[WIP] Vault Tec - Revolutionizing Safety for an Uncertain Future

[You_are_a_cunt]

 

Since I got really fed up with restrictions of traditional cases in general and my NAS' case in particular, I decided to start on a larger, multi-part project. More on this later.

The gist of the larger project is having everything (main rig, NAS, switch, amp and another unbuilt rig) in a single LACK Rack. Normally I could just go ahead and buy a couple rack cases and call it a day, but where's the fun in that? (not to mention they're retarded pricy even on the second hand market).

Since it's a multi-part project, I'll have each case as an individual entity with the big project log being a thing by itself with references to the others.

 

As you might have guessed, Vault Tec is the NAS (with each drive being its individual Vault. Get it yet? No? k.)

The content posted here will be (mostly) identical to what I post on my personal blog. If anything doesn't make sense in therms of references, that's probably because I've posted something extra there.

 

The Part list

The NAS will be essentially transferred from its former box to the new and improved one.

The original Intel SS4200-E comes with a single core, low power Intel Celeron 430 on socket 775 using the 945GZ chipset on an ICH7-R southbridge (this may prove somewhat problematic due to its support being limited to SATA-II)

I'll be using a single 2GB stick of Hynix DDR2, since that seems to be the upper limit and OMV (Open Media Vault) isn't too resource demanding.

The OS will be, unsurprisingly, running off of a spare PATA (!!!) drive I had lying around. Why PATA? Well, the connector's there and I don't want to gimp the NAS' capacity by having one of the SATA drives either dedicated or partitioned to accommodate the OS (which takes up less than 3Gb). Having tested speed between PATA and SATA the hit is minimal.

The drives will be a mixed bunch of whatever I have lying around until I get my larger ones back from another "project" (moving ridiculous amounts of data into cold storage on an isolated machine takes time). The official specification calls for a maximum of 4TB (1TBx4drives) but I have a strong suspicion larger drives will work just fine. If so, there is a planned 40TB worth of storage. If the limitation is there, I'll end up with just 4TB until I upgrade to an ITX board later down the line.

The power will be handled by a Delta 350W unit, the same one found in the NAS. I'm keeping it thanks to its small size and I don't see the NAS maxing it out.

Cooling duty will fall onto 3 40mm(I think they're 40) PWM fans. The motherboard has 2 headers with a third possible header (that I will need to manually add).

I/O duty will be handled by 2 USB 2.0 ports, 2 eSata ports and a single gigabit RJ45 port. I have the option of adding another 2 USB 2.0 ports if I find them necessary (which I don't, at least for the moment). A serial port is also present.

Since the motherboard has no video output I will be buying a 1x to 16x adapter that will go to a GPU (I have a couple of options but I haven't settled on anything as of yet).

 

Worklog 1

After some shenanigans regarding chronic back pain, an ER room and a handfull of pills, work officially begins.

 

Some wonky sketches done in paint:

 

Spoiler

 

The motherboard:

Spoiler

 

Acrylic cut to size. This is the motherboard mount and backplate.

Spoiler

Here’s what $1.5 worth of M4 screws, nuts and washers looks like.

See those nuts in the middle compartment? I fucked up when I bought them. They’re Nyloc nuts. Try hand tightening them. I dare you. I double dare you to get that done in a very tight space surrounded by fragile components.

The solution I found was to remove the plastic insert with ol’ trusty 936A, a pair of pliers and a small screwdriver. I got pretty good at it after the first half dozen and it only takes me about 45s to completely remove the plastic.

Spoiler

30-45 minutes of swearing, careful marking, drilling and re-drilling later, I was left with this!

Spoiler

Nice and tight! That’s 6 holes, 12 nuts fuckered, a bunch of washers and a whole lot of pride for something fairly insignificant.

 

Here's a close-up of the mounting system I came up with. Works like a charm!

Spoiler

Don't mind the rough edges. I'll sort them out later.

 

Of course one corner had to break. Fortunately it still holds. Not going to bother going through all of this again just for that corner. I’ll see if I can fill it in with some melted plastic later on, if I decide it bothers me.

Spoiler

 

Here’s the underside. Don’t mind the marking or the label. I haven’t peeled off the protective film yet since I still have business with it when I start the base frame.

Spoiler

It might not seem like much (because it isn't), but that took me maybe a couple of hours.

 

Stay tuned for more updates as they happen!

 

I would like to thank my sponsors:

The lidless jar of spare change

The two people that dropped a couple bucks into the PayPal hat

The Overseer

Every case manufacturer ever, for not producing cases that fully meet my needs

Every server case manufacturer, for marking up their prices to unaffordable zone

 

Shameless plug time!

For details and other shenanigans that don't end up here, visit my workshop log

 

[You_are_a_cunt]

[Reserved]

[You_are_a_cunt]

[Reserved]

[Hiitchy]

Amazing! You really did put a lot of thought into it, and this is a great thing (still don't know what to call it lol.)

[You_are_a_cunt]

Just now, Hiitchy said:

Amazing! You really did put a lot of thought into it, and this is a great thing (still don't know what to call it lol.)

I call it the fruit of my frustration and boredom. Or, y'know, a DIY rack case.

[Tech_Dreamer]

Nice, Followed .

[TVwazhere]

Sub'd