Yet another suspension setup...

[jkb]

Here's yet another way to isolate a hard drive:

My SP080 was vibrating my case (the dreaded hum) so I wanted to suspend it, but I wanted it to fit in the stock 3.5" bay and I didn't want it to bang around if the case got moved.

For each side of the drive I fashioned a "rail" made of 2 pieces of sheet metal bent into L's with foam in between. The top piece screws into the underside of the drive and the bottom has a side that is tapped to take the drive bay screws. In between I glued a strip of soft foam rubber.

Here's how it looks in the case:



Here's a closer view from somewhat underneath:



I did have to bend the drive bay tabs out of the way, but other than that the bay is untouched.

Some good points:

- The drive is basically free in the air for cooling purposes.

- There's still room for a fan in front if you want one.

- 2 Drives can be suspended this way in a 4-bay cage.

- The case can be turned on its side.

-jim

[lenny]

I like how the angled sheet metal attached to the drive keeps the drive from shifting left and right. But I have a couple of questions : how is the foam secured to the sheet metal? And is there anything (other than friction) keeping the drive from moving front / back / up?

[Ralf Hutter]

jkb - Oh, that's nice! You get two thumbs up from Ralfie!





Lenny - He says he glued a piece of foam, I assume this means he glued it to the top and bottom "L" brackets so the whole assembly effectively becomes one piece.

In between I glued a strip of soft foam rubber.

[jkb]

jkb - Oh, that's nice! You get two thumbs up from Ralfie!

Lenny - He says he glued a piece of foam, I assume this means he glued it to the top and bottom "L" brackets so the whole assembly effectively becomes one piece.

Thanks Ralf!

Yes, that's correct - I used what the modelers call "Houshold Goo" which is a generic term for toluene-based adhesives that come out of a squeeze tube.

It's my default adhesive when I want to glue random bits of plastic/metal/wood to other bits of plastic/metal/wood.

It occurs ot me that if I installed the lower metal piece upside-down (so the vertiical side with the threaded holes faces up) the whole thing would take less space. I don't think it would make much diffference in terms of being able to mount more drives in a given cage, though. and it might be hard to get to the drive screws.

I think this would be an excellent application for your 1/2" Sorbothane (that's you, right?) I'm sure it's overkill, but it'd be pretty cool.

-jim

[spirit]

Does the HDD touch the sides of the 3.5 bay and therefore vibrate it?

[jkb]

Does the HDD touch the sides of the 3.5 bay and therefore vibrate it?

No.

I had to bend and/or cut some of the tabs that protrude into the bay, though.

-jim

[Ralf Hutter]

I think this would be an excellent application for your 1/2" Sorbothane (that's you, right?) I'm sure it's overkill, but it'd be pretty cool.

-jim

Yes, if I use your suspension method I'll replace the foam with 1/2" Sorbothane. Sorbothane's the Cat's Pajamas!

[jkb]

So I liked my hand-bent sheet-metal isolation rails so much that I went out to Ace Hardware, bought some 1/16"x3/4" angle aluminum and built some really nice ones for my girlfriend's machine.

Introducing "Iso-Rails v2":





Here are the pieces layed out:



and installed:



Now I have to make a nice pair like this for myself...

-jim

[lenny]

The angled aluminum does look very nice. They do look like they're sagging a bit though - is it just the photo or are they really? Might benefit from a cross brace piece of aluminum or two.

[IsaacKuo]

Wow, nothing says, "Will you be my Valentine?" like handcrafted Iso-Rails 2.0

Seriously, I love it! My own suspensions are far less sophisticated.

[jkb]

The angled aluminum does look very nice. They do look like they're sagging a bit though - is it just the photo or are they really? Might benefit from a cross brace piece of aluminum or two.

The bottom pieces _do_ sag a little (it looks worse in the photo - close-ups, you know)

The sag is because I've got 'em screwed into rubber grommets on the cage. If the aesthetics bothered me I'd just yank the grommets rather than adding more metal. As it is, strength-wise the 1/16" aluminum is a bit much (I mean, I could stand on the brackets...)

-jim

[lenny]

I was wondering about the strength of the screws / screw thread holding the lower bracket to the drive cage. But now that I think about it, it's highly unlikely there can be any scenario that will lead to the screws ripping out and dropping the drive, even if there isn't tabs immediately below the bracket to catch the drive.

Your setup has given me a suggestion on a nagging problem. I've been using Sorbothane for my hard disk. I've had some trouble attaching it in such a way that the Sorbothane does not touch the electronics below the hard drive. The current iteration involves using the Zalman heatpipe thingie, and Sorbothane is attached to the bottom of the aluminum block that the heat pipes are attached to.

Using the angled aluminum is going to be a whole lot cheaper And it doesn't make the drive wider as well.

I'd have liked to try your method of suspension, except that I don't have your type of drive cage. It can be used in the 5 1/4" bays, but mine's already almost filled with optical drives.

Let me say it again - I love your solution!

[PretzelB]

Interesting. I didn't really understand how this was working until you put up the pictures for version 2.0. This is cool. Even though you've gone to great lengths to secure everything, I think I'd be a bit scared of transporting the machine.

So I liked my hand-bent sheet-metal isolation rails so much that I went out to Ace Hardware, bought some 1/16"x3/4" angle aluminum and built some really nice ones for my girlfriend's machine.

Introducing "Iso-Rails v2":

Now I have to make a nice pair like this for myself...

-jim

[Joe DeFuria]

Interesting. I didn't really understand how this was working until you put up the pictures for version 2.0. This is cool. Even though you've gone to great lengths to secure everything, I think I'd be a bit scared of transporting the machine.

That's my only concern with this particular set-up as well. (The "glue" between the rubber and the bracket is what is actually securing the hard drive, correct?)

Of course, it's much more secure than a bungee suspension (like I currently have) or just laying it on top of sorbothane inside the case. So it's a great set-up nonetheless. I am considering something like this for my case, since I would really prefer not to have my hard drive "swinging around".

[JimK]

Nice Job. Looks like it would isolate a drive in almost any case in the 3.5" drive location.

With some brackets and foam/sorbothane above the drive you could gently sandwich it in there if you were woried about it shifting.

I used some Aluminum "[" channel stock to make rails to lift my HDD off the foam at the bottom of my case. The airflow under the drive helped to lower the temps but it is not secured in place.

[jkb]

I was wondering about the strength of the screws / screw thread holding the lower bracket to the drive cage. But now that I think about it, it's highly unlikely there can be any scenario that will lead to the screws ripping out and dropping the drive, even if there isn't tabs immediately below the bracket to catch the drive.

I think it's pretty safe to assume that a properly threaded 6x32 hole in 1/16 aluminum bar is not going to be a point of failure. The lateral shock required to pull that out would severely damage your case, not to mention what's in it.

More importantly, as you've mentioned - there's really nowhere for the drive to go laterally, since it's in the cage. If I'm moving or turning the case on its side I stick a piece of foam or cardboard between the cage and the drive to keep it from banging against it.

Vertical or front/back failure would require shearing the screw. No need to elaborate on that.

That's my only concern with this particular set-up as well. (The "glue" between the rubber and the bracket is what is actually securing the hard drive, correct?)

Personally, I think adhesives get a bad rap

After gluing the wings of an RC plane together with this Toluene-based stuff I'm not much concerned about it not holding the drive, though I guess if I were I might try a polyurethane construction adhesive, which in my experience simply can't be removed from anything, ever (not necessarily a good thing...)

The question you have to ask is "How is it going to fail?" It can't really fail left/right, since long before any stress is put on the joint the drive bumps into the side of the cage. Front/back is a possiblilty, but that's the long direction for the joint, and it's strongest direction. Up/down is the most likely issue - and what you would see on one side if you put the case on its side in the car, for instance. Personally I think wedging more foam between the drive and the cage would prevent any possibility of this being a problem, but if it's gonna fail that's where it would happen.

I suppose instead of just mouthing-off I oughta test the things and let you know what happens, but they're in my machine (and my girlfirend's.)

If I get really bored maybe I'll glue some aluminum to some foam and pull on it.

Wow. I'd have to be really bored for that to be fun...

-jim