Yesterday I fixed a couple of issues with my server:
1) That
awful tin-snip bodge I did to get the new mobo in
and
2) The fact that it sucks in all dust within a half-mile radius. Switched it from a negative pressure setup (more exhaust than intake), to positive pressure (more intake than exhaust) with the intake going through a filter. Also removed a very restrictive fan grill.
Also it may have been an excuse to play with my new Dremel.
Lots of images below! (56K hell?)
Before: note all the dust and shite built up around the exhaust fan. The drive bays are also filthy.
First, the removal of the fan grill. It looks as though it probably blocks about 50% of the air, so it's going. Tin-snips to the rescue again!
Dremel time! The tin-snips leave some pretty lethal edges, so I smoothed them off with a grinding tool. I also decided that it was probably wise to remove the motherboard at this point...
Smooth as the proverbial infant's posterior. Well maybe not, but good enough.
Now to get rid of the bottom rail that I previously butchered.
All done and smoothed. Note the cereal box spark catcher.
Picking up all the metal dust with a magnet wrapped in kitchen towel. Science, bitches!
Completed.
Reassembled, with the fan filter installed. The motherboard now slides in much more easily, and the side panel of the case still holds without the bottom rail.
Drive temperatures a a little higher now - probably because the air they're now getting has passed over the CPU and is thus a bit warmer - but they're not worryingly high. I might look at installing a second fan somewhere if they get much hotter in summer.
All in all, a success. And I got to cut things and make sparks and loud noises, which is the main thing.
