The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Perhaps some kind of motherboard testing bench? But even then... I just don't quite see it for that either.

DING DING DING, you just won the Christmas Turkey!!

This particular device in the rack is an extremely overkilled motherboard testing & burn-in station. It was fun watching everyone over-think it though....

IDK, I guess I'll just sit back and see. Would make for a fun surprise anyways.

Well, you ended the mystery for this part of the contraption!!

As for why all the gauges and things that would be deemed by most as un-needed.... Honestly, it was done for the fun of the design & build! ...and super-cool to observe in action! I did test this in rough prior, it was interesting to see what different system loads result in current draws, especially PCIe versus the ATX +12v 4-pin and 8-pin rails; on a variety of different system cores & loads. Was it silly overkill? Absolutely. Was it a blast to make? Absolutely. I still do a lot of motherboard testing.... Yes, I know...I can test one open face flat on a table like everyone else......but this is far more interesting!!!

Now that's one heckuva old useful piece of equipment!

Funny enough, this thing goes back to my TV service center days in the 90's. It was useful then, it's useful now. I've had this thing close to 30 years.

Looks heavy.

It's not terrible....but I wouldn't want to pack it around a lot....and it's not done yet. Those heavy duty slides won't have any trouble with it though.

Yes, for some tools, it just pays back to spend a little more and have a quality tool.

Yes, that was definitely the case here.

I borrowed my uncles hole saw set this summer (while visiting family) for a couple of projects, including drilling holes for ports in these cheap Philips speakers.

Kind of off-topic, but that's something I've always wanted to do; make some nice hardwood speaker enclosures to match the woodwork in a room for a home audio system. I've done it plenty for cars....but never made custom enclosures for a home system..... It's actually in development in my mind....

So yeah, I ended up totaling my uncle's hole saw... which made me feel really bad, because I hate borrowing something (anything!) and then returning it in worse shape than it was... or in this case, completely broken. Wanted to buy him a better new one, but he just came by one day to borrow a wrench set and inevitably saw his broken hole saw.

I would have had to replace them too....borrow and breaking....lol... I borrowed a friend's harbor freight electric disc grinder years ago....and burned up the motor.... I bought a new Makita, finished the job (was almost done when I fried his), and then gave him back the makita and his old fried one. He laughed and said throw the old one in the trash and just keep the makita, I hardly ever use it....if I need it I'll call.... I was like...umm, ok...I still have it, this has been ~20yrs ago....he's never needed it.

At home, I just have a cheap hole saw set from Harbor Freight. But even that's miles better! Also have some Dewalt drill bits that are close to 20 years old now and still haven't dulled too much after considerable use over the years. In contrast, someone gave me these cheap drill bits that would literally shatter after 5-10 holes, even if they didn't get overheated. Made of soft & brittle steel - imagine that!

100%. When it comes to bits, I don't cheap out. Nothing pisses me off more than to have a project at a dead standstill because a fugging bit broke on me.....

Heh, you're not a fan of the measure once, cut twice... or until it fits? (that would be my dad - he hates using a ruler or tape measure. OR WRITING DOWN NUMBERS. )

Anotehr 100% correct! I've written everything on the metal with a sharpie. If something needs to be altered, a microfiber + rubbing alcohol the marker comes right off.... I've had to plan this carefully, I only get one shot at the control panel; atleast using the original materal. I'd rather not have to buy stock and create a bunch more work & expense if I don't have to. Between what I sold off from the original machines versus what I bought (the gauges & lights & switches), I have ~$100 in this. I don't bill myself for my time....but if I did, it would be high-class callgirl prices for as much fun as I'm having with this.

The schematic for wiring this whole thing in the enclosure has been drawn out on a 'smartboard' from an EDU drop-off, which is nothing more than just a whiteboard. I've erased the whole thing and started over several times already. The real internal harnesswork will be made from a scrap Nissan Z32 cabin harness. Awesome quality wire in long lengths, and this harness is probably 1.5" in diameter packed with ~18ga wire, all of different color combinations; great for schematic drawings and of course tracing. I won't run out of wire and the development won't be as excruciating than it would be if they were all the same colors. Wiring this thing in its permanent state could be a little involved....

To add further complications (more fun) to this beast; keep THIS THING in mind with one of the SBC's (maybe yours), along with other machines that are in this rack. If I can devise a clean & functional interface for it that wouldn't be inhibiting/counter-productive, that would be some ultra cool points + awesome function in the form of power distribution & central control center.

[momaka]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

I think you guessed that a few pages back....good guess, but still no. I do have a PSU load tester plan in mind for later, but it is not part of this unit.

So if it's not going to be a PSU load tester.... hmmm... I don't really see what else you'd need all of those gauges for. I'm pretty sure it won't be some kind of a "coin miner", as you don't seem to be the type of person to go for that stuff. And besides, who watches individual currents on miner machines? Yeah, that's definitely not IT. Perhaps some kind of motherboard testing bench? But even then... I just don't quite see it for that either.

IDK, I guess I'll just sit back and see. Would make for a fun surprise anyways.

This is where a ~50yr old resistor subber (aka "decade box") comes in super handy; especially this one, it's made for higher wattage testing; sporting 20w internal wirewounds. The happy place seemed to be 10 ohms; which yielded a forward voltage of 7.8v. At this speed, they still moved a lot of air, but were significantly quieter.

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1643502127

Now that's one heckuva old useful piece of equipment!

...yea, bizarre looking thing, isn't it!! All Ratdude's fault!

Looks heavy.

The 1 7/8" hole saw & arbor showed up today....talk about timing, one came from New York, the other from California....ordered within minutes of eachother, got here in the same delivery from the courier!

UPS/USPS playing restaurant servers? You know, always deliver food for everyone at the same time.

I'm glad I spent the few bucks extra, the Lenox brand was sworn by from many guys for longevity. The cheap ones most say are good for 2 or 3 holes through steel and they're shot.....I need to cut 8 at least (will be more later)...

Yes, for some tools, it just pays back to spend a little more and have a quality tool.

I borrowed my uncles hole saw set this summer (while visiting family) for a couple of projects, including drilling holes for ports in these cheap Philips speakers.

It's one of those ultra-cheap hole saws that doesn't come with solid round hole saws, but rather just c-shaped saws that you clamp onto a cast aluminum chuck. Since the hole saws are made of literally just bent band saw blade material, you can imagine how good the precision of the holes are.

But anyways, that wasn't the issue there. His hole saw did OK for the speakers, as the particle board wasn't too thick or extra-strong. However, I also needed to drill a round hole in some PVC window sills. These had thin PVC material on the top and bottom, but very thick high-density foam in between. The foam ended up heating the hole saw quite a bit and I couldn't control that, because the only drill I had there was an ancient Black & Decker with a full metal body - easily 35-40+ years old. No speed adjustments or anything fancy like that (though it was reversible, surprisingly.) Just as I thought I had drilled through the second of the PVC pieces and... *bang* - shattered the cast aluminum chuck. Then again, I'm surprised it lasted even though that. The cast aluminum chuck was literally less than 1/16" (1.5 mm) thickness - i.e. very thin and fragile. Not straight aluminum either - some kind of a hard (and brittle) aluminum alloy.

So yeah, I ended up totaling my uncle's hole saw... which made me feel really bad, because I hate borrowing something (anything!) and then returning it in worse shape than it was... or in this case, completely broken. Wanted to buy him a better new one, but he just came by one day to borrow a wrench set and inevitably saw his broken hole saw. I wanted to pay him, but he said it doesn't matter, because these were really cheap anyways. The next day, he already had bought a new one - the same kind.
Ugh, I hate extremely cheap tools like that. Won't be borrowing this one for sure. Maybe will just buy him a new (and better) set anyways when I go visit again.

At home, I just have a cheap hole saw set from Harbor Freight. But even that's miles better! Also have some Dewalt drill bits that are close to 20 years old now and still haven't dulled too much after considerable use over the years. In contrast, someone gave me these cheap drill bits that would literally shatter after 5-10 holes, even if they didn't get overheated. Made of soft & brittle steel - imagine that!

this will give me the night to sleep on it and verify placement in my mind and recheck all my measurements tomorrow!

Heh, you're not a fan of the measure once, cut twice... or until it fits? (that would be my dad - he hates using a ruler or tape measure. OR WRITING DOWN NUMBERS. )

Not bad if I do say so myself!! I didn't ruin it!!

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

^
I think you guessed that a few pages back....good guess, but still no. I do have a PSU load tester plan in mind for later, but it is not part of this unit.

I'm at a point of pondering now, I have to figure out what & how to arrange a few things.....so some test fitting to help this along...

Fastened into place temporarily.



Black 7U front panel sitting in place. Nice flush fit!!





Leading edge, plate covers up the screws (why they needed to be in place, it added ~2mm height.



Inside view of upper portion, only low voltages present. Lots of cavity for wiring & a few other things....



Some various voltage indicator lamps....just LED's with current limiter resistors internally for use with various voltages.



A 12v and a 6v side by side. The 6v is only being fed 5v. No lessening in light intensity; and light intensity the same as the 12v. I also have these in red.





The box of 'things' is shrinking....but plenty of buttons, switches, and other sordid gadgets remain!





hmmm...what are these goofy things for?!?



Next is to see what resistance variable resistor I need to slow these fans down a little. At 12v, they're obnoxiously loud, and move a LOT of air! There will be situations where that kind of air flow may be needed, so I want them to be controllable....but 5v won't even start them. This is where a ~50yr old resistor subber (aka "decade box") comes in super handy; especially this one, it's made for higher wattage testing; sporting 20w internal wirewounds. The happy place seemed to be 10 ohms; which yielded a forward voltage of 7.8v. At this speed, they still moved a lot of air, but were significantly quieter.





Next is a potential mount point for an internal display. Out of the way yet still viewable. Of course this is a mockup only, I wouldn't even dream of mounting the pedestal to the fan cage that way....just wanted to get an idea of locale & view.





...yea, bizarre looking thing, isn't it!! All Ratdude's fault!



Still a ways to go.....but I do see an end to this device coming sooner than later!

[TechGeek]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Is this going to be a homebuilt power supply/load tester?

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Is the usage of three voltmeters and five ammeters intentional? Or did somebody botch an order?

Intentional.... 3 rails will be monitored for voltage; 2 of which also have an ammeter. One rail will be broken into 3 branches with an ammeter on each branch, but voltage will be monitored before the split. A few other rails will be monitored with simple indicator lights; as these aren't heavily used / higher current draw rails....for example; -12v, -5v, and +5v standby....

[ratdude747]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Is the usage of three voltmeters and five ammeters intentional? Or did somebody botch an order?

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Holes punched. No matter how accurate your measurements are and even with the accuracy with a drill press, things will always still be a hare off....but overall, nothing a little diddling with the Dremel couldn't fix and everything was lining right up!!

Holes drilled and test fitting.



Laying in there loose; gauges are in no particular order....yea, I still had to trim a little with the dremel.



Rear view. I'm sure some of you are wondering how the gauge studs will mount over the area where that gap is. That gap was originally a fan filter assembly in that old Sencore thingy....obviously it's no longer needed. The gauges were strategically placed to remove its visibility from the panel....but of course this created the problem of missing backing for the gauge studs....but stay tuned!



Yes, deburred.... ...and the answer to the mounting question.....



I took some tin snips to an old proprietary Dell PSU that was bad. and cut out a small section where there was mesh....conveniently, the mesh holes were the perfect diameter of the gauge studs....so I simply created a spreader plate and with some flat washers snugged it into place. It doesn't take much to hold these little gauges in place and the clearances in the 1 7/8 hole are very tight....it doesn't move and things are spot-on.





Everything fastened in and the sharpie markings all removed....and of course the gauges are now in their correct places.







Not bad if I do say so myself!! I didn't ruin it!!



Set in place (temporarily of course)





I still have a ways to go and more smaller holes to drill in this panel....but this was by far one of the more difficult tasks.....and I'm glad it's over!!

I still have a few things that have to be figured out layout-wise....but it's just a matter of tinkering around with placement, fitment, and function....

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

The 1 7/8" hole saw & arbor showed up today....talk about timing, one came from New York, the other from California....ordered within minutes of eachother, got here in the same delivery from the courier! They got here later in the day, so I didn't get as far as I wanted; which may not be a bad thing.....but here we go:

I'm glad I spent the few bucks extra, the Lenox brand was sworn by from many guys for longevity. The cheap ones most say are good for 2 or 3 holes through steel and they're shot.....I need to cut 8 at least (will be more later)... Anyway:



In the drill press.



Had to raise her hood and slow her down a little....you won't want it too fast, it'll create too much heat and destroy the saw.



Now for the fun! I had to mark things off. I'm sure you've figured out by now that there's gauges being mounted here. The footprint of where they'll be.





Now to measure & mark off where the holes have to be punch for the backings to go through and the fascias to mount flush.



...and that's as far as I got... I didn't punch any holes except in a piece of scrap metal to test the saw (it cut nicely). I'm glad I ran out of time today....this will give me the night to sleep on it and verify placement in my mind and recheck all my measurements tomorrow! I only get one shot at this!

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

...and here we are today, a little lul in the action around here....actually I'm just tired of working on printers, so I decided to tangle with this a little. The next function of this thing needs to become operational, as some of the changes at my front bench are putting a little pressure on this project. This one should start coming into focus a little; if it hasn't already....but here's what was done today....

First of all, this thing had to be dragged out again....



That 7u plate from earlier in the thread....seeing how it's going to fit in conjunction with another control panel that has to be fabricated.





Now for this mystery control panel...made from the original lid from this sencore chassis.

Measured off.



Marked.



Masked on the line. Incase you're wondering what the tape is for when I make cuts like this....the tape goes on the good side of the material, protects the metal if I slip and also gives a nice line to follow....as sometimes the drawn line can be harder to see.



Free-hand cut with a die grinder. I haven't lost my touch!





Edge deburred (howdy youknowwho!!) and test fitted....





Now to create some rigidity along that leading edge. This panel is 1/16" steel, its pretty stout....but that open edge was a little softer than I liked....so here's piece of 3/4 right-angle iron. Cut to size and wire wheeled the rust off it.





Marked for some holes to be drilled.



Drilled & pop riveted. There's zero movement on that edge now.





...and HMMMMM....





I can't go any further with it, I need a 1 7/8" hole saw. My set went right around that size (2" is too big and 1 3/4 is too small)...and of course that size can't be had locally, I had to order one...sonofa.....so more soon!

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Yay, the moment we were all waiting for.

The big function is still in development....but it'll really be a hoot when done!

So now you can basically put back to good use all of those old HDDs, right? If so, that's really awesome, TC! So many "recyclers" out there simply just bin the drives (and other hardware) simply for the metals in them. This (wiping and re-using) just makes so much more sense! And 2nd hand HDDs are always needed too.

I've tried to recover data using many utilities on drives wiped with dban. I have never been successful....so I'm comfortable putting wiped drives back to use. Some of the smaller ones (500gb or smaller), I simply gift to people if they can use them. I hate wasting anything.

I suppose the next step would to land some bigger recycling contracts with data centers, universities, and other organizations - that will probably allow you to put all of those machines back for re-use again. (And reduce waste.)

I don't really have any desire to process that kind of volume......I don't have the space or the time. That kind of volume would be more than just me could handle....I don't want to have to deal with employees anymore.

I mean, something like that can work for a really small business that doesn't see too many HDDs that need wiping. But when you have a lot of HDDs, it really does make sense to build a station specifically for that purpose that requires minimum effort to do this task. (Plus, it looks more professional if a customer ever wanted to know what your data destruction/wiping process is. Seeing a proper machine built for the task probably inspires a lot more confidence than just seeing a bunch of drives lying around on a bench.)

Loose drives to be wiped are locked in the safe while waiting if they came from a business. Consumer grade stuff will usually sit in the garage until ready.

Understandable.
I hardly see IDE/PATA drives anymore too. I'm still guessing you save these, though, right? For older/retro builds (like Windows XP and older), the bigger PATA drives (80-250 GB range) are plenty fast. And for an old Win9x machine, even an older slower 20-60 GB is plenty fast. So hope you're not trashing them PATA HDDs.

I do keep them, they're useful for a lot of older things, and larger PATA drives are harder to come by. I have a few 750gb PATA's I recently pulled from some DVR's that I scrapped.

Nice! Who needs SAS to SATA interposers, right? Just make your own.

The 2.5" to 3.5" tray is what was modified for SAS. The cage for the 2.5" drives can't take 10mm height drives, only 7mm....and SAS 2.5" is always 10mm thick....

That was just one function of many? 0.o
This is getting interesting.

Just give it some more time, I haven't had a lot of free time to putter with this lately.

[momaka]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

but it's time for her to reveal one of her little secrets of function.... I've been getting increased requests for data destruction....and I've got a medium size plastic tote full of HDD's, plus a bunch of systems with HDD's in them from a couple EDU drop-offs, and a couple older rack servers with some SAS HDD's in them...all these need to be wiped.....

Yay, the moment we were all waiting for.

So now you can basically put back to good use all of those old HDDs, right? If so, that's really awesome, TC! So many "recyclers" out there simply just bin the drives (and other hardware) simply for the metals in them. This (wiping and re-using) just makes so much more sense! And 2nd hand HDDs are always needed too.

I suppose the next step would to land some bigger recycling contracts with data centers, universities, and other organizations - that will probably allow you to put all of those machines back for re-use again. (And reduce waste.)

Really cool!

Having a motherboard laying loose or a half disassembled tower on the bench with a bunch of drives connected to it is a big pain in the ass and ties up that section of the bench for days on end if there's a lot of larger drives....so this needed to be done.

True.
I mean, something like that can work for a really small business that doesn't see too many HDDs that need wiping. But when you have a lot of HDDs, it really does make sense to build a station specifically for that purpose that requires minimum effort to do this task. (Plus, it looks more professional if a customer ever wanted to know what your data destruction/wiping process is. Seeing a proper machine built for the task probably inspires a lot more confidence than just seeing a bunch of drives lying around on a bench.)

When these two are complete, each system will be able to handle up to 7 SSD or spinning drives; either SAS or SATA. I omitted SCSI and IDE, as I seldom encounter either anymore; atleast from customers.

Understandable.
I hardly see IDE/PATA drives anymore too. I'm still guessing you save these, though, right? For older/retro builds (like Windows XP and older), the bigger PATA drives (80-250 GB range) are plenty fast. And for an old Win9x machine, even an older slower 20-60 GB is plenty fast. So hope you're not trashing them PATA HDDs.

The SATA keyway...
I very carefully carved the keyway out with a fresh razorblade. The cut looks like crap in the pic with the flash, it really isn't that sloppy....but you get the idea.
Fits like a glove!!

Nice! Who needs SAS to SATA interposers, right? Just make your own.

As everything settled in, throughput averaged out among the 7 HDD's, but still capped at the internal controller speed of ~300mb....but get a load of the load averages; the CPU is a Westmere Xeon hexcore @ 3.46. I've played around with the idea of running two controllers; those ASR-5805's can be had all day long for ~$10...that would split the load; theoretically doubling the throughput.

If a 2nd controller is only $10... I'd probably go for it. Depends on how often and how many HDDs you have to do at once, though. You had an accumulation of HDDs that needed wiping, so in this instance, a 2nd controller would have been helpful. But once these are all cleared... if you never really get that many HDDs at once, then it might be OK to just continue with the single controller.

On the other hand, having a 2nd controller would also be nice to have as a backup, in case the 1st one ever goes down for some reason.

Other than some tweaking & tinkering, one of the functions of this beast is up & running!

That was just one function of many? 0.o
This is getting interesting.

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Saw this video, and thought of this built:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ_bdaoqNJE

Socket 8 SBC!

I've actually seen a socket 8 SBC before, and really didn't think much about it....I probably should have grabbed it....but I do have a couple Skt8 jewels including a dual Skt8 overdrive... Definitely a neat build.

[ratdude747]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Saw this video, and thought of this built:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ_bdaoqNJE

Socket 8 SBC!

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

...and the 'morning after' followup:

It didn't take 2 days (48hrs) as DBAN was suggesting....once the smaller drives finished up, it freed up controller bandwidth for the larger ones. It took ~20hrs to wipe this batch of 7. Not bad considering....and yes, it would have taken longer had all the drives been larger (naturally).... Still kicking the idea around of multiple controllers.....







Other than some tweaking & tinkering, one of the functions of this beast is up & running!

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Finished 1 of 2 for the HDD diag & wipe systems. That last 5.25 bay is now filled with a 4 drive hot swap bay. This can support 7mm and 9mm drives, but not the 12mm ones. The 12mm are too tall. It will support SAS.





All bays loaded with 7 drives.





Fired up!





Seen by the controller.



Seen by DBAN



7 simultaneous drives seems to have the controller at max capacity for throughput! At 3x, things were running at the speeds they should have.....but 7 slowed it down a tad!!



As everything settled in, throughput averaged out among the 7 HDD's, but still capped at the internal controller speed of ~300mb....but get a load of the load averages; the CPU is a Westmere Xeon hexcore @ 3.46. I've played around with the idea of running two controllers; those ASR-5805's can be had all day long for ~$10...that would split the load; theoretically doubling the throughput.



I probably don't really need a second system just for this task, the one would probably be able to handle it....but I have most of the stuff for the second one to be completed.... I'll ponder that one, but for now this one is holding its own. The majority of the drives have already been wiped.

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

The real fun hasn't even really begun.....but showing some signs of life...

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Ok, I know there hasn't been a lot of updates....I haven't had a lot of free time to tinker with this.....but it's time for her to reveal one of her little secrets of function.... I've been getting increased requests for data destruction....and I've got a medium size plastic tote full of HDD's, plus a bunch of systems with HDD's in them from a couple EDU drop-offs, and a couple older rack servers with some SAS HDD's in them...all these need to be wiped.....

So...now as to what's going to be revealed....the function of these 2 Antec racks. Disk diagnostic & data destruction terminals. These two will be identical to eachother, but I don't have all the goodies I need for both....so I needed to get one of them kindasorta working so I can nuke these drives... Having a motherboard laying loose or a half disassembled tower on the bench with a bunch of drives connected to it is a big pain in the ass and ties up that section of the bench for days on end if there's a lot of larger drives....so this needed to be done.

...and here we go!! Still the same X8SAX with hexcore Xeon @ 3.46GHz & 24gb RAM. The GPU is a 4x PCIe G550, blisteringly fast GPU.....but uses pretty much no power. Perfect for this task, since there was no onboard. Controller is an Adaptec ASR-5805 SAS/SATA 2....perfect for this task as well. Older controller with a more 'legacy' type firmware/BIOS but will do fine with SSD's and SAS. The nice part of the firmware, it supports JBOD without a bunch of hassle, unlike Modern LSI/Avago controllers; where a JBOD config can be a real pain, if it's even supported. With this critter, fire the system (with or without the drives installed, it doesn't matter). Enter controller BIOS, rescan for drives if hot-swapped, once drives are seen, initialize, and reboot...by default, they're all exported as JBOD if no RAID is configured....then boot to whatever utility you need; DBAN or Hiren's for instance. They're visible and ready to roll.





Now for the hot swap bay. That's one thing I wish this case had was room to house 2 of these, but each case can only take one. These are tool-less & trayless, hot swappable SAS cages. They're built like tanks, all solid aluminum & steel, no plastic. They're normally ~$110ea, I got these used for about 25% of that. On top of the boxes are some IcyDock 3.5" to 2.5" adapter trays....and I'll get back to those later.



Things starting to go together. Yes, this case could have been designed a little better, such as the PSU being put in the rear, which would have allowed additional 5.25 bays up front....but it is what it is I suppose....and I'm not buying new racks....I'll just work with what I've got.



Hotswap bays mounted in the Antec drive cage....



That bottom bay will not go to waste. I am in the process of selecting a 4-bay 2.5" hotswap bay that can take both SATA and SAS, but tool-less/trayless. Tool-less & trayless is a critical feature, as it eliminates parts to end up broken or hardware that would get lost. I want to just insert the drive, do my thing, and yank them out when done.....so there's still a little more work to be done on these after this post.....



Installed.







Now to test this thing.....



The controller BIOS I previously mentioned. There's a mix of SATA and SAS drives here; the SAS in one of those IcyDock trays.



...and DBAN...







Ok, now for those little plastic IcyDock trays....and the very minor complication they presented. They too are tool-less....but were never intended to run SAS....



The SATA keyway...



I very carefully carved the keyway out with a fresh razorblade. The cut looks like crap in the pic with the flash, it really isn't that sloppy....but you get the idea.



Fits like a glove!!



...and success!! The controller sees the SAS drive!



It's up & running and performing its duties as I type....I still ahve a few more touches to add to this.....but atleast now this mystery contraption is working.... When these two are complete, each system will be able to handle up to 7 SSD or spinning drives; either SAS or SATA. I omitted SCSI and IDE, as I seldom encounter either anymore; atleast from customers.

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

I wonder what kind of changes/additions the next update is going to bring to this project

Well, there's the new old goodies that are under the bench....

[momaka]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Didn't have a lot going on today.....so dialupers, grab your asses and make a wish!! ...along with some new swear words!

My internet connection had no sweat delivering this... but the Pentium 4 CPU in my PC was like, hold on, I need to think this through for a few moments while loading the page.

I test fitted, and the standoffs are placed just perfect for this tray....but now I need to figure out how to know where to drill; IE marking the holes.....hmmm...not that bad.

Some white heatsink grease!!
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1624661743

Standoffs gooped up!
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1624661743

Then place the tray carefully over the standoffs:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1624661743

Now I know where to drill!!
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1624661743

Smart!
I probably would have just measured everything, simply because I can't allow myself to waste even cheap white thermal compound.

Motherboard standoffs secured into the tray for minimal mounting points (basically just to keep them from moving around)....Motherboards that will fit:

Small:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1624661743

Medium:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1624661743

Large:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1624661743

...and Extra Large!!
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1624661743

Cool!
But let's be honest - who's going to put just a small or medium mobo in there and leave the rest of the case empty like that. It's mike going to McD's and ordering nothing else but one order of small fries. Seriously, when is the last time anyone ever saw something like that happen? (And on that note, I haven't been to any fast food joint in probably a good 3-4 years now, if not longer... so IDK, maybe things have changed now?? )
I approve of the eATX mobo use, though.

Yes Momaka; DEBURRED!!!
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1624661743

LOL! This won't get old anytime soon, will it?

Both of them pulling damn near an amp!!
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1624661743

Proper nail/finger choppers!

Now the first things that need to be mounted.....some large shunt resistors for one of the functions of this goofy thing...
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1624748711

Just tell us what is it already!

Now this box of crap goes back to my teenage years; remains of an old car audio & car security system.....I wanted to harvest some of the wiring from it....
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1624748711

Haha, that's awesome!
Maybe you should take the title of master hoarder from me.

...then the mail came....and the parts for this beast showed up... I haven't lost my touch!!
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1624748711

Wow!
I haven't seen anyone fix CRT TVs in a long time. Looks like HOT and vertical deflection ICs failed? What was the cause? Bad solder joints?

THis is the backplane & SBC from the original Secore doodiddle....I stuck my own GPU in it; that PCChips one wasn't worth a shit....not that a Matrox Millennium is anything to brag about, but it's better for sure.

LOL!
You know a video card is bad when even a Matrox Millennium is a better alternative.

Now for some more "can't go back" modifications.....cutting a hole in the floor...what for? A modular power interface.

Still trying to bend my mind what this "thing" is going to be. And still not having enough brain cells to figure it out yet (or they just lazy. )

Some old cellular phone car mounts from back in the 90's.....How I've kept these all this time is beyond me!

Master of all hoarders confirmed.
.
.
.
I wonder what kind of changes/additions the next update is going to bring to this project

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

What have I done???

Blame my wife and mom... they discovered the racks at Purdue University Surplus...

And I sure will... but the goodies I'll be hauling have or will (likely) have their own threads

It's always good to see you.

Anyway, I dissected one of these displays. One of them has some pretty deep scratches on the front, I wanted to see if the digitizer was separate from the actual LCD, common in industrial stuff versus consumer grade junk. Of course this is me, I also wanted to see what made them tick!!

Sure enough, the digitzer is an entity all of its own!





For what I'm doing with these, the scratches don't really bother me....they're totally usable....but here they are:



The pristine LCD underneath. No, the glass panel isn't a polarizing, the LCD displays fine with the digitzer removed.



The innards... Also note the mounting holes in the casing it self....these will mount flush very nicely!



...and the overview...



More later...