DIY ~20U server rack

From: Deadly Computer Blog

This is something mike has been looking to make for the past few days, ever since he got his new computer case for his awesome new computer. He originally wanted to buy a server rack, so he can mount his case in it, and mount the NAS he has with it, but those cost lots of lots of money. So, our solution, after thinking up at night, was to make one ourselves. I suggested iron gas piping, and mike suggested angle iron. Mike won because in the end, it would be easier to build with angle iron. Detail...

How To Add More 3½ Bays

From: overclockers.com

First, kudos to my older brother Mike for showing me this cool add-on. Next, supplies you will need: Scissors , Plumber's Wrap (Can be found at Home Depot or Lowes) , Screws , Screwdriver
Now, start by cutting four short strips and two long strips of the Plumber's Wrap. Cut desired length depending on how many drives you want to add. In this article, we added two drives, so five holes on the two short strips and seven holes on the long strip. Add two more holes to the length to accommodate another drive, and so on. Detail...

How To Make A Fan Guard

From: overclockers.com
I will be showing you how to make a "Fan Guard" for protect your fingers by using only plastic and a super LED.
First, to begin you must prepare instrument and materials as show in table below. Then cut the plastic as your design and should fit with a fan. Next, super LED is added in side of the plastic. Detail...

Baybus

The idea here is to produce a small box which should alter the voltage of the fans with some switches. The fans are those that cause most of the noise in a computer, so decreasing their voltage causes a decrease in revolutions per minute, and therefore a reduction of noise. The efficiency is also decreased, but this is taken in consideration by allowing the user to switch between levels of voltage Detail...

HDRack

The designers of my computer case, the bright men of design had gathered their brainpower together and the result was a very poorly functioning HD/floppy drive stand, so I had to help myself with this one. Not that much of a mod, but a handy trick. So, this is the story of how I got a functioning, cheap and easy-to-make attachment for several HDs
I happened to have some of those AT-aged backpanels which had places of 9 and 25 pinned serial ports. I just clipped the connectors off the plates and, lookie lookie, the HD frame starts to be finished. Detail...

Cheap Power Supply for Experimenters

From: Hotsolder - Electronics & Other Geeky Pursuits - Link.
How'd you like a high-quality regulated 5V and 12V bench supply for $8 or less? You have to build it yourself, but you won't even need a soldering iron. Sound interesting? Well, there is one small catch, but read on and you might find you have everything you need already on hand.

Many hams and electronics experimenters have PCs today. An increasing number of these are finding use on the workbench. Many hams program microcontrollers, use a PC-based oscilloscope, or just use the PC to control equipment around the shack. This is becoming even more practical as the resale value of computers keeps dropping. More and more, you'll find it hard to get rid of a PC when you upgrade. You might as well find a use it around the shack. Detail...
Related:

• ModLab PCs laboratory power source from MetkuMods Link...
• Convert an ATX Power Supply Into a Regular DC Power Supply! instructables.com Link...
  

DIY USB 5.25″ front panel

From Silent Q Blog
She wanted to reuse her old chassis, rather than buy a new one. It was a “legacy” chassis, one which doesn’t have any external expansion ports accessible from the front. If you look at some of the new cases available, they have all sorts of front-accessible ports. At this point, she had already spent a small fortune on the required components, why drop another Bennie (or more) on something that will add no performance, and little to no functionality?
In any event, the new motherboard has 10 USB ports - four directly on back panel of the motherboard, and six are just supplied as headers on the board. The manufacturer gave us one 2-port real panel connector, but she still wanted to utilize the extra USB ports, without using a hub. Her MP3 player, PDA, cameras, and a bunch of other stuff are all USB devices, and it would be really nice to have easy access to the cables. Detail...