Control Box

[Cyclone]

Started to lay out my electronics....A good friend gave me a Nordson powder coating system control box....I stripped the old finish drilled all my holes for fans and such then we applied a new blue powder coat finish..... After a little modification to three cpu heatsink/fan coolers, I mounted the Geckos to the heatsink/fan coolers. These will draw fresh air into the enclosure and the fan from the PC power supply (for my 12v and 5v connections) will draw the hot air out...I also mounted the Bridge rectifier to a small cpu heatsink/fan. Heat...Bad, cool is good. If anyone is interested I will post how to modify the heatsinks to the Geckos.

[motomitch1]

very nice job

[OCNC]

Originally Posted by Cyclone If anyone is interested I will post how to modify the heatsinks to the Geckos.

I'm interested!

Chris

[Nono]

That is very cool...... Is that a board from a pc power supply in there? I am planning something a little more compact. But that is very cool. Did you use modified pIII heatsinks? After thinking about fresh air I was considering water cooling or peltier coolers to avoid any dust into the enclosure..

Post more pics if you get a chance..

[Cyclone]

Ok glad you asked...buy yourself three AMD heatsinks $10.00 each bought these from Tiger Direct CPU Cooler

Step 1 take off fan
Step 2 remove outer fins (I used a hobby bandsaw)
Step 3 modify retaining clip by making a "Z" bend to shorten the span until it fits Geckos tabs
Step 4 trial fit on Gecko Drive (the tabs on the drives where exact fit. I wonder if that was on purpose or pure luck?)
Step 5 re-assemble
Step 6 (optional) stare at them for a while or until wife starts to look at you funny!


PS. I used the fans as my mounting point on the case. Longer sheet metal screws did the job, they screw between the fins (no threads). Apply a dab of thermal paste to maximize heat transfer.

[2muchstuff]

A heatsink and a fan for under $10, a little modification and it looks like something that wasn't rigged, very professional looking. I want some.

[Cyclone]

Yes "Nono" it is an old pc Power supply. The type before ATX came out. You will need to attach a 12v bulb (halogen) to any of the 12v outputs (yellow wires) to provide a load otherwise the voltage drops. You also get a 5v (Red wires) which will provide my 5vdc to my drives (I think).

(edited error on color of wires, thanks Al for catching it)

[Nono]

I am not sure what the bulb does again? On Off light? Still very cool though.

[Cyclone]

When you first switch on a pc power supply it provides 12v output, fan runs at high speed, when it recognizes that there is no load it drops to 3v the fan then slows to a crawl (The power supply needs to have a load in order to provide the 12 volts otherwise the voltage drops) in a PC the motherboard and CPU is the load.

[JavaDog]

Very nice box! I'm going to have to use your idea for the Geckos, brilliant!

[Al_The_Man]

Originally Posted by Cyclone You also get a 5v (yellow wires) which will provide my 5vdc to my drives (I think).

I believe yellow is 12v, Red is 5v on a PC supply?
Al.

[pen25]

and dont forget you need to equilize the air in and the air ouy of that box. the power supply fan wont exhast enough air. best way is pull air from low to high and across the components. i have seen a bunch of people do this incorectly and actually cause heating problems. IE trying to exhaust more air then the case can draw in or not being able to exhaust more then being sucked into the case. if you find pressure being built in the case best thing to do is add some holes for exhaust.