[Shrimpykins]

Project Al

What is Al? Al is a mATX server chassis that will be able to house 1x ATX psu positioned in front of the motherboard, 8x 3.5" HDDs, 4x 120mm fans and 1x mATX Motherboard.

I am currently building a mITX chassis using similiar design/techniques before tackling the mATX chassis. Now for the good stuff.

The current plan is to use hardware I already have but if I can manage to sell a few things and gather up some extra scratch I will upgrade the hardware going into this. For right now the hardware list is:

Intel Atom Gigabyte GA-D525TUD
Pico-PSU 160w
I'll need to buy an SSD to pop in this thing. Probably something on the cheap end of the spectrum.
Delrin Illuminated Switch Black - 22mm Blue Ring
Delrin Illuminated Switch 16mm Black - Blue Dot

INDEX:
1. Tools arrive for tapping/drilling
2. And broken shortly thereafter
3. Got some new taps and went to work!
4. First prototype takes shape
5. Got some switches from Performance PCs
6. New design cut and bent with some glamour shots!
7. Top and bottom complete. 95% total done.
8. Testing LED Switches
9. Fitting the I/O shield
10. Mounting the SSD

mITX Chassis:




mATX Chassis:

Revisions being made, COMING SOON!

 

[CrazyMonkey]

hummm... This should be interesting...

 

[Shrimpykins]

Santa came early and brought me some presents.



4-40 bottoming tap, 0.166" drill bit and a 0.089" drill bit as well as a tap and guide setup. The 0.089 bit is for the tap, and the 0.166 bit is for the press-in captive nuts. I was cutting the holes on a waterjet but it was not accurate enough and caused stress fractures in the aluminum when they were pressed in because the hole was slightly smaller than it needed to be. Now they are perfect.

Put to good use a few minutes later on some 0.25" aluminum.



The back side - NO HOLE!


The metal looks like crap because it's old scrap that has begun to corrode and is scratched up. This is just a test piece though. All final pieces will be finished or painted. I need to wait on some more hardware to continue with the tests. I am thinking of making a mITX case first to reduce material usage while I work the kinks out.

 

[Shrimpykins]

Was going smooth until I broke the tap:



Have to wait to get another now.

 

[AlderonnX]

Nice.. I love hand made metal cases

 

[Shrimpykins]

Went and hit up the local hardware shop since Lowes/Home Depot don't carry 4-40 taps apparently. Half-day at work so I took the last half of the day to work on the case.

I had to cut a new back I/O panel. The mounts for the motherboard standoff and the screws that attach the motherboard tray to the back I/O panel ran into each other slightly (minor design flaw). Being so, I had to make a new motherboard tray as well so the pics below are totally new pieces compared to the pics above.

The piece attached to the standoffs is a piece I cut to represent a mITX motherboard without messing up an actual mobo out in the shop. The bend you see in it is just stress relieving from when it was cut and me not straightening it out.





The outside shell is designed, I am just double checking the dimensions and will be cutting it and bending it when I get the chance.

EDIT: Off topic, 2 more posts to the big 4k baby!

2nd EDIT: Been feeling cruddy all day, throat scratchy, no energy, etc. That's why I only did the tray and back pieces. After I got home I was able to take some meds, drink a lot of water, and rest for a while. I got a second wind and went back to the shop, got the rest of the case minus the sides cut.
Shortly after I ran out of captive nuts so I have go wait for those to finish it.

 

[Shrimpykins]

Came down with something pretty nasty. Had a fever for two days that I managed to break last night. Been a crappy christmas.

I am just now getting over it so I guess things are looking better on the horizon. I did get 4 more packs of SS captive nuts ordered so I will have quite a few to play around with. Once those arrive I can get back to work.

 

[Shrimpykins]

Captive nuts!







More in progress, stay tuned.

 

[WebsterXC]

Impressing metalwork. +rep for that

Subbed

 

[Shrimpykins]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WebsterXC

Impressing metalwork. +rep for that
Subbed

Hey hey! Thanks for the rep and for subbing!

We are moving a lot of stuff around in the shop and the brake got messed with when it got moved, which is why the above piece became a prototype to test bend take-ups only. I also came up with a new design for the side reliefs.

 

[Shadow_Foxx]

Cool!

 

[Shrimpykins]

Awaiting the arrival of some switches from Performance-PCs.

Delrin Illuminated Switch Black - 22mm Blue Ring

Delrin Illuminated Switch 16mm Black - Blue Dot



Ring = power
Dot = reset
Have to wait on them to measure the holes needed before I can waterjet the shell.

 

[Shrimpykins]

Quality is OK but nothing amazing, both switches have flaws. I'm not going to wait for another switch though, I am too anxious to get to work.

 

[Shrimpykins]

O_O And so it begins

 

[Artikbot]

Buddy that's some IMPRESSIVE work. Very well done!!

 

[Shrimpykins]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Artikbot

Buddy that's some IMPRESSIVE work. Very well done!!

Thank you!

Top one is the power, bottom one is the reset.

I'll probably knock out the top and the connecting tabs tomorrow. I need to do a little work to the motherboard tray. It's made of .25" thick aluminum, even so it's still reasonably heavy for its size. It's exactly .25" off the bottom side panel so I should be able to add 2 more blind tapped .25" standoffs and screw it to the back panel, giving it some rigidity.

 

[funfortehfun]

The quality metalwork and precision going into this project is simply impeccable. Amazing work so far, I'll be following you through your log!

 

[Artikbot]

By the way, may I ask what are you using to machine this piece of art?

 

[Shrimpykins]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Artikbot

By the way, may I ask what are you using to machine this piece of art?

A few things.

Mitsubishi waterjet to cut the parts out, a National Box and Pan Brake to bend everything and a simple drill press to drill the pilot holes to the correct diameter and to cut the countersinks. Also an arbor press to press in the captive nuts.

 

[Editor22]

Wow now that's a damn sexy little case! Great job dude!