The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

This is still in development.....

The latest pickup for it is a Samsung 19" rackmountable display with a native resolution of 1600x1200 (model LCDR8U19-02)! The panel is a little scuffed up, but for my needs its just fine and it was filthy cheap for what these normally go for.



I haven't had a lot of time to work on this, but it'll get done..... The parts are piling up still.

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Ok....today was just some test fitting & experimenting. I had some things I forgot I had and it's been well over a decade since I've piddled around with a rack. In my huntings, I've discovered that a lot of nifty things have come out for racks in the last decade of my absence......The last rack I worked with was ~2007 IIRC, and it was pretty straight forward servers.... Anyway....the witchcraft today and the pics that resulted from it are for fitment testing & reference only...this is a long way from any permanent state. FWIW, I dinged up the monitor a little more in this test.....it slipped when attempting to put the screw in and I dropped it.....added another scratch on the screen.... I retested it, it's still working fine...

Since I don't have the rails for these antec cases and their purpose (yes, there's another one, details further down) would not require them to be on slides (they'll remain stationary), I didn't bother wasting money on the rail kits for them. Instead, I bought just basic server shelf rails.

Tested with the mounting tabs in the plane of the case.













It then dawned on me to try them the other way (flip them over).....which worked better with the tabs on the monitor/display side....the display will clear them on the back side which then makes it not such a tight fit with both 3U's between the shelf and the roof of the rack.







Now for the second case....match to the first one. I forgot I had this, it's been sitting up in the attic in it's box since ~2008....and this discovery has changed the dynamics of this build yet again and will definitely allow for some streamlining as well as things matching better aesthetically...yea, I like stuff to look good as well as function effectively.











Nice fit!!!



Snug with the display and everything clears.





I'm tickled with that so far. The display is eye-level when standing at the rack.



Side shot. This is the first enclosed rack I've ever worked with that has removable sides like this. Stellar feature, makes working with things inside so much easier and creates room to work......this would be a godsent with a rack that's cram packed.....I'm sure this feature will prove useful at every turn on this project!



Butt shot....one of the cases has a black butt, the other has a bare metal butt.



Rear of the display.



Nice design by Antec. None of the doors interfere with eachother when they open, nor do they hit the screen (not that it matters, this panel has a few scrapes)...







Still a long way to go.....but so far so good!!





Screws!!

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

I had a little time today, I don't have a lot on the shop's plate....just the lul before the storm, no pun intended....as things get busy around here when the spring thunderstorms really come....

Anyway, so much has changed on this thing, it's been redesigned, streamlined, and expanded..... Ratdude is to blame, that rack!! Today's task was stripping out that old Sencore Stream processor/viewer. The internals are of absolute no use for this project....but the case is. The SBC hardware in it is actually worth a little, it'll eventually get sold off. Very solid steel, 4U, and roomy/deep....so I have a plan for it, but it'll require some pretty extensive modification.

To strip it first...These pics are more for reference if I ever decide to reassemble it outside a case later and tinker with it...

The SBC itself....to refresh your memories, it's a Pentium classic 233MMX.









All the cards.... The GPU is a Chips & Technology ISA with VGA out and some kind of proprietary internal interface (looks like a 50-pin SCSI, but obviously it's not)....and of course the proprietary controller for whatever it is this thing was intended to do...



The PICMG SBC backplane. These are standardized, and actually still used today.



PSU removed. The PSU is good. Caps are good...and it has pretty stout +5v and +3.3v rails. Good for a retro build somewhere...



backplane removed.



Backplane tray removed.





Midplane removed, which has 2x 120mm PWM fans in it.





hmmmmm......





Now for some fun! I only got the male ends of the rails with this unit....and they don't match anything I have......so they got removed. Now I have to fit some very heavy duty 4U rack rails/slides to this case that KC8ADU gave me over 10 years ago.....but of course they don't fit the mounts on this case. I chose to modify the rails versus modifying the case, as the case had a good centralized setup for mounting.

The original rail, used as a template to mark off the new rails.



The new old slides...



Marked off....



That center hole doesn't exist in the case....so I poked one hole by mistake....ohh well.



Drilled with a drill press....I dont trust myself to get them lined up right with a hand drill....and yes, the oopsie hole in the middle... Pinned in with some random screws...





These slides have a hell of a reach!





Now for the other side, rinse & repeat....except I didn't drill the oopsie hole!!





Mounted up after test fitting with the proper screws.









...and done with that mod!!




There's still MUCH MUCH more to come.....so those who give a shit, stay tuned....those who don't, I hope you're on a dialup with all these pics!!

[ratdude747]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Anyway, so much has changed on this thing, it's been redesigned, streamlined, and expanded..... Ratdude is to blame, that rack!!

Oh, the old "blame it on Ratdude" routine... Just kidding. Glad you're enjoying it. Remember that you have a 2nd one to play with when you eventually get bored of this one!

There's still MUCH MUCH more to come.....so those who give a shit, stay tuned....those who don't, I hope you're on a dialup with all these pics!!

Good thing I have fiber at home, and whatever we have at work is also wicked fast (at least to the internet, to/from our satellite facilities out of town ("local" company network), it's a frayed can and string some days )

[momaka]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

There's still MUCH MUCH more to come.....so those who give a shit, stay tuned....those who don't, I hope you're on a dialup with all these pics!!

I'm still following. Just quietly observing (and taking notes??)

No slow internet here either. But viewing this on my Pentium 4 main PC in Opera 12 (which is pretty darn efficient with resources) gives the CPU a very very good exercise for a few seconds. Still no issue though.

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Played around with this some today.....a few of the first 'permanent' modifications have been made....no turning back now!!

A 5U enclosure.....use your imagination for now!!



A 7U cover plate....this one will make a little more sense as you scroll down.



The faceplate removed from the former Sencore 'transport streamer'....





All I was after was the support frame behind the fascia/panel.... The support frame will be modified for my needs, the old face/panel will be discarded.



Now I had to remove all the parts I had stored in the old Dolby DP600.....



Inspite of the big rack, there's no way I can delete the Dolby unit from this build....but with this revised design, it wasn't even considered.....hint: I hope you've been counting "U's"....





Now for the next mod....this will no longer be used/needed as a SBC. The backplane and backplane tray have been removed and now its time to remove the card slot bracket. This is riveted in. I drilled out as many as I could from the inside of the case, but the ones along the bottom & left side edges were not accessible for drilling and had to be ground from the outside with a dremel.

Top & right side edges drilled out.





Bottom & left edges ground off.



The rivets then driven out with a punch & hammer.



Removed.



The fans that were once in the midplane will be moved to the outside rear. The pics below are just the fans sitting there. Permanent fitment will require a little more modding, which was not done today....but you'll get the idea.





Now, the 2 units were drilled in the corners and attached to eachother.







Yea baby!



If nothing else, I made a mess and had some fun!



More to come!!

[momaka]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Mad scientist at work day?
This thing is HUGE!

If nothing else, I made a mess and had some fun!

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1620616914

Story of my work / hobby bench every day.

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Mad scientist at work day?
This thing is HUGE!

I left out quite a few pics that probably would have given away the function this particular 7U contraption; albeit the entire 42U cabinet will be quite multi-functional...but with the next few steps of progress on the 7U enclosure, its function will probably start to come into focus...

Story of my work / hobby bench every day.

Same here. I've always said, if your bench is clean you're not working it hard enough!

[TechGeek]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

7U enclosure = massive multi-supply load tester?

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

7U enclosure = massive multi-supply load tester?

Good guess for sure...but no. There will be a PSU load tester in this 42u cabinet, but not in this 7u unit.

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

I'm having way too much fun with this thing....but it's also making me think way too much....or perhaps overthink way too much!! Ratdude's fault....but anyway...

Starting the rack config from scratch again....

Empty and all side panels removed.







Now for the reason why....well one of the reasons why. First thing, there's a ~2" gap between the front of the mounting rails and the tie panel. I wanted to close that gap but not remove the tie panel.....as removing it would yield a lot of the aftermarket shelves/rails too short....but I did want to bring the faces of installed devices closer to the front.....so here we go!





and done!



By the time I brought it all forward, it was a little more than 2". The tiedown panel also came forward a good 3/4" as well.



Now to play around with some configs.... Dispplay in the same location, but the 2x Antec cases relocated and the 5U 'box' installed where the Antec cases were with a 1U gigabit switch above it, consuming the empty 6U space the Antec cases left.





The Antec cases were moved 8U's below the display, leaving a space for the 7U 'creation' and a 1U for a keyboard/mouse drawer.



FWIW, that 5U 'box' didn't fit worth a shit. The front mounting bolt holes didn't line up with the rails worth a hoot. When the permanent install comes, I'll have to modify that a little.....made in china quality I suppose.



Theres 13U remaining between the bottom of the Antec cases and the bottom of the rails.....don't worry, I have some things in mind!!



Not a bad profile!



...and a butt shot...



To be continued.....

[ratdude747]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

I'm having way too much fun with this thing....but it's also making me think way too much....or perhaps overthink way too much!! Ratdude's fault....but anyway...

Again:

Oh, the old "blame it on Ratdude" routine...

And again, kidding!

Seems you're having fun with it. You're tinkering with racks and test gear... meanwhile, I'm tinkering with lawn tractors, small engines, trailers (and the mods to my '84 F150 to handle such), and backyard "buildings". Go figure.

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Again:



And again, kidding!

Seems you're having fun with it. You're tinkering with racks and test gear... meanwhile, I'm tinkering with lawn tractors, small engines, trailers (and the mods to my '84 F150 to handle such), and backyard "buildings". Go figure.

I've gotten to where I absolutely hate working on lawn mowers.....and I've had to do some extensive 're-engineering' on my junky Lowes model Husqvarna LGT2654...Husqvarna should be ashamed for having their name on this piece of shit! I had to work on *again* just last Saturday when a deck belt idler bearing seized up.....a local friend happened to have one in his junk pile...that one was a minor wear part, not really a big deal this time.

The major one was when the flimsy stamped frame failed and the rear wheels & transaxle came out from under it....as pissed as I was, it was a hell of a sight!! For someone less crafty, that would have spelled the end for this mower, but this is me we're talking about!!

https://www.zmods.org/z_builds/thumbnails.php?album=362
https://www.zmods.org/z_builds/thumbnails.php?album=363
https://www.zmods.org/z_builds/thumbnails.php?album=364

Then after all that, I had to modify it again to fix some weird alignment issues....imagine a mower with the toe so far out of whack (each front wheel was toed out badly) that it was eating a set of front tires in a season...and of course wouldn't steer worth a crap.

Yea, I hijacked my own thread! HAH

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

At it again....and the first breath of life for this thing....albeit in purely test form.

Antec cases removed....hmmm



The new one set aside.....



The one I had previously used goes first......I blew the dust & mouse poop out of it and washed it down.....now ready to make something out of.



Stubby GTX650....



...and Uranium's 'XANAX'....err, X8SAX board that this beautiful gamer build so graciously donated:



The first thing that had to go was this tall heatsink, it would not clear in the 3U case.



Test fitted with a 'cooljag' LGA1366 cooler I had here from something else...





Yup, like a glove...easy peasy so far.



Recently recapped 450W PSU.



All the bay holders reinstalled. There will be some things filling these in time, it's one of the purposes of this machine (and it's sister system).....those duties will come out later....but for now, here we are!



The SSD that was in the old gamer system stayed with the system....I wanted to use some 15K 2.5" SAS spinners in a mirror for this one. You'll have to excuse the crudity of this for now....nothing is getting tied up until it's in permanent form; and right now it's far from it.



Slid back into the rack and test launched......it cleared the towers! I forgot how loud the fans in this case are. They're 8K RPM @ full speed, even in silent mode, they're running ~4000rpm. I'll wind up replacing them with something a little quieter down the road.



Installed win7; for now.



butt shot....



That's a stopping point for today....



Such a long way to go....and this is a small amount if the goodies & things to be tried....but here's to the first post from this goofy thing!



More later.

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Rack case # 2 opened up....brand new!



Brand new PSU; Antec SmartPower 450w (SP2-450SXR) brand new never been fired....and bad caps....





...and a motherboard tray from a junk case.....hmmmm

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

I still haven't gotten around to putting this second system together yet, I have to recap the power supply first....but FWIW, this post was created from the system that this X8SAX was pulled from!





...and just when you think you start to figure this out, there's this!!

[TechGeek]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

AM Stereo station?

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

AM Stereo station?

Close...

[TechGeek]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Are you building a pirate analog TV station and this is the rack for the equipment?

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (OK, this one is BEYOND COOL)

Are you building a pirate analog TV station and this is the rack for the equipment?

No. Just another test feature.