RetroTank, rear

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The rear of the case the power plug, switch and PSU mounted (inside), the cage for the ISA/PCI extension cards and a gaping hole that allows them to be accessed from the outside.

Edge protection from the local hardware store was added around the I/O expansion bay. The mounting bracket itself was a spare part bought from some big name PC case vendor (sorry, I forgot which one).

Using the tried and tested method of drilling lots of holes, prying the metal out and filing, the mounting hole for the power plug & switch combo was added to the blank piece of steel.

The same way, with a lot more effort, the hole for the expansion bay was added. On the right, a 12V power supply from MEAN WELL was mounted and hooked up to the power plug.

WARNING: here's yet another reminder that doing literally anything with mains power is dangerous, even if you think you know what you are doing. I'm working with mains power here and if this contraption theoretically allows you to touch live wires while the PC is plugged in.

Fresh out of the package, the I/O bracket had a mounting frame at the top that I did not have space for in my design. I quickly removed it, thereby discovering that this thing is made out of some really flimsy, soft metal. Some magnesium alloy perhaps? I'm sure if you are sufficiently determined, you can cut through this with a pair of pliers.

An additional piece of anodized steel sheet metal is cut in shape for mounting inside the case.

The idea is mount the I/O bracket on the inner piece of metal, leaving a 20mm gap to the outside (the width of the aluminium extrusions).

In this photo, you can also see how the power supply and plug as are position inside the case.

With an additional hole for the I/O bracket, it could be mounted with some counter screws from the other side.

It didn't go quite to plan tough and required some additional pieces of scrap metal for mounting and supports.


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