FEATURED Vertical Benching Station

[Navig]

Vertical Benching Station


(*** This project is complete! If you wish to skip ahead to the Completed portion which does include a summary of the build log, click --> here <--)








I got this idea when I was setting up shop in my new house 2 years back. I put up a bunch of standard pegboard for holding my tools:









I had a few extra panels of the stuff.



I pictured each panel being sort of an individual unit--one panel for the motherboard, one panel for drives, one panel for the motherboard:



(motherboard unit)












(watercooling unit)











And then you could link the units with some hinges, ala Asian panel style:

 

[hokiealumnus]

Yay another Navig project; subscibed!

 

[Navig]

Now I could not leave it at particle board peg panels, could I?


So a couple email conversations with delvie’s plastics and:










¼” holes, 1” on center spacing, light gray plastic peg board panels.

 

[hokiealumnus]

I was wondering how that would be strong enough to hold a water loop and full system. Touche, sir.

 

[jokers_greg]

yes! maybe these will find their way to the classies soon too

 

[MGF Derp]

I like where this is headed

 

[Navig]

For the top hinges I’m using these lockable hinges. There a bit pricey (something like $15 apiece), but they make arranging and locking the panels super easy.












Add some bottom trim, the hinges, and the structure looks good:











Fits standard pegboard accessories.

 

[sumonpathak]

subbed!

 

[xZEROx]

hmmm...interesting. Another i will keep my eye on.

 

[Navig]

Now that I’ve got the basic structure designed, I took the time to knock out sub-units.

Tackled the power supply unit.





Started with some nice ¼” red acrylic:

















Attached some triangular pieces with plastic bond:















Then added a bunch of bracketry to hold the power supply down..










The hold down idea I actually developed from my previous build, Brass Tacks, --> Link Here <--.











To mount it, simply push the screw ends thru whatever hole spots you desire, then secure on the other side with some knurled nuts.














And on goes the psu:

 

[Navig]

Yay, posting from Boston--stuck in my hotel room by a little rain and wind.




On to a new subunit, and this is going to be good:

Motherboard unit.




Started with a board of ¼” translucent red plastic and a PCI rack unit (Dimastech bench component).
















Drilled my motherboard holes, added standoffs, and mounted the rack:













Got the protective layer removed (yah looks a bit different).

Added the under-CPU opening.

Also added these aluminum brackets.






The brackets do act as feet when the motherboard isn’t upside-down.









But it is also paired with this bracket:









This is going to let me tool-free quick mount the motherboard.








First, you mount the catch unit wherever you desire:














So the motherboard just drops right into this bracket:












And there you go!

 

[Navig]

Not quite done yet, tho.

I wanted to build in some cable management.




First I took some of these re-openable cable clips, but they were too wide.









Got to get them trimmed to ½”. This was surprisingly annoying. This sort of heat-formed plastic really just gums up cutting wheels.


So I made some quick guide grooves and hacked the sides off with a sawzall:















Mounted them to some angle brackets:











And attached them to the motherboard at the important spots:











Ready for the motherboard:











Drops on tool free:











Mount the video card:









Hang the unit:










Secure the unit on the backside:





(Red arrows are the mounts for the hanging bracket, Blue arrows are thumbscrews to the feet on the motherboard unit).







Yessir!

 

[Navig]

Now that I got the motherboard system all set, I couldn’t resist installing some of the watercooling elements.



First I placed my pass-thrus:
















Then I added the blocks, fittings and tubing:








I think this just looks super clean. 2 simple tubes going to each component. Since these will be the only visible portion of the tubing (rest will be behind the panels), I can also easily swap them out, depending on aesthetics, maybe even experiment with some mayhem dyes.

 

[hokiealumnus]

Loving the pass-throughs!

 

[jokers_greg]

looking great!!

 

[Navig]

I have got a pair of Swiftech Maelstroms for my pump/res:







So I tackled making some mounting brackets for them.




First I generated some side walls:













Next I mounted these sidewalls to the bottom plate:















Added some support struts to the bottom:















Added the bracket for mounting to the pegboard, and it was done:













Mount the Maelstrom:














And double it up:

 

[jokers_greg]

stop teasing us and get'r done!

 

[MGF Derp]

Every pic was better then the last. Cant wait to see it done.

 

[Navig]

Working on it! I've outsourced some steel cutting for some custom radiator shroud boxes, so that will probably be the hold up. But there is still tons to do. Just think of how much custom wiring is going to be involved.




Next I tackled my 5.25 bays.








I started with a 3x5.25 bay rack and placed it on a ¼” thick red plastic base.











Added mounting brackets to the top and bottom for the peg holes.












And mounted it up:

 

[Navig]

At this point, I took some time to make some decisions about the overall layout.


I linked up all my pegboard panels:















And stood it up for the first time!












This is going to be my main system, and so it will sit on a coffee table next to me. In fact this is what it currently looks like, being occupied by my last project Brass Tacks.

My main monitors sit on my desk to the right of my laptop.















So my panel layout is going to be something like this:





Motherboard facing me, radiator panels curving around the back, almost like a column.









Radiator units will be here, under the pump/res’s.










And the backside of this semi-column.