Hpres-server

[Defyant]

HPSERVER

After recently re-wiring and water cooling our home server in a sad attemp to achieve "quietness" i relised that poor case design was more to blame for heat and noise than the parts i was using to cool.


In the case of our home server the 5xHDD's are what generate the most heat....ther-for need a harder louder working fans to to over come poor case design cool them.... and with plans to add 2 more HDD's somehow things wern't looking good.

As seen on a lot of home case mods, fans can be installed into the top drive bays to help with upper case and HDD cooling.

Not many case's offer a solution to "upper case cooling" if your one who installs HDD's high up in your server or pc mid sized towers. Most cooling solutions are applied to the lower front of the case.

With HP SERVER i have decided to design (well a few ideas in my head) and build another HP-8000 series case into a custom purpose built solution for our home server needs.

The main Feature of the mod will be it's grafted UPPER and LOWER 120mm Turbine style custom blow holes!

To work in with this design, i have thought out a MID MOUNTED Cdrom mod! and will graft in a sexy "flipdown" type STEALHED cdrom door

These 2 mods will allow for the addition of HDD Bay setup wich will inturn also allow me to now add upto a WHOPPING 12xHDDS! and have them quietly and efficiently cooled buy the dual 120 front upper and lower fans.

Extra features so far include possible DUAL 380mm Top Mounted Res's! of course some custom internals, watercooling and some side mounted info guages!

Let the MOD begin!


The front panel.

I'll be using left over panels from all the other mods! some are already modded so this should helps things move along a lil quicker.

Of course the holes need to be marked.

The top section of the front panel has its cdrom area plated and hole cut as well

Some good old stormwater 110mm pipe is cut and sat into the holes.

Scared yet?

A floppy is no good to me! so in it's place is where the CDROM flip down front mod will be.

a bit more prep work

[Defyant]

Time for bondo action!

for HPR-SERVER ive decided to go with a more pronounced lip on the both blowholes, i figured if i'm ganna have 2 blow holes! they may as well stand out.

i also decided to do away with the lower contour to try and even the front look up a bit.

The CDROM was/is going to take a bit of work!! around the edges are a pain to get right, the door closes flush with the face of the front panel.

If not done perfect will most definatly spoil the look of the case... extra time and care is taken.

Very early and crude! but i need a look see

The panel is left to sit over night to allow all the bondo to settle and go off.

Next day is more work on that CDROM opening.

As you can see the upper lip of the door must sit perfectly flush!!

Amost there! some small pits to be filled

will leave this sit over night again then sand and sprayputty tomorrow.

[Defyant]

Some more putty and sanding work is done to the blowholesand sat back on to get an idea of what fans i will run,

I'm thinking 2 Turbine style fans will prolly have the best effect!

Some final shots for now before sprayputty tomrrow

[Defyant]

The next day the panels again are wet rubbed with 800

The final uncercoat is primer

A few more spots "flare up" this can happen, in this instance it's the thinners in the paint biting into the edge of the first layer of putty. The panels are joined and yet again wet rubbed and spray puttied.

A final few coats of primer are applied to seal everything down, this is final now with just a web rub before paint.

[Defyant]

With the front panel finally done i can move onto the how the 8-12 HDD/cd rom bay will install.

Perfect for this mod is the section form an old Plex case! with a very minimal modding the bay will install right in!

With the front panel bolted in i can now sit the CDROM in and install the plex mounts in.

The plex panel thatmake the bay are very old! and have a lot of small scratching on them.

a quik machine buff using fine compound will remove most of the smaller ones.

8 custom clear plex adapter mounts are cut and drilled to fit HDD's into the top bay section.(these will be re made the first 2 are just for testing and of course are a bit ruff)

[Defyant]

You can now see with the Clear mounts installed and some Older workshop HDDs, how the new setup will easily house and effectivly cool 8-12 HDD's somthing not normally seen in a standard size mid ATX tower.

Finally i can fit the the custom flip down front CDROM door for a test run

I'm really really happy with the look of the cdrom panel graft! once under paint it will look factory.

[Defyant]

While this may look a bit confusing posting this now!

I need to know if the idea to paint the HP-SERVER black is going to be the look i'm after with this mod.

The the next update i'm gioing to give the front panel a qick lick with some Acrylic Gloss back! and do a quick mockup using some HP-1 panels.


The paint you see here..if i decide to stay with the black is only a base coat that will be rubbed flat bfore final paint job..

A good trick for you guys painting @ home is to give your paint area a light spray with water bfore you paint!

this helps to settle down any dust that flying around in the area.

I use a generic type 2 dollar sprayer set to fine mist.

The choice for me as always when dealing with can paint is ACRYLIC paint. NOT Enamel.


The primered front panel is given an initial "dusty" coat.....left to sit for a min then a few more "wetter" coats applied.

So i can get a good feel to this mockup ive decided to add the spinners to the chosen fans now.

The fans ive chosen for the mod are top qual PABST's , these are high flowing 12v fans wich i'll run of Zalmann speed controllers.

The Center cones are the same as used on HP-4
the larger 70mm type.

Of course to match the cones are painted using "Bumper trim paint" this is used for its plastic sticking propertys and the fact it drys a plastic matt finish to match the rest of the fan.

The cones are "HOT GLUED" from the rear to thyr new homes.

With the Fans ready and the painted front touch dry ..the front of the case can be fitted up for a looksee

To help get an even better idea! ive grabbed a few penels off HP-1.

Im very heppy how the HP-1 side penel with the moulded window vents actually works in quiet well with the 2 front blowholes! and may end up making another panel the same

[Defyant]

Change of PLAN




I was scratching around out in the workshop and i found this! It was sent to me months ago i just
never really had a use for it.

Until now!

I already decided to put a 15" side mounted LCD into HP server but thought why not go the whole hog
and do a DUAL LCD install!

The victem is a Shinko 7" LCD i like the fact that this unit uses a Romote! should make a fun lil addition.

A qick measure and shows it's a squeeze but a possible one

Time to bust her open!

[Defyant]

With the LCD out i can now mark up the front panel for cutting.

The front panel has a round shape so inserts are cut from plex and added.

A check to see all is square

Some minor stress cracking was caused with the clamping so a lil extra work needs to be done.

The screen spacers are glued into place then time for some bondo action!

A qick fit to the painted chassis to check screen placement.

Back off for some sanding

A second coat

another sand

and a final coat of finishing putty

[OvRiDe]

You definately have a way with those HP Cases!! I can't wait to see this one finished.. Keep up the GREAT work.