The Computer Case; Day 29

Yet another short update today.

Today I just focused on finishing up the front panel, which included mounting magnets so that the drive bay doors stay closed.

I went out for supplies today and ended up picking up some ½” x 3/16” ceramic magnets. I got 10 for $3, so it wasn’t so bad.

In order to mount them, I drilled a hole in the front panel above the drive bay doors about 1/8” smaller in diametre than the magnets. The magnets were then hot glued into place. The other part of the system is the contact, which is just a screw head screwed into the drive bay doors. The screw head fits into the hole drilled on the front panel, and it holds the door up. It’s not very strong, but it’s enough.

Magnets mounted

Screw heads

Here’s a shot of the front panel with all the doors open. I misjudged one of the holes so it’s actually not a hole, but a cove cut into the edge of the drive bay opening. When the doors are closed, you can’t see it though, so I’m not worried.

Doors open

I took a quick picture of me holding the front panel so that the doors face towards the ground. The magnets do a good enough job of resisting gravity that shaking the panel a bit doesn’t make the doors open. I’m happy with how it turned out; it’s functional and not complicated.

Laughing at gravity

That’s it.

-Cam