Perfect ABS Plastic Server Enclosure from Radio Shack
#1
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ABS Plastic Server Enclosure 15.24cmX10.16cmX5.08cm from Radio Shack

This classic Radio Shack ABS Plastic enclosure ( 6x4x2 inches ) is ideal for the pineA64 board, particularly for server applications. These boxes are being marketed by Radio Shack and others like EBay and Amazon. The enclosure is readily modifiable , but is the classic rugged Radio Shack quality ABS box hobbyists and amateurs have come to expect for years.

The box has the classic interchangeable plastic or aluminum base plate fastened by four rugged corner screws. The cabinet is ideally suited (size and shape) for the PineA64 board; with room left for mounting power supply filters, batteries and GPIO cabling, or even a fan.

If you need a ground plane , the aluminum bottom plate (or top plate!) is perfect; else if you need a non Gaussian enclosure the interchangeable ABS plastic bottom plate is also perfect. While I do plan to place my desk Pine board on display in one of Dustin's classy cases, my headless server boards need to be protected too... and this little box is a perfect enclosure.
marcushh777    Cool

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#2
(08-26-2016, 01:40 PM)MarkHaysHarris777 Wrote: ABS Plastic Server Enclosure 15.24cmX10.16cmX5.08cm from Radio Shack

This classic Radio Shack ABS Plastic enclosure ( 6x4x2 inches ) is ideal for the pineA64 board, particularly for server applications. These boxes are being marketed by Radio Shack and others like EBay and Amazon. The enclosure is readily modifiable , but is the classic rugged Radio Shack quality ABS box hobbyists and amateurs have come to expect for years.

The box has the classic interchangeable plastic or aluminum base plate fastened by four rugged corner screws. The cabinet is ideally suited (size and shape) for the PineA64 board; with room left for mounting power supply filters, batteries and GPIO cabling, or even a fan.

If you need a ground plane , the aluminum bottom plate (or top plate!) is perfect; else if you need a non Gaussian enclosure the interchangeable ABS plastic bottom plate is also perfect. While I do plan to place my desk Pine board on display in one of Dustin's classy cases, my headless server boards need to be protected too... and this little box is a perfect enclosure.

Good tips Smile
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#3
   

I began casing my ubuntu PineA64 board(B) tonight using the Radio Shack ABS enclosure;  in the pic above I have chosen to use the optional ABS plastic lid and have begun to install the board mounting hardware and the 5v brushless fan which will be employed to keep things very cool indeed.

You will note the 3M x30mm bolts are the same ones that it has stood upon for weeks now; also, note the transistor (2N2222) motor speed controller hardware, fastened to the top panel with electrical tape.

I used a blob of fast dry modeling glue on each fan mount; to keep the nuts from coming loose and dropping down on the pine board. The PineA64 board(B) will hang from its mounting hardware with the power filter and battery in the bottom enclosure and all cables running out the rear bezel.

   

The close-in above details the mounting hardware and the fan motor-speed controller circuit connections.

   

When the 'lid bezel' is inverted the assembly will drop into the bottom ABS enclosure. Note the system LED which will protrude through the front bottom enclosure bezel. The board sits about two-thirds of the way into the bottom enclosure allowing space for the power passive filter, wiring, and connectors.
marcushh777    Cool

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#4
(08-31-2016, 02:27 AM)MarkHaysHarris777 Wrote: I began casing my ubuntu PineA64 board(B) tonight using the Radio Shack ABS enclosure;  

Nice looking build... and now the length of your bolts make sense now you're using them to suspend the board! :-) Did you end up having to cut the bolts holding the fan on flush, or is there still enough separation between the board and the ends of the bolts?Looking forward to seeing the finished unit... are you going to be putting slots down the side for the USB, or is that going to be a remotely accessed (wifi?) box? It's just that the USB and ethernet ports look to have ended up just a bit too far away from the sides for comfort... :-O

btw, meant to ask, with your python script... have you got it set to only start the fan once the CPU gets above a certain temperature? And is there any hysteresis so it doesn't keep oscillating on and off? I have a custom fan controller on the switching regulator board that comes from my 12v solar supply, which steps the voltage up to 19v for laptops, and I use a 90mm fan with a hydraumatic (fluid) bearing, and is darn near silent when when running full blast (except for the sound of air rushing through it, and undetectable when running at low revs. When the power supply is loaded up for long periods and is starting to warm up, the fan just needs to kick in for about 30 seconds on low, drops the temperature a few degrees below the trigger temperature, and then shuts down again for a couple of minutes until the temperature shoots past the threshold again. Pretty handy as a desk fan when it starts warming up in summer to! xD
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#5
   

Looking at the other side of the top bezel assembly, I'm preparing here to mount the power filter assembly ; the red and black leads are the power leads coming from the euler bus pin(4 5v+) and pin(6 ground). The system LED (on male-female jumper leads--purple) will protrude through the bottom front bezel, as will the usb0 keyboard|trackpad receiver.

At some point (not now) I will cut an opening in the bottom section for easy removal of the SD card.  For now, its locked in place-- I actually remembered to insert it prior to assembling the prototype the first time !

   

From this vantage point the in-line passive low-pass power filter is clearly seen. The filter is mounted on a type of plastic velcro (no fabric is involved).  The filter is 'stuck' to the pine board and hangs downward with the rest of the top bezel assembly. The euler bus power connectors are in-place and we're just about ready to drop the top assembly into the bottom ABS section.



@pfeerick,  yes there is way plenty of room between the pine board and the fan mounting bolts, so I did not cut them.  I did glue them to keep the nuts from backing out and dropping on the board !

My motor speed controller actually has two phases which I have not documented here yet.  The first phase you have...  it runs the motor all the time 'slowly' with a 50hz  80% duty cycle ON. The second phase monitors the zone0/temp and bumps the fan speed by sending the process a -SIGHUP /  takes the fan speed to almost 100% duty cycle ON.  This occurs at temps above 55c should that occur.  When the temps drop back under 50c, then the second phase sends another -SIGHUP and the motor speed controller drops back to its normal 80% duty cycle ON.
marcushh777    Cool

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#6
   

This is the rear view (obviously) of the fully cased enclosure. I have very deliberately designed this box with the recessed ports in mind.  The purpose of the enclosure is to protect the board, yes, but mostly to make the board easily portable with everything in one tight box that can be tossed into a suit case for on-the-go. The enclosure is still a work in process; for instance, I am still waiting on my 5v barrel connectors for the power supply whether mains (as now) or whether solar array|SLA batts. Also I will be cutting a slot for the SD card, and a small opening in the top for the cp2102 serial console adapter !

   

The front view of the enclosure is designed to be simple and functional. The power and reset switches ( external ) will be added later-- once I get them !  The LED in the front panel is the system LED brought forward with jumpers. I am using the system LED as a boot-up indicator and normal operating system runtime indicator. This LED is activated rapid flash at the point of rc.local in the boot sequence;  and there after drops into a slow flash to indicate normal operating system runtime and temps-- its pace picks up if the fan motor speed control bumps to 100% duty cycle ON.

   

This is the ubuntu mate pineA64 board(B) booted and running normally;   Big Grin

... as well as some of the other junk in my lab.   Blush
marcushh777    Cool

please join us for a chat @  irc.pine64.xyz:6667   or ssl  irc.pine64.xyz:6697

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#7
edit:  cooling addendum:  I am noticing again that an SBC with heatsink &fan, seems to be running cooler when placed in an enclosure.  The nature of the enclosure means that the fan will be evacuating the air inside the case so many (x) times per minute; rather than just moving the air over the top of the heatsink as when the heatsink &fan are in the open.  My ubuntu board(b) featured here idles in the mid 30(s)C and seldom goes as high as the mid 40(s)C; unless I deliberately load it of course. The other observation I have for you folks ( relative to the case itself ) is that the case constitutes a resonator which tends to amplify the white noise produced by the fan. So, even though the fan is now more efficient and the unit is cooler, it is also 'slightly' more noisy even though the motor is running relatively slow (but its not obnoxious ).
marcushh777    Cool

please join us for a chat @  irc.pine64.xyz:6667   or ssl  irc.pine64.xyz:6697

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#8
Addendum:  Logo:

   

... self explanatory !
marcushh777    Cool

please join us for a chat @  irc.pine64.xyz:6667   or ssl  irc.pine64.xyz:6697

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#9
   

The ABS cased PineA64 board(b) is now running headless (as originally designed) and can be controlled either way, via network ssh, or via VNC.

hdmi is still available as needed, as well the serial console; so this little beastie is versatile as well as powerful. 

The pic above is the VNC (mate) desktop being displayed on my iMac with a -geometry of 1650x1040. When running on the local network, in full screen, this setup is very quick with very little interactive latency (neither in the mouse, nor in the keyboard).

I am starting the above vnc4server with :

vncserver :1 -geometry 1650x1040 -depth 24 -dpi 96  &

I have noticed that when the hdmi port is not active the GPU ( SoC ) runs quite a bit cooler with the same heatsink &fan-- in the high 20(s)C  as apposed to the high 30(s)C with the hdmi active.
marcushh777    Cool

please join us for a chat @  irc.pine64.xyz:6667   or ssl  irc.pine64.xyz:6697

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#10
Cool

Finally, have most of the hardware, to build my Pine64 into the ABS enclosure. This is only temporary, as I'm hopefully, sourcing a C4 Labs enclosure, via a travelling friend.

My Parts List so far:
ABS case 195x110x60mm, only size I could get.
M3 30mm nuts and bolts
5V DC fan to follow
2N2222 transistor
LEDs
Power and Reset Micro-switches
Extra HDMI Cables.

Pity about the only HDMI video support, as I have an old LCD VGA screen, which I used with my RPi 3, via the VGA to HDMI adapter. Luckily, I have an LG LCD monitor with a HDMI input, which works perfectly. I even tried a DVI to HDMI adapter to fit my old AOC 22" Screen, but no luck there.

Will attempt to get everything put together and mounted by this weekend. I have already installed and started up the Pine64, with the Android and now Ubuntu image loaded onto the Microsd card, successfully. Think I will play a little first before deciding what project to attempt with it.

Big Grin
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