Sidesteps

The making of the Detectron computer is now well under way. In todays installment, a happy failure is described at producing mounting support for the motherboard. Using only four different power tools to manufacture the minute parts, success is finally achieved through an old wooden cork board frame.

The mounting of the motherboard is critical due to the very limited space in the case. It needs to sit 5 mm up so it's completely free from the case, but can't be much higher because space is still needed between the CPU-fan and case lid. Lastly, the motherboard should be attached by standard screws, so it's removable in case of failure.

Sometimes a desire arrises to take revenge on the family of desktop computers for all the pains caused through years of software development. In everyday life this urge is hard to let loose without colleagues having funny looks at you, but consider the following. Motherboard spacers are good for attaching motherboard at a perfect distance from whatever. The spacers are however not possible to glue directly onto the inside of a Detectron case, because of the small surface. It is therefore a completely legible option to scavenge some spacer mount points from an old desktop using a angle grinder - all in the name of reuse... 

At a first glance, this vulgar approach could have worked, but it turns out that the quality of the handywork was subpar. Somehow one of the spacers was crushed in the grinding process, and the metal surface for gluing was not very even either.

Second plan consisted of a wooden supports, with drilled 5 mm holes into which spacers were carefully hammered. This had more success, and after angle grinding away the screw end of the spacers and sanding the wood, the four mount points were glued in place after many interations of attaching and detaching the motherboard and checking the position versus the I/O metal plate. Some might also note that the inside of the case has been cleaned using sander and knife to get a sufficiently low profile on the previous walls.