HDD Mounting Hardware

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ralph Innes
  • Start date Start date
R

Ralph Innes

Hi there, Group!

Before I start drilling holes and stacking up piles of washers, perhaps
someone could tell me if there's a special fastener made to mount 3.5"
drives in this particular case.

A picture's worth a thousand words, and I've posted a couple here, to give
you an idea of what I'm looking at:

http://members.shaw.ca/haruspex/Tsunami/bays.jpg

The case is made by Tsunami, in Taiwan:

http://www.tsunami.com.tw/

No joy on their website.

(This IS NOT an Antec Tsunami case.)

Any help much appreciated. Thanks.

- Ralph
 
Hi there, Group!

Before I start drilling holes and stacking up piles of washers, perhaps
someone could tell me if there's a special fastener made to mount 3.5"
drives in this particular case.

A picture's worth a thousand words, and I've posted a couple here, to give
you an idea of what I'm looking at:

http://members.shaw.ca/haruspex/Tsunami/bays.jpg
Click to expand...


Unless I'm overlooking something, that looks like a
completely typical generic drive bay on many newer cases.
The lower drive is positioned correctly such that where your
two red arrows are pointing at the tapped holes in the drive
frame, you'd simply insert one 6-32, ~ 1/4" long screw into
each.

If you mentioned washers because there's a small gap between
the drive frame and the bay frame (on the lower drive, I
can't tell for sure but it didn't look like much of a gap if
any), that's just how it is sometimes with low-tolerance
cases, you just put the screws in and it'll pull the cage
frame towards the drive.

On a related note, your upper drive won't get as much
airflow on the circuit board if you leave that ribbon cable
tucked under it like that, better to fold it over once to
take up the slack.
 
Thanks for the reply, kony

Your point about the dress of the ribbon cables is well taken, kony. I'll
certainly clean things up in there before it's buttoned up permanently.
(As if ANYTHING to do with computers is ever permanent...)

And yes, it is truly a generic el cheapo case - $39.

I'm sorry I wasn't clear in exactly what I needed previously.

The upper drive is in the exact position that it has to be. Even 2mm
further forward, it butts against the front of the case. Retracted back
(as in the lower drive) so mounting holes line up with the slots, it
overhangs the motherboard, and interferes with IDE connector, CMOS battery,
etc. (I had the IDE cables pulled to take this pic.) Is this the "rock
and a hard place" I hear so much about?

I can drill a hole and use a regular HDD mounting screw. No problem.

I still envisage some sort of proprietary mounting fastener that's used for
mounting the drive through that keyhole-shaped dimple, though - something
that doesn't involve a screwdriver, even, that you'd just push in & turn -
the kind of thing that would save a manufacturer 2 minutes on an assembly-
line.

Has anyone ever seen a hardware piece (probably plastic) in their case
hardware package that might be used for this?

Thanks again,

- Ralph
 
Thanks for the reply, kony

Your point about the dress of the ribbon cables is well taken, kony. I'll
certainly clean things up in there before it's buttoned up permanently.
(As if ANYTHING to do with computers is ever permanent...)

And yes, it is truly a generic el cheapo case - $39.

I'm sorry I wasn't clear in exactly what I needed previously.

The upper drive is in the exact position that it has to be. Even 2mm
further forward, it butts against the front of the case. Retracted back
(as in the lower drive) so mounting holes line up with the slots, it
overhangs the motherboard, and interferes with IDE connector, CMOS battery,
etc. (I had the IDE cables pulled to take this pic.) Is this the "rock
and a hard place" I hear so much about?
Click to expand...

The case is designed for the top drive to be mounted such
that it is back, interfering with the IDE/CMOS/etc. Does it
simply block access or would the two be trying to occupy the
same physical space thus it's impossible?

Often, generic cases are shallower and not so accomodating
to wide, full-featured motherboards. Unfortuately with the
design of the case front intake vents, you can't even move
the lower drive down another bay-slot without it starving
airflow across the drive circuit board.
I can drill a hole and use a regular HDD mounting screw. No problem.
Click to expand...

If all else fails, I'd do that. Actually I might go ahead
and do that more quickly than many would, but of course
there are the issues of making sure ALL of the metal debris
from the drilling are removed, and often that can require
stripping the system down ("maybe" not for just a few small
holes but that's your call and risk to make).

I still envisage some sort of proprietary mounting fastener that's used for
mounting the drive through that keyhole-shaped dimple, though - something
that doesn't involve a screwdriver, even, that you'd just push in & turn -
the kind of thing that would save a manufacturer 2 minutes on an assembly-
line.
Click to expand...


Those keyhole-shaped dimples are curious, if the bays were
wide enough that rails were used on the sides of the drives
then their function would seem more obvious. I'd wonder if
the orignal designer had envisioned some kind of rubber
shock-absorbing mount but then the budget cut that feature
and they didn't bother to redesign it without these
indentations, and indeed, leaving indentations of "some"
kind in metal does give it more rigidity.
 
kony wrote on Sat, 14 Jan 2006 15:56:59 GMT:

??>> I can drill a hole and use a regular HDD mounting screw.
??>> No problem.

k> If all else fails, I'd do that. Actually I might go ahead
k> and do that more quickly than many would, but of course
k> there are the issues of making sure ALL of the metal debris
k> from the drilling are removed, and often that can require
k> stripping the system down ("maybe" not for just a few small
k> holes but that's your call and risk to make).

Have you ever tried putting a blob of modelling clay or putty
where the drill will emerge and enter to catch any debris?


James Silverton.
 
kony wrote on Sat, 14 Jan 2006 15:56:59 GMT:

??>> I can drill a hole and use a regular HDD mounting screw.
??>> No problem.

k> If all else fails, I'd do that. Actually I might go ahead
k> and do that more quickly than many would, but of course
k> there are the issues of making sure ALL of the metal debris
k> from the drilling are removed, and often that can require
k> stripping the system down ("maybe" not for just a few small
k> holes but that's your call and risk to make).

Have you ever tried putting a blob of modelling clay or putty
where the drill will emerge and enter to catch any debris?
Click to expand...


Yes I've used plumber's putty, and sometimes a cup,
sometimes a very strong magnet. These can certainly work
(though there's still often a little coming off the front
side of the hole) but what's possible, and what I or someone
else can assure will be sufficient, might be harder to
predict. Fortunately in this case the holes are pretty
small, 1/8" would be enough if positioned accurately, which
in itself can be a problem on cheap lower-tolerance cases
that depend on slits rather than holes to get drive mounts
lined up... thus measuring X # of mm away from the ends of
the bay may or may not mean the holes are parallel to each
other. From the picture OP provided at least the metal
looks reasonable, there are worse cases out there.

Usually I dont' do any of that because I long ago realized
that most cases have a few flaws so I pre-plan a case before
building into it. It helps that I have spare cases around
though, so for example if I wanted to upgrade a motherboard
to an existing system, I might not pull the old board and
swap the new board in rather than building up another case
with new board then swapping in the drives.
 
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