IKEA Helmer custom cluster

[cesmith9999]

What is the height of the drawers 4"? for a storage pod, possibly you could use a SAS expander and have ~ 8-12-16 HD on edge. and run the cable down through the bottom or out the back. like a 2.5" backblaze like drawer.

I also like the idea of a 2 * ITX MB with the pico PS.

Not enough net ports out the back to handle 2 motherboards. maybe look at a way to have an IO plate for the back? for flexible expansion.

You showed us the back of the drawer, what about the back of the cabinet? do you make any cutouts for that?

 

[manonshortbus]

This might be slightly off topic but what about using the 9 drawer Alex? It has 4 drawers that are about 3U each. The bonus is that the drawers are I believe just wide enough that an ATX sized motherboard could be installed so the IO shield is aligned out the back. You could even have room for PCIe cards in the bottom drawers. My idea would be to use the 4 bottom drawers for 2 Hyper-V Hosts and 2 2012R2 file servers, 3 shallow drawers for "disk jbods" and the final top two drawers for network and power.

 

[renderpockets]

What is the height of the drawers 4"? for a storage pod, possibly you could use a SAS expander and have ~ 8-12-16 HD on edge. and run the cable down through the bottom or out the back. like a 2.5" backblaze like drawer.

I also like the idea of a 2 * ITX MB with the pico PS.

Not enough net ports out the back to handle 2 motherboards. maybe look at a way to have an IO plate for the back? for flexible expansion.

You showed us the back of the drawer, what about the back of the cabinet? do you make any cutouts for that?

Yes its about 4", I think one of those HDD cages will fit in nicely as a dedicated drawer of HDDs, and cables will go down to the system on the drawer below, so also have to figure out how to eliminate the floor of the above drawer.

For 2 ITX boards in 1 drawer, I did one design with IO plates on both sides, so front and back is IO plate, in this case you will have wires in the back and front, which is not very pretty

The back of cabinet comes with removable metal plate, so all the drawers are exposed, this is the photo of the back of older build, the formula5

 

[renderpockets]

This might be slightly off topic but what about using the 9 drawer Alex? It has 4 drawers that are about 3U each. The bonus is that the drawers are I believe just wide enough that an ATX sized motherboard could be installed so the IO shield is aligned out the back. You could even have room for PCIe cards in the bottom drawers. My idea would be to use the 4 bottom drawers for 2 Hyper-V Hosts and 2 2012R2 file servers, 3 shallow drawers for "disk jbods" and the final top two drawers for network and power.

Alex looks quite nice, do you know the height of those top smaller drawers, they look a bit small maybe?

 

[TuxDude]

It will give large enough area to put 4 x 5.25" drives or 6 x 2.5" drives.

If you can fit 4x 5.25" drives, then you can fit 4 of these SUPERMICRO CSE-M14TB 2.5" mobile rack - Newegg.ca (or other-brand similar product) and get 16x 2.5" drives in the same space. If you can fit a Mini-ITX board + PSU in the same shelf then you can have a nice shared-storage node to talk to the others. If not, its easy to expose each 4-in-1 unit as a single SFF-8088 connector out the back that the user can then wire into whichever other node he wishes - keeps all cables in the back and easily accessible if shelves need to be removed for any reason.

 

[pyro_]

There are also the icy dock 6 drive racks available which would then allow for 24 drives. However these will not fit the 15mm thick 2.5" drives only 9.5mm ones

 

[manonshortbus]

Searching around I found two sources that measured the drawers. The dimensions of the Alex 9 drawer are as follows. Essentially it is 4 - 3U and 5 - 2U. The tough part is it looks like custom drawers will be needed or chiseling out some of the side rail in order to fit ATX sized boards. Alex is the exact dimensions I was looking for in a "rack".

Overall Dimensions:

• Depth: 18 7/8 "
• Height: 45 1/4 "
• Width: 14 1/8 "

Small drawers:

• Inside (front to back): 16 3/4"
• Left to right: 11 5/8" (drawer side rails 0.5" each)
• Height (MAX) 3 1/2"

Big drawers:

• Inside dim front to back: 16 3/4"
• Left to right: 11 5/8" (drawer side rails 0.5" each)
• Height (MAX) 5 1/4"

Source 1
Source 2

 

[Patrick]

The back of cabinet comes with removable metal plate, so all the drawers are exposed, this is the photo of the back of older build, the formula5

I have seen your old build before. Managed to build my Helmer last night. Maybe a dumb question, but did you just Dremel/ drill the formula5?

 

[renderpockets]

I have seen your old build before. Managed to build my Helmer last night. Maybe a dumb question, but did you just Dremel/ drill the formula5?

Yes it was all Dremel cut, a very tedious, loud and stressful process!

 

[mackle]

Have you thought about incorporating support for GPUs into your design?

Presumably through the use of a PCIe right-angle riser/ribbon.

 

[renderpockets]

Have you thought about incorporating support for GPUs into your design?

Presumably through the use of a PCIe right-angle riser/ribbon.

It is possible to do that, but not full size GPU, maybe one of those half size GTX gpus. For full size GPUs, it will be better to use 2 drawer sizes so there is good enough ventilation, its a good idea and I am looking into this option.

 

[renderpockets]

Here is the latest update, fully assembled final prototype:

 

[renderpockets]

 

[renderpockets]

Available for pre-order on Feb. 15th, at Indiegogo!

 

[Entz]

Wow, those turned out absolutely amazing, good job.

 

[rubylaser]

Those are incredible!

 

[Chuckleb]

Very very nice!

 

[renderpockets]

Thanks all!
Well its live now on Indiegogo!

 

[Patrick]

Thanks all!
Well its live now on Indiegogo!

You are now 2.5% towards your goal - STH first order.

 

[renderpockets]

You are now 2.5% towards your goal - STH first order.

Thank you for very first purchase! I should give you an extra gift or something!