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Acrylic ATX/mATX/mITX Motherboard Tray v2.0

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Jul 6, 2011
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Motherboard
Asus Z170i Pro Gaming
CPU
i7 6700k @4.6
Graphics
980ti
Mac
  1. MacBook Pro
Classic Mac
  1. Power Mac
Mobile Phone
  1. Android
  2. iOS
So far, I've created two versions of this motherboard tray using 5mm Polycarbonate Backlight dispersion elements from old LCDs that I retrieved from a recycling shop I used to work for.

Pre Tray
Originally, I tried mounting the board on JB Welded standoffs which never could be perfect. The boards always had a little bit of a bow in them which resulted in weak mounts, and by the end of the ordeal, I was down to about 4 mounts on an mATX board.

v1.0
This is the one that I first created using the short G5 standoffs from my original case, and has gone through a lot with me. At a point it was painted flat black and since I have used acetone (my bad) to take the paint off which resulted in hairline cracks to the tray. This tray also had nuts placed into it almost flush that would accept 6/32 standoffs if i ever needed to use an mATX board, but I never did. My mounting mechanism was originally JB Weld which looked like crap as it suffered from the same uneven pressure issue as the previous method.

The standoffs were mounted to he Acrylic using JB Weld and tape in order to get a flush mount, and was removed later. This was actually quite an effective method, and I don't think I'll be adjusting it for v2.0.

Last weekend, I unmounted the tray and as a proof of concept, I sanded down all of the JB Weld in my case and used 3M Command strips to see if it would hold an ATX board and 3 GPUS. Surprisingly, It held with just 4 strips, but there was a balance issue and it would vibrate against the case which required another strip to be fixed.

v1.1
This version was basically a test bench and used the leftover longer standoffs and was never really mounted inside a case, but was used extensively when I needed a desktop, but I was also working on my case. Eventually though, it was broken in a move and I never really bothered to fix it.

v2.0
Now that I'm laser cutting an HDD tray for my case, I decided that I would keep pushing the cutting off until all the space of the 24x24 piece of 3mm/.125" acrylic was filled, which it now is. I basically designed the parts to be welded together using acrylic glue which will make the joints really strong as they have quite a bit of surface area. To simplify, This tray is basically made from scraps of acrylic, but will be nice as an end product.

I was able to fit 2 sets of tray parts with a few spares added in to make life easier. The original plan was to use a piece of 5mm acrylic, but since I'd already bought the sheet and had space to fill, I've decided to just use that.

Heres what the assembled tray should look like:
Screen Shot 2015-03-30 at 11.02.56 PM.png

Heres my final version of my HDD Tray and ODD swivel kit along with parts for an I/O shield shroud and the motherboard tray.
Screen Shot 2015-03-30 at 10.58.26 PM.png

The plan is to once again use 3M Command strips as they're cheap and effective, and I haven't decide yet if I want to make it so that you can dismount it using the 3M Locking velcro strips, which would need one set of parts with the small drill holes, or just use regular double sided ones which would use both sets, but allow less space between the motherboard and tray for wire routing.

I'll be updating this periodically, and PM me if you would like the DWG files for either of the projects, and also let me know if you want a demo of how I made v1.0 and v1.1 as I would imagine most people wouldn't be laser cutting their trays.
 
I really want to try this mod!

I believe there are lots of university which allows student to use laser cutting or CNC

This might be better than Mountain Mod!
 
I cant send PM because im newb haha.

I really want DMG file so I can laser cut Acrylic!
 
I cant send PM because im newb haha.

I really want DMG file so I can laser cut Acrylic!

Sure, I'll send it to you. The point of the tray is so that it's easy to put in and remove and uses the least amount of material. You're gonna have to buy some sort of acrylic cement for the joints and you're going to need JB weld for the standoffs a to be mounted.
I actually plan on having it lasercutting on my schools lasercutter because they charge $4 for every 10 minutes.
 
Sure, I'll send it to you. The point of the tray is so that it's easy to put in and remove and uses the least amount of material. You're gonna have to buy some sort of acrylic cement for the joints and you're going to need JB weld for the standoffs a to be mounted.
I actually plan on having it lasercutting on my schools lasercutter because they charge $4 for every 10 minutes.

Thank you for the sharing!

I have few questions regarding the design.

1. There are three sets of two pieces that potentially can be three sets of one piece.
Is there any practical reason that you designed in such way? (just curious)

2. Every holes size are different. Is those holes are designed for hold motherboard case standoffs?

3. Whats the thickness of Acrylic you designed for this tray?


Thank you very much once again for sharing file.
 
In the design, there are 3 parts, the first is it assembled side by side. The second is the members separated and put together and the third is put together to reduce space used.

Of the hole sizes, there are two different sets. if you use 2mm or 3mm Acrylic, you put the big holes on the bottom and the little holes on the top so that the standoff slots in. This leaves the standoff flush with the tray so you can use JB Weld or other adhesives.

If you use thicker acrylic or want to use command strips for mounting, you just need the little holed one so that the standoff sticks out a little higher so that there is a space in which you can put the velcro or regular command strips.
 
In the design, there are 3 parts, the first is it assembled side by side. The second is the members separated and put together and the third is put together to reduce space used.

Of the hole sizes, there are two different sets. if you use 2mm or 3mm Acrylic, you put the big holes on the bottom and the little holes on the top so that the standoff slots in. This leaves the standoff flush with the tray so you can use JB Weld or other adhesives.

If you use thicker acrylic or want to use command strips for mounting, you just need the little holed one so that the standoff sticks out a little higher so that there is a space in which you can put the velcro or regular command strips.


Thank you for your reply!
I see your intention of this project and very amazed that you planed very well.


I really wanna try with V2 but I have some questions about V2.
By looking V2 image, I can see that it is almost same configuration as mountain mod.
I can see that you designed very well but I just want to ask your approach for PCI slot screw.

There must be screw holes to hold PCI or Graphic card on tray but as you know, acrylic is not that strong metrial.
If I use tapping technique, it will hold for awhile but with extensive of use, it will break some point.
If I use helicoil, it will hold much more stronger and more reliable but requires other tools.

Have you thought about any other method?

Tapping:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmnSDnKhbGw

Helicoil:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhyGzcxjhE8


I really want to try V2 with T5 Acrylic and should not cost too much.

Can you share me V2?

Thank you very much!
 
I would suggest using an m5(or larger) rivet nut for screw holes or you can do some sort of screwless design. If you look at my main mod page, I just reused apple's PCI slots, and spliced another set onto it to make it 7 slots instead of 4. It holds pretty well and didn't require me to manufacture new slots, so I found it to be the easiest method.
 
Hey guys,

If you could hook me up with the files aswell, that would be awesome!

I have access to a lasercutter for acrylic aswell as a cutter for metals.

Hit me up at:
bobvanharen(_at_)live.nl
 
Why not just attach the file(s) to a post so anyone can download them?
 
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