SE/30 - vertical HDD bracket maximizes expansion cubic . . .

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

,  ,  ,  for expansion cards installed in the HDD area. It's sort of a riff on jz's SCSI2SD Universal Mount but will work with standard half height 3.5" HDDs if needs be.

This rev's intended to allow for easy removal of a HDD mounted on a drive sled bolted up by the two screws atop the PSU in my chassis-free SE/30 testbed setup. It's built from the drive sled and hacked out sheet metal track section of a G3DT chassis heading into recycling



In its present form it's much too thick to fit between FDD cage and PSU, but a thinner version that might be printed could work or and an easily fabricated sheet metal version would definitely fit nicely by my tests in a somewhat more complete S#/30 configuration.







Dunno, unless I'm missing something it seems perfect for a ZFP atop the FDD cage for an order of SCSI2SD on the side

Thoughts?

Edit: sorry about the low contrast, low quality, small size of the pics. Workflow's badly out of flux ATM. I can take some better ones if needed, but I'll probably wait until I can whip up a template in AI and then fab the ultra-thin version from aluminum plate for comparison purposes.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Well that was clear as mud! :

"ZFP" in this case would mean that NOTHING need be installed atop the FDD housing by using an HDD mounting plate bolted vertically onto the side of the PSU. Alternately, the vertical mounting bracket could be designed to be bolted up to the side of the FDD housing. That might make assembly procedures a bit easier, though it's no problem mounting it to the PSU as I've done here. Kinda needed to do it that way as there's no chassis or FDD cage in my test setup. [] ]'>

No removable drive sled needed for a "production" version, that just makes things convenient for my purposes.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Had the camera out again, you can see the aluminum angle bolted under the front screw just behind where the the A/B power cable exits the PSU housing.



Rear screw is hidden behind the CRT neck board. :-/

I've got the HDD mounted far enough forward to allow a little extra slack on the MoBo connector cable where it falls across the SCSI connector/cable on the rear. Wouldn't be a problem when using the low profile SCSI2SD in its place, so that one could be mounted much further toward the rear of the case. Long split noodle cable is from the SE/Radius16/RadiusTPD project, it's not necessary for this, it was just handy laying on the bench.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

 

[olePigeon]

Hey, that's a clever idea.  Nice use of the sled so you can slip it in and out easily without having to unscrew everything.

But won't the floppy drive still block all that space?

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

This drive fits nicely in that space, but limits posed by the A/B<->Logic Board cable's length would likely be a major problem for using a half height 3.5" HDD.

This thicker, sled equipped version's only intended for my testbed setup. I can just hook an FDD up temporarily whenever I need it. I didn't like having the HDD hanging off the back when carrying this kluge between hackstations. It also blocked the SCSI port I'll likely be using for a Zip Drive at some point. The sled mount is working out very nicely overall.

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The "production" version prototype will fit that HDD nicely between PSU and FDD cage, cable limits notwithstanding. No sled would be involved, just a light gauge aluminum tray, possibly a piece of step flashing costing < $1.00 will do. It's easy enough to remove the two screws on the top edge of the PSU for installation/removal.

SCSI2SD is so thin and the depth is so shallow that a printed sled setup might be very handy. Putting it on top of the FDD cage may block cubic needed for additional PDS expansion cards on the ProtoCache1 series of adapters if and when. Matching the spec of the screws for longer replacements to mount a printed sled system should be easy enough. The aluminum angle scrap I used is only 1/16" thick, so the stock screws are just long enough. Printed mounting tabs would need to be much thicker for strength so they'll require longer screws.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Don't remembered having seen this pic on gamba. Never studied that upgrade page all that hard, being SE/30 deprived until recently.

Looks like going with a sled and a muvh lower profile 2.5" Savvio HDD or the SCSI2SD for easy removal and doing so with the existing retaining screws at the top without drilling any holes in the side of the PSU case were the only original notions for this hack.

Whatever, it was a blast and a 3.5" drive works with my chassis/FDD deprived testbed setup. [] ]'>