Dustproof Cupboard/Rack?

philzgr8 · **7th September 2007, 11:33 AM**

I'm strongly considering moving my server (NAS for want of a better word) to my garage but it is pretty dusty and dirty. Is there some kind of enclosure or cupboard/rack that I can put my machine in to protect it from dust and maintain a reasonable temperature?

logifuse · **7th September 2007, 12:24 PM**

You might need to look at getting a cabinet & then modifying it with a mesh dust screen over any vent holes (that you would clean every month or so by vacuuming them) . Have a look at these cabinets for a start:

Cabac enclosures & accessories.

Justin

philzgr8 · **7th September 2007, 12:40 PM**

Thanks Justin,
Yes I was thinking about a wall mount rack/enclosure but from what I've seen these things are a bit pricey.

Of course the other option I have is to put the machine in another room but the only place I can think of is the downstairs toilet which has a cabinet under the sink with a vented door. A little strange I know but I live in a fairly small apartment and upstairs would probably get too hot in summer. The upside of that option is that it's just a matter of drilling a hole in the back of a cupboard which happens to be right next to my switch so it would be very easy to do. The downside is that I don't fancy working on a PC in the loo when I need to do maintenance. Seems like a fairly sh1t solution in the end.

logifuse · **7th September 2007, 01:29 PM**

Well, instead of a shiny new cabinet, how about a modified old filing cabinet or one of those 1/2 height metal cupboards that you used to see in school? A second hand office furniture shop would be a good place to go for some ideas.

Edit: Too big?

Edit: Perfect?

Justin

philzgr8 · **7th September 2007, 01:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by logifuse

Well, instead of a shiny new cabinet, how about a modified old filing cabinet or one of those 1/2 height metal cupboards that you used to see in school? A second hand office furniture shop would be a good place to go for some ideas.

Justin

Yes I think that's probably the thing to do. I guess I was just fishing for ideas in case there were products out there I didn't know about. I might go and have a browse this weekend.

P.S. I wonder how much dust would find its way into something like that.

logifuse · **7th September 2007, 01:43 PM**

One of these:

Plus one of these:

And a couple of these:

Edit: And some of this:

And Bob's your aunty.

philzgr8 · **7th September 2007, 02:30 PM**

Clearly you really don't have anything to do Justin. Do you?

logifuse · **7th September 2007, 03:23 PM**

Sing along with me, "APEC, APEC, APEC! APEC, APEC, APEC!"

The whole city has been quiet all week - I'm just back from a week off & had 2 little installs on Monday (a POS PC for a new shop & a DOS install on a laptop for a datalogging program) & that's been pretty much it. I've resorted to tinkering with my MCE & my office network & shouting at the radio. And to top it off, Get This hasn't been on the radio, so the middle of the day has just dragged on.

It's like when the olympics were on, except there's nothing to watch on TV.

I'm liking this cabinet idea though. I reckon I could sell at least 10 of them, but I'd need to find a cheap supplier of the second hand cabinets.

Justin

philzgr8 · **7th September 2007, 03:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by logifuse

Sing along with me, "APEC, APEC, APEC! APEC, APEC, APEC!"

The whole city has been quiet all week - I'm just back from a week off & had 2 little installs on Monday (a POS PC for a new shop & a DOS install on a laptop for a datalogging program) & that's been pretty much it. I've resorted to tinkering with my MCE & my office network & shouting at the radio. And to top it off, Get This hasn't been on the radio, so the middle of the day has just dragged on.

It's like when the olympics were on, except there's nothing to watch on TV.

I'm liking this cabinet idea though. I reckon I could sell at least 10 of them, but I'd need to find a cheap supplier of the second hand cabinets.

Justin

lol. well if you're wanting to sell the things I think it might want some noise damping some exhaust fans a perspex window and some dust exclusion.

That ought to keep you busy for a while.

logifuse · **7th September 2007, 04:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by philzgr8

lol. well if you're wanting to sell the things I think it might want some noise damping some exhaust fans a perspex window and some dust exclusion.

That ought to keep you busy for a while.

I don't need to go that far (& that would blow out the cost) - I'm thinking of them for servers in small offices. The server usually gets stuck in the corner of the photocopying/stationery room. My sales pitch would be that it would be tidier, more secure & more space efficient as you could store things on top of the cabinet. The grills in the picture above are dust proof & the door sealer would make it dust proof enough. With the ambient noise in the room, I wouldn't need to worry about noise damping. Plus the spec of the servers I'm using these days means that they're pretty quiet & run pretty cool (I look after offices of 10 workstations or less running Small Business Server).

If I could pick up the cabinets for $100 or less (probably dreaming), then I could make a tidy profit. I might trek over to Camperdown tomorrow morning & look at the second hand stuff to see if I'm dreaming. If I could secure some orders, an auction job lot would be the way to go.

Hmmm.....