[Beowulf] A Cluster of Motherboard. - tray

[Alvin Oga]

hi ya andrew

On Fri, 11 Nov 2005, Andrew Piskorski wrote:

> The very sturdy 18" x 26" 16 gauge aluminum cookie trays (sheet pans)
> are $9 each,

you can get customized flat metal for about that same ( $10-$15 ) costs
too if you did all the work ( measuring and generating a usable autocad
drawing that they can plug into their cnc machine )

	- for the guy that wondered how come people can't draw
	autocad drawings properly for mounting a motherboard,
	it is in fact very tricky business ... as tolerances
	is measured down to 0.001" and  if its a little off, some
	of the nuts/standoffs can ruin their expensive equipment
	or more realistically, your 1U power supply will not properly 
	fit into the 1U chassis without stretching/bending the metal

	- drawing (random/close enuff ) lines and circles and bends is
	trivial ...
	doing it properly requires prior experience with the target
	sheet metal shop machines and k-factors and material thickness
	and hardness and other whacky stuff including thickness of paint


for the shelf ..
i'd bend a couple ears for rackable mounts ( ie rack shelf with holes for
motherboard )
	- but that bend for the ears will add a few bucks to the costs

it'd look "better" than the cookie tray ??

the fun for the cookie tray method is to have it like a blade,
that it plugs in and power up by itself .. no cords/wires other than 
ethernet, and even that can be plugged into a custom nic-backplane

we've been debating doing that cookie-cutter drawing ( shelf w/ ears
and holes ) and gpl' the sucker even so those of you with (cnc capable)
sheet metal shops can make your own shelf

c ya
alvin