10-Bay HDD Cage Printed on 3L

My biggest print so far on the 3L is this 10-disk 3.5" hard drive holder for a Phanteks Enthoo Primo case, in Rigid 4000.

It spans nearly the full length of the build platform, but is narrow enough that I was able to wash half of it at a time in my Form Wash. Cured it on a rotating table in the sun. Here it is installed in the case:

I made some vibration dampening washers out of elastic resin on a Form 3:

The washers were printed directly on the platform. Because of base compression, the hole radius is slightly smaller on one side. That became a design feature, as the resultant thin flange provides a grip against the screw, keeping it from falling out during installation. (You can buy off-the-shelf anti-vibration grommets which extend all the way through the mounting hole, but I didn’t want to wait on parts and wanted to keep things simple).

Here’s the rack with drives installed:

The crack on the bottom right corner was my fault (tried to use a punch that was a little to fat to mark the screw location). I was going to reprint it, but it turned out it’s solid enough without that screw so I just sanded the corner smooth.

I created it because I couldn’t find any existing hard disk racks with enough density, or where drives get inserted sideways instead of from the front. A bonus 11th drive hangs off the right side, and the gap underneath fits two 140mm or three 120mm fans.

I shared the model on GrabCAD for anyone else who wants to fill this case up with HDD’s.

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Looks great!

What an awesome idea! Thanks so much for posting!

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That’s a lot of hard drives!!!

I bet you were super careful not to drop it :wink:

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Of course! Though since the drives slide in after it’s installed in the case, at least you’re not carrying around a heavy, brittle, expensive ordinance.

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I’d imagine you weren’t messing with it, but was there much flex in the whole assembly when it was done?

(Also, air-coolers represent :+1: )

Prior to installation there is flex. The bottom outer edge in particular sags downward toward the middle (especially if you place weight on it - e.g. if you rest all the drives there before tightening the thumbscrews. Once it’s affixed to the case and the drive plates are installed, the “box” frame structure is completed and there is no flex whatsoever.

This is by design. The thick beam across the top is the main structural element. The plates are purposely designed about a millimetre short. So when you tighten up the top thumbscrew it applies tension and pulls the beam below it upward slightly (that’s why they protrude at the ends, to provide for the necessary deflection). It also torques the drive itself a fraction of a degree (around a corner) which ensures it’s secured snug against the soft mounts and can’t rattle. The bolts through the back of the case also provide support. I used a ton more of them than I had to. This thing actually made the whole bottom of my aluminum case much more rigid than it had been.

Strength was one of the factors in my choice of Rigid, but the main reason was to squeeze out a little more headroom on temperature compared to e.g. Tough.

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