the piece and then propping it on the table. All of that for a little cut. Looking back on it I could have just clamped it on the table but oh well, I just thought I would share a bit of my creativity. 

 

I attached the little square using J-B Weld. If you don't know what that is, it's essentially glue from the gods. By the time the piece is adhered, the bond will be stronger than the aluminum itself.

 

It comes as a two part solution, kind of like epoxy except thats not what it is at all. (I think, someone correct me if I'm wrong)

 

You just mix it up and when it turns grey, your ready to apply.

 

I applied pretty generously and then just wiped the excess off.

 

And there's the finished product.

 

Then I just did the same thing to the other side of the frame with a longer piece so they will fit together.

 

On the second bracket (the one that will be towards the back of the cabinet) I wasn't able to use the same method as above because I'm pretty sure it would interfere with the motherboard. I just left it loose and I guess I'll get there when I get there.

 

Now, I had to wait for that to dry   so I worked on some other things in the mean time. Below is what the layout most people said they wanted should roughly look like. Still looking good everyone?

 

I decided to start work on the old power supply. If you followed my previous build log, I showed how I (very badly) sleeved the 4-pin connector. If you didn't see that, well, there it is (kind of.)

 

I also had to move the hole where the cables come out of from about there...

 

To about there because of how the final case layout is gonna be. I think it would have worked the way it was before but this should make it easier when I'm trying to put it all together.

 

I started by, of course, taking it all apart.

 

Back to the 4-pin. If you didn't believe me that it was bad before, well there it is when I tried to take all of the sleeving off.

 

I don't have one of those pin-removing tools so I just ground down and flattened two paper clips.

 

Again, terrible.

 

After a really ridiculous amount of time repairing the wires that should have never been messed with in the first place, I ended up with this. I think its much, much, MUCH, better. 

 

And there's the final product. I'm kind of surprised I actually got it looking that neat actually.

 

Back to cutting the hole. It was pretty straight forward; I just kind of cut it.

 

Now a strange jump because I forgot to get a picture of the finished power supply (I'll try to get one later but it should be pretty self explanatory). All of the things had dried by now so l drilled the final hole.

 

And there it is. I also forgot to get a picture of the frame from a distance so I'll do that later too.

 

Again guys, lots of work put into this update so I'm not sure what will come tomorrow but I'll try to post at least something. Tell me what you guys think because all of the feedback has really helped to keep going so far. I'm really enjoying this one!

[silentanarchy]

I like it. I can't wait to see it done.

[davidbuss]

I don't have a system for it but I think I'll put a cheap one just so it will work. I don't have a build log but I could start one its just a bit late because I'v done a little already. I guess I could try.

 

I like it. I can't wait to see it done.

You definitely should! Thanks again!

[blacktrout255]

Can you make cases 1-4 into a case line and call them Nano cases and they can be Mini-itx.. idk I would totally buy one or two (cases not literally case 1 or 2)

[davidbuss]

 

Can you make cases 1-4 into a case line and call them Nano cases and they can be Mini-itx.. idk I would totally buy one or two (cases not literally case 1 or 2)

 

I don't know about having an entire "line" per say but I might be interested in doing some commission work. The case im building now is a micro ATX but if you wanted a Mini-ITX that would actually be a lot easier because it's pretty crammed inside. If you want you can PM me and we can talk more about it there.

 

Just curious now that he's mentioned it, would anyone else be interested in a commissioned case? Even if its not anywhere near the design of this one, I might still be interested. 

 

Edit: @blacktrout255 sorry I forgot to quote you when I first posted

[davidbuss]

Update 5

I did a bit more work yesterday. I worked on the motherboard tray and did a little bit more to the frame. Enjoy!

 

I forgot to get a picture of what I finished yesterday so here that is.

 

And here's the PSU that I also forgot to show you guys

 

I tested whether or not everything will fit when It's all said and done. That's where the motherboard will sit. It's an MATX motherboard so that should give a bit of context to the size of the case.

 

It is REALLY crammed in the case once the power supply is in its spot.

 

I started working on the motherboard tray.

 

I filed some notches in the acrylic so it "slots" in to the frame a bit better.

 

I don't know about you guys but I think a freshly cut piece of acrylic looks really nice. 

 

I put the standoffs in the tray. You cant really tell from the picture but they're a bit finicky so I have to figure something out to fix them.

 

There's the motherboard in the tray.

 

Before I make the panels for the two sides I have to even them out so they all sit on the same plane.

 

I have some old angled pieces that I mis-measured on before so I'm just gonna cut a few strips and JB-Weld them to the frame to even it out.

 

There are the strips.

 

And now I just have to wait for it to dry again.

 

Let me know what you guys think!

[loccilucas]

you know a build is gonna be great when you see 3d rendering, no.3 btw

[silentanarchy]

How are you going to get the measurements for the io ports and pcie slots. Nice idea for a motherboard tray. I can't think of how to do this. I'm also making a dell optiplex into a borderlands themed rig. And I'm painting my main computer. My main computer is the phanteks enthoo primo, I'm painting all the mesh parts white.

[davidbuss]

you know a build is gonna be great when you see 3d rendering, no.3 btw

It is turning out great  I started work on the panel for #3 today but I didn't get much further than cutting a few things.

[spwath]

Looks cool. Subbed.

[iceberg]

I can't wait to see this done.

[davidbuss]

How are you going to get the measurements for the io ports and pcie slots. Nice idea for a motherboard tray. I can't think of how to do this. I'm also making a dell optiplex into a borderlands themed rig. And I'm painting my main computer. My main computer is the phanteks enthoo primo, I'm painting all the mesh parts white.

I'm not too sure because I don't have the IO shield so I think I'm just gonna eyeball a rectangle-shaped cutout. It will be in the back so it wont really be visible if it doesn't turn out great. I still think you should post some build logs because those have the potential to be awesome 

[davidbuss]

Looks cool. Subbed.

 

I can't wait to see this done.

Thanks Guys!

[silentanarchy]

I was looking for a online template but its hard to find. I put a build log of the phanteks one but there is not really any modding other than the paint. But I did a 3d sketch of the borderlands computer but I don't know how to get a shot of the sketch. Once I get a picture of the sketch I will post that log.

[davidbuss]

I was looking for a online template but its hard to find. I put a build log of the phanteks one but there is not really any modding other than the paint. But I did a 3d sketch of the borderlands computer but I don't know how to get a shot of the sketch. Once I get a picture of the sketch I will post that log.

Ya I couldn't find one for my motherboard either. To capture the image, I just (I'm assuming your using windows) used the program called "snipping tool" to grab a screenshot of the render and then just pasted it into paint. Once it was in paint I cropped it and saved it as a png that I could upload to imgur and then post here. It is really more of a process than it needs to be but oh well there's not really any alternative.

[davidbuss]

Update 6

This is a bit later than I wanted but Imgur was giving me a bunch of upload errors so better late than never I guess. I did some work on the frame, started on the front panel, and finished the motherboard tray. This project is all coming along greatly and I feel like the end is in sight. Enjoy the update guys!

 

I made a discovery! I figured out that all the sheet metal I've been using is actually steel and not aluminum. I guess it's just too thin of a gauge for me to have realized that it was harder to cut than aluminum. It was all in the aluminum section at Lowes though so I don't know why it's not.

 

I started making the front panel.

 

I drilled the holes in both the panel and the frame so that it could be screwed in.

 

Here's another picture of what the layout is gonna look like in the end.

 

I'm going to attach the fans to the front panel by jamming the same nuts I've been using into the holes that would normally be used for the fan screws.

 

Like I said before (To anyone that actually reads these  ) I had some trouble with the standoffs. The threads don't actually go all the way up the posts and the acrylic isn't thick enough because they're not made to be standoffs for pc components.

 

I cut the standoffs down and super glued them to the acrylic.

 

I'm impatient and the super glue I was using didn't dry fast enough so I used some sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) as a super glue accelerator.

 

Science! Much better. 

 

Once I glued all of the standoffs they still stuck out the back a bit so I have to cut into the frame to make it fit.

 

I started by drilling two holes...

 

Then I widened them with a dremel.

 

I cut down the bolts so the motherboard would actually fit on the tray.

 

Much better.

 

I had to cut the frame to accommodate for the IO ports.

 

That should work.

 

I was a little off on the cut but I'll be able to fix it later.

 

Now I'll just give some glory shots of what I have done so far. 

 

The end is near guys! This whole project is turning out great and I can't wait for it to be done. Tell me what you all think!

[Mafaioz]

Looking great cant wait for more

[davidbuss]

Looking great cant wait for more

Thanks man! Next update should be tomorrow or Friday.

[silentanarchy]

IIt sucks that its steel but I guess that doesn't matter toomuch. It just means it will be heavier. Looks like About 2 days left of work. Too bad its going to hide in a closet

[zombiepixel]

number 3 is mroe proffessional and it dont look home made

[EpicGeekonFire]

Awesome, Nice design, truly unique~!