I spent six years in the navy fixing computers, about a sixth of which were rack mounted. I like the concept of rack mounting, from an aesthetic approach, as well as from an organizational approach. The thing is that the semi-standardized rack mounting system is expensive, and at times, clunky. My solution to it was to build my own cases and racks. On the ship, we made a testbed that was essentially a piece of plywood with an antistatic mat and a "ground-bar" attatched to provide a common ground. it worked great, and everything could be swapped in or out with minimal fuss.
Now that I'm free and persueing welding as a more fun alternative, I made a nice aluminium case which holds 5 scsi hdd's, a pioneer scsi dvd player, and a plextor 12x10x32S, it's running 3 120mm fans in the rear. Everything that spins and vibrates is "shock mounted" (rubber O-rings), and runs very quiet. it helps that the case is mounted inside of a hand-built entertainment center. Total cost for the case (less power supplies and internals) was about $90. cost goes up if you can't weld auminium yourself. My next project is going to be a smaller version for my VW Bus. . . camping in style.
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I spent six years in the navy fixing computers, about a sixth of which were rack mounted. I like the concept of rack mounting, from an aesthetic approach, as well as from an organizational approach. The thing is that the semi-standardized rack mounting system is expensive, and at times, clunky. My solution to it was to build my own cases and racks. On the ship, we made a testbed that was essentially a piece of plywood with an antistatic mat and a "ground-bar" attatched to provide a common ground. it worked great, and everything could be swapped in or out with minimal fuss.
Now that I'm free and persueing welding as a more fun alternative, I made a nice aluminium case which holds 5 scsi hdd's, a pioneer scsi dvd player, and a plextor 12x10x32S, it's running 3 120mm fans in the rear. Everything that spins and vibrates is "shock mounted" (rubber O-rings), and runs very quiet. it helps that the case is mounted inside of a hand-built entertainment center. Total cost for the case (less power supplies and internals) was about $90. cost goes up if you can't weld auminium yourself. My next project is going to be a smaller version for my VW Bus. . . camping in style.
Don't forget the all-mighty "Peekaboo" password.