Alpine Carputer - Part 04

I am originally posting this project on the Overclockers Australia (OCAU) forums) in this thread:
Specific Hardware Topics > Modding > Alpine Caputer. This is post #32. Some things in this post may not make sense without viewing comments left in OCAU forum thread.

Thanks to everyone [on OCAU] for all the ideas so far to overcome the shocks that the HDD will get. I haven't made a final decision yet but I'm thinking that using springs somehow will be the best way to go. Keep it at a good build quality and probably wouldn't have to replace it as often (if ever) compared to something like elastic hair ties which were sounding good.

So now comes: HDD caddy preparation time. The existing caddy lets the drive rattle around inside the caddy so I have to put something in to stop that.

I finally remembered to bring these home from work:

Unfortunately, I snapped off one of the supports that holds on the back end of the caddy :(

The current plan for that is to just snap the other one off too to even it up and then superglue that end on. I'll also drill a hole in the end but I'll explain what that's for later (besides ventilation).

Those rubber feet don't fit along with the drive...

So... OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!

NOW they fit!

I'll keep the tops that I cut off to keep the motherboard off the metal casing later.

So, I put them in (before)

That didn't work so well though so I cut the top off another one of the rubber feet, cut that in half and stuck them on either side at one end. It's a tight fit and I need to poke the drive with something to push it out (and THERE is the reason for that hole that I mentioned before) but at least it won't be moving and has room for a little bit of ventilation

I'll probably finish up this first (get a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter and get the back end cover on) before moving on to the next step.

I've also discovered I can't use back plates that come with motherboards :( I'll have to make custom back plates for each one that I put in. The current plan is to use some sort of mesh. Here's why:

Doesn't fit!! BUT! looks like the ports will fit between the vents (if you can call them that) on either side of the existing holes. I've got a cut out for the size of the motherboard too:

This should help a bit with placement issues. Anyway, I'll see what happens. I'll have to get the motherboard sometime soon too.

That's all for now! Thanks to everyone [on OCAU] who has made comments so far :)