Wall Mounted ATX Chassis for NAS

[88keys]

So I had this zany Idea to make a wall mounted ATX chassis for my NAS.

All I'm doing is essentially making a whole new chassis.

I took some scrap pieces that had perforations in them for ventilation and I basically bent them to spec in a press brake and welded them together.



Here is what I started with. An old beat up ATX chassis just collecting dust.....

Exterior parts removed and new chassis parts being made....

Back view.

Side View.

Front.

 

[88keys]

Not 100% finished obviously. I need to drill the mounting holes in the top and bottom. The extra space that you see on the side will be used for industrial led indicator lights, and buttons.

The front is closed off because I have no need for optical drives in a server. I Install all OSes via flash drive.

I also need to get some thread inserts and drill some holes so the door can be fastened shut. I might weld a handle to it, or I might make use of that hole and put some cheesy lock on it. IDK yet.

Obviously, I'll be mounting some 120mm fans to the perforated openings.

And Of course it needs to be painted.


I'll try to keep updates if anyone is interested. I'm sorry that I didn't detail my process any better but I was in kind of a hurry tonight as they are calling for more nasty weather my way.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

That's what that tool is called -- I'd been trying to remember: a "Press Brake."

As long as you don't pull your dry-wall apart, it's an interesting idea. And -- yes -- most surely qualifying as a "case mod."

Oh. You may already know this. But depending on the metal used, SECC steel or aluminum -- be sure to get the right paint primer if you plan to paint your masterpiece.

 

[88keys]

That's what that tool is called -- I'd been trying to remember: a "Press Brake."

As long as you don't pull your dry-wall apart, it's an interesting idea. And -- yes -- most surely qualifying as a "case mod."

Oh. You may already know this. But depending on the metal used, SECC steel or aluminum -- be sure to get the right paint primer if you plan to paint your masterpiece.

Oh believe me it's going into the studs .

I figure I could drill holes at the appropriate distances (16" apart), however the particular place I plan to mount has the studs at 12" apart because it's by a very wide door. I'll probably drill 2 sets of holes so as to make sure it's mountable in other places if I decide to move it someday (which is unlikely as long as I live here).

I could also get some 1/2" birch plywood and drill that to the studs and drill the server to the plywood.... Infact that sounds easier and more versatile if you think about it.

EDIT: Honestly I would have loved to use Aluminum for this as it would look so much nicer when finished, but since we do alot of work for defense contractors, most of our aluminum is some sort of 7075 variant (aircraft grade) which is not easy to work with and I'm not that good at welding aluminum to begin with so I decided to go with Steel.

I also could have gone with stainless still, but it would look too much like a kitchen appliance and it would weigh a ton.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Oh believe me it's going into the studs .

I figure I could drill holes at the appropriate distances (16" apart), however the particular place I plan to mount has the studs at 12" apart because it's by a very wide door. I'll probably drill 2 sets of holes so as to make sure it's mountable in other places if I decide to move it someday (which is unlikely as long as I live here).

I could also get some 1/2" birch plywood and drill that to the studs and drill the server to the plywood.... Infact that sounds easier and more versatile if you think about it.

EDIT: Honestly I would have loved to use Aluminum for this as it would look so much nicer when finished, but since we do alot of work for defense contractors, most of our aluminum is some sort of 7075 variant (aircraft grade) which is not easy to work with and I'm not that good at welding aluminum to begin with so I decided to go with Steel.

I also could have gone with stainless still, but it would look too much like a kitchen appliance and it would weigh a ton.

That sounds about right! Talk about a tank: I often refer in various threads to a case-mod I made from a '95 Compaq ProLiant server-box. It was steel, and I entertained having it chrome-plated! Probably glad that I didn't . . .

During my other life, I had two pairs of your standard bass-reflex speakers hung on my walls. I'd obtained four sets of interlocking square plates that simply went into the dry-wall with molly-bolts. Never had a problem, but these days, with that kind of weight -- yes -- I'd try to use the wall studs . . .

 

[88keys]

Next Operation.


I decided against thread inserts in favor of this bar stock. The little clip you see clamped is to act as a spacer so that this will be flush with the door so when you won't bend the steel when you tighten the screws on the outside. This will also make the chassis sturdier.

The bar is now welded in place and the holes are drilled and tapped for 3/32....

Here is where my power button and indicator LEDs will go.

Handle has been installed, I welded this using the holes from the back. and since my hole was kinda nasty looking I decided to locate a washer over top of it. This is actually a good idea because it will help keep the screws straight when fastening and unfastening.

Mounting holes are drilled. I decided to go with smaller holes for the time being. I'll make them larger when I figure out what kind of screws I'll be using. I decided that the best way to mount this would be to get a some 1/2" ply wood strips (approx 16" x 4") and drill them to the studs in the wall, and then drill the chassis to the plywood. This is better because it give me more versatility to be able to mount anywhere where studs might be a different distance apart. The studs where this will go are 12" apart as opposed to the 16" standard because of the adjacent large door. This also means less damage to the wall to fix as there will be less holes to fix, and the chassis will not touch the wall and therefore not leave scuff marks when removed.

 

[88keys]

Ready to for primer this weekend .

BTW, both screws are installed. You just cant see the other because it's really close to the handle.

As for painting, I've been thinking that since this is going to have an industrial/utilitarian look to it with the exposed welds and the vandal switches that maybe I should paint yellow and black safety stripes so I can imagine that that it's something like an unlicensed nuclear accelerator.


Now I do have a quick question regarding fans. I plan to use 2x 120mm fans for the front, and then 1x 120mm fan on each side. They will be of low RPM (they wont need to be fast). With that configuration in mind which fans should be for intake and exhaust respectively?

 

[natto fire]

Looking great so far, almost makes me miss my days of modding old inwins and chieftecs. I like your idea about the paint, and have always been a fan of the "rougher" look over extremely "polished".

I do have one nitpick with your terminology, though. "Drilling" to me means putting holes in material. I use the word "fasten" to describe attaching two materials together with fasteners like screws or nails. I still got what you meant, and agree it's a good idea to make a mounting bracket out of the plywood strips. I would personally use panhead machine screws with small washers and nuts to attach the case to the plywood and countersunk bugle heads (or some self sinking star drive screws) to attach the plywood to the wall.

Overall it looks like a very cool project, and you are certainly moving right along on it. Best of luck and keep us updated. :thumbsup:

 

[88keys]

Got it primed the other day and I needed to put the mobo in and test it out yesterday because it's from eBay so I need to know that it works asap.

And of course it's mounted for now. I know the wiring is kind of messy, but I just wanted to get it all together make sure everything works before I go any further. Although there arent alot of welds on here, the potential still exists for distortion. Especially on the material they use for PC cases. That stuff is nearly impossible to weld. But everything fits perfectly, and works perfectly.

I don't want to paint this thing in my house so I've decided to wait until spring when the it will be a decent temperature for painting so I can paint it in the shed. I only primed it so as to prevent it from rusting. Untreated steel will begin to rust in a month or even less without an anti corrosion agent or primer/paint.

This gives my plenty of time to work on the LEDs and other things that I have in mind. I'll also do a couple of practice runs on the paint on other things so that I can get the safety stripes just right.

ATM, it's just mounted to a couple of 1x4" board that are fastened to the wall with 2 screws each. This is just temporary and I can use the boards as a template for when I make the actual mounting boards.

I also need to figure out what I'm going to do to fix my little screw up in the upper left hand corner.