[Scratch] Project: Crimson Server Desk Module
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Perfect
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Right so I downloaded it, loaded it into vmware on the server, had a play around with it and while I think it´s fantastic for a NAS, I think I would sooner rather than later find out it limits me, so I think if I don´t find a better solution I could stick with it, but I rather try something else.
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Ok bro
. It' better try it then no do it 
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Definately!
As it turns out I had some time today to work on this so, update!
My original idea was to fill the "T" with 6mm glass, however I´ve been recommended by several people in that area not to do so because aparently cutting one single glass piece in this shape would not be very sturdy so instead I went with plexy. I have several bits and pieces of it in the workshop but unfortunately non that are 6mm so instead of having to go out and buy a new 6mm piece, I found some 1mm and 5mm so figured I´d cut those two to size and use it instead (no sense to waste decent material!) Have in mind that the final look will have all those wood-colour parts painted so it will all match.
Unfortunately I didn´t get my camera back today as I thought I would so, phone pictures again, sorry about that.
So first I cut the 1mm to size:
And here we go:
There´s some sanding needed for a perfect fit though:
Perfect! it was a pain to do though, 1mm is somewhat fragile and it´s very easy to over-sand the sides.
I also found that I already had one of these cutting tools so no need for the one I bought, I´ll be taking it back tomorrow as this old one works just fine, plus I am fan of bosch for power tools but they are always so expensive. Anyhow, started on the 5mm piece, this is much easier to work with.
Just need to do the round borders now and hopefully I´m done with that by tomorrow. The plan is to aply a smoked effect vynil between both pieces as I´m really liking the smoked look, so I will go out and see if I can find some tomorrow. After that, I will paint the parts of the plexy that sit on the standoffs black as opposed to painting the surface of the standoff black in order to get a perfectly smooth look.
On a side note, brought up the small via itx pc from the workshop and I´ve started taking it apart and will check if it still works shortly. But it´s definately looking promising! I still have to do some calculations taking in to account the lenght of both motherboards, the psu and the pico psu to make sure I can fit all the backplates properly (i.e. if there´s enough space) in to the back of the desk.
Here are the specs:
I´ll update when I make the calculations and check if this thing still lives!
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All people making their own NAS!
Me too! But I'll buy the case, unfortunately I've neither 1/10 of your skills
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nice i follow this project
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hey guys, just like to clarify that this is not a NAS but a server, the NAS concept came from Tom1´s idea of using FreeNAS as the OS
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Yes, sorry Luciel. Mine also will be a sort of server. I think I'll put use a Linux distribution and put Owncloud running on it to backup large amount of data from remote, as additional cloud space to the too small dropbox. I plan to put it near the television and to install the XMBC player.
Ok I'll stop to be Off Topic now!
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Actually sounds like a very interestin config!
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nice start , but he never considered the plywood a good wood for modding IMHO
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Welcome back, James!
Thank you for sharing with us your excellent mods!
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Thanks guys, oh I completely agree with mdf not being the ideal material for mods but as I said in the first post I didn´t want to risk buying good wood and wasting it if things didn´t work out being my first scratch mod and wood mod.
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Alright
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Little update today
This morning I finished the plexy and I have to say, it couldn´t fit any better or tighter. Originally I was debating wether I should screw it or glue it down or simply leave it alone but, considering how tight it fits, it´s not going to vibrate or go anywhere so, it´s perfect, hell it wasn´t easy taking it out again (as I will be painting the wood).
And just so you can see how it could look like minus the paint and filters.
Hopefully I can play around with the VIA mobo this evening and do the calculations I needed to do as yesterday it was pretty much instant K.O, needed to catch up with sleep!
PS: I also aplied the slight smoked tint vynil to the 5mm plexy on the underside (so it´s between both pieces). The guy from the vynil shop did say that I may encounter issues since plastic contracts and expands with heat and then cold (on/off server) but I may get lucky since the temps aren´t that much and it´s between two pieces. I took the risk as it wasn´t expensive and worst comes to worst, I´ll take the vynil off and aply some smoked lacquer instead. Unfortunately I took no pictures and you don´t see it because the plexy´s top layer protection is still on, no sense taking that off until the end to prevent it from getting dirty.
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Perfect fans Integration
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In deed, I was really aiming for that
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So it´s been a full year since my last update, other modding projects, work and life in general got in the way, but I´ve now resumed work on this project. So, did the cut out on the base of the desk for the trapdoor. Remember the desk has 2 floors in order to hide cables between them and the trap door is to be able to access these cables without making a mess or taking stuff apart. I then added the hinges and the locks. It´s unfortunately painfully obvious it´s my first time working with wood (rather than making other materials look like wood), but this won´t be seen unless you go under the desk so it´s one of those "it´ll do" cases I think. Have in mind that the "exposed" wood will be painted so as not to stand out from the rest of the desk (black).
Started assembly of the sides. The back will have to come out again in order to make the cutout for the I/O of the 2 boards inside but I need it to be in for now for the sake of measurements for the other parts.
Started to put the "fake floor" in to place and tested the trap door, all seems well.
In order to match the other desk in the room where it´ll be (as I explained in the opening post, this is an "extension"), I can only do the desk so high and so deep, which after measurement, taking the thickness of the wood in to account (even though the fake floor is 1cm thick as oposed to the rest which are 2cm) it only leaves me with 2cm high open space to hide the cables, it´s going to be tight. but the trap door helps a lot for this very reason and will keep the end result nice and tidy.
On a side note, I´ve also decided to move away from the VIA board, and acquired a Gigabyte GA-C1037UN-EU which still has a very low power footprint (which is the whole point of the second board which gets left on 24h) and comes with an integrated 1.8 dual core celeron which should work much better in hash checking than the VIA 1Ghz single core cpu (plus it was quite cheap, 64€).
Aniway that´s all for today, should be able to work more on it tomorrow.
As always, thanks for reading!
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hey Luciel, welcome back
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Cheers Tom1, feels good to finally be able to dedicate some time to this again
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