Anyone with experience building his own Rackmount Chassis?

[zir_blazer]

I'l try to keep it initially short, but mostly because I'm lazy to write today (Don't panic, there will be a Wall of Text™ incoming later).

I have several projects in mind, all which requires a lot of planning with the Case. I got interesed in replacing my cheap, bad quality plastic Tower with a Rackmount Chassis that I can be proud of, so I begun to research the server chassis ecosystem.
Basically, what I was initially looking for, was a simple 4U Rackmount Chassis that would serve as a cost effective Tower replacement. Besides being standard ATX compatible, the only other real requeriments would be dust filters and acoustic dampeners for lower maintenance and nuisance, and HD vibration dampeners for higher reliability and life expectancy. Currently, I have my HD suspended with elastic, like this:
http://10n.ca/images/suspension.jpg

I was also helping a friend with a multiGPU system that was needing something non-standard for proper cooling, which would also be useful for me later on because such design would be reusable for a cryptocurrency mining rig, now that Etherium and Monero are all the rage. Sadly, budget doesn't really allow for anything, but at least it can keep the ideas flowing...
The idea for this system was to use either a 4U or slighty bigger size to allow for plugging the Video Cards into PCIe Risers instead of directly to the Motherboard, then increasing the separation between them, so there is better cooling and airflow. This one was bound to be fully custom anyways, since I found no commercial Chassis prepared for that.


The thing is that I'm not entirely satisfied with all the Rackmount Chassis that I saw. They either are too dull and simple, or too expensive (Mainly because international shipping costs are absurd). Now I'm looking around to see how hard it would be to roll my own design. I suppose that it may be possible to do it myself with some help, but I suppose that as a worst case scenario, I can just make the blueprints and get a metalcutting shop to do it for me, at more cost, but with a professional finish.
I will later detail my thoughts (And a lot of questions) on the matter to nail down what would be the best choices among the multitude of options available for a coherent design.


Initially, what I was looking around was what people in my situation already did. The best reference is Backblaze Storage Pods since they have extensively detailed their build process with blueprints and other info:
Backblaze Storage Pod 6.0 (33.6'' depth) Open Source Storage Server: 60 Hard Drives 480TB Storage
Backblaze Storage Pod 5.0 (29'' depth) The Hardware Inside B2 Cloud Storage - Storage Pod 5.0

However, Backblaze is specifically building them for storage, they seem to be worse for general purpose. And, actually, the multiGPU chassis goes the completely the other way around.

Some further googling found me this:
3U/4U case with 8 or more expansion card slots and good cooling - Ars Technica OpenForum
[WTB] 19" RackMount GPU Frame
The best of that Thread is this Post:
[WTB] 19" RackMount GPU Frame
These are specifically designed for multiGPU, as they're for mining rigs.


Finally, there is a shop rather close to my home that actually manufactures Chassis. They have the Premium 4U series that is rather close to what I wanted for a basic Chassis, but the price is rather high (Around 200-250 U$D with the basic parts, yet somewhat competitive if you consider that international shipping for a chassis is like 100 U$D. No idea on their quality). What makes them interesing is that they publish enough of their layouts and modular designs to look like a good reference:
Premium 4U Layout A Gabinete Raqueables 4 Unidades Premium
Terarex 4TA Front and Modules Gabinete Raqueables 4 Unidades Premium


Anyone else with input about the matter? Design tools, more blueprints, etc, may be useful.

Chances are that like all my projects, gets me nowhere. But I had the idea, and must try to see where it goes.

 

[Aestr]

I'l try to keep it initially short, but mostly because I'm lazy to write today (Don't panic, there will be a Wall of Text™ incoming later).

I can't imagine what the wall of text will look like after the "short" post

If all you need is something that will technically hold all of your parts and you're not fussy about how it looks, making or having something made might work out for you (Not sure what materials and labor would cost where you're from). Copying something like the bitcoin rig you posted should be simple enough as long as you can live with the very purpose built and limited features.

The more features you want to add the more the cost and skill required will go up. Even simple things like cutouts for an IO backplate require additional tools and careful attention to measurements. To have it mounted properly in a rack without just sitting on a shelf you'll have even more considerations.

If something like the bitcoin rig would work for you it shouldn't cost that much to have someone bend the frame and then you can do the work to mount everything inside with minimal tool/knowledge requirements as long as you take your time. If you need more I think you'll find you quickly get into the realm where even with shipping, a commercial chassis will save you money and headaches, especially if you make a mistake at one point and have to scrap a half built chassis.

If this is more of a project for the sake of the experience rather than cost by all means go for it, but just go in with your eyes open and understand it will likely cost more than purchasing one and will also take more time and have potential setbacks along the way. If you decide to go ahead make sure to keep us updated on your work!

 

[Twice_Shy]

My ideas will probably be considered super ghetto and useless but i've lived on Ramen and mac and cheese for months before so you have to remember where it's coming from. I've always hated spending too much money on cases because they don't do much but sit there.

If youre not set on a 4U setup you might get by okay just modifying an existing ATX case. Seeing the high prices of ATX cases with more than about 10-11 bays my planned solution for an upcoming build was just going to literally be bolting two ATX cases together! I'd remove the panel for the motherboard support (with Dremel if it's not cooperative/some used case not designed for it), drill some holes, and make sure to use locking nuts to hold them together. I then have mounting area for a second PSU (which would be powering most of the spare drives), i'm sure I could hack a couple spare fans in there if I wanted to as well. You might even find it works for your friends GPU mining rig - mounting the cards in what would now be the 'top' chassis since the pcie electrical extender cables let you put them both up and a bit away. Seven slots might let you mount four cards as doublewide, even if the motherboard was a four slot micro ATX for instance.

I've seen people mount a rack of drives literally with just two pieces of steel per side drilled with holes and attached with common drive screws. I would not think it too difficult to modify the idea with some kind of rubber vibration mount. I don't know if this will ever be a case you're "proud" of visually unless you fancy it up, i'm just thinking functional. I look at the price of fancy 16 bay or more cases and I shudder - $400 is three months food for me. It makes me want to think and design it up with a dremel, drill, zip ties, and bolts is all. Oh and I love the way Backblaze seemingly solved their vibration problem (or at least did in a prior design I remember/haven't looked at the latest) simply putting rubber bands around the drives(!) They pinch pennies the way I do, until they scream, so they can buy more drives with it. :^)

 

[Terry Kennedy]

My ideas will probably be considered super ghetto and useless but i've lived on Ramen and mac and cheese for months before so you have to remember where it's coming from.

3M makes some very nice PCIe extension cables, so you can use one in each slot and spread out your GPUs however you like:

You can get a Chinese cable for 1/10 the price:

But I wouldn't make any bets on how well a chassis with a bunch of those would work.

 

[pricklypunter]

3M makes some very nice PCIe extension cables, so you can use one in each slot and spread out your GPUs however you like:

You can get a Chinese cable for 1/10 the price:

But I wouldn't make any bets on how well a chassis with a bunch of those would work.

Good call Terry, the 3M ones will at least be up to spec and should be fine if cable placement is sensible, not cheap though, but the short Chinese ones just about cope as long as you don't expect top notch performance from them. The longer ones sing like a linty just carrying simple data, I certainly wouldn't consider using them for fast video traffic of any kind

 

[pricklypunter]

Now I'm looking around to see how hard it would be to roll my own design.

Anyone else with input about the matter? Design tools, more blueprints, etc, may be useful.

Chances are that like all my projects, gets me nowhere. But I had the idea, and must try to see where it goes.

Well, it's doable of course, if you have some time, the will and some money to throw at it. All these things are doable, the real question would be is it worth your while doing it? The answer really is, I think, if it's the only way to achieve your goal, or if you really have a need to stroke your genius gland

For a little inspiration and perhaps encouragement, if you haven't already seen this, have a read: Here's something I done on a recent trip - Warning Pic heavy!