The official 45Drives SSD mounting bracket on Printables works great with up to 6 SATA SSDs, but only works with the more common consumer-level 7mm drives.
I was wondering if there are any plans for making a 2 or 4 drive 15mm-compatible version of this same bracket?
My main motivation is I would like to add two enterprise U.2 drives, and they are 15mm and don’t work with the HL15’s built-in backplane, since that only exposes SAS/SATA and not NVMe.
I know @SpringerSpaniel had mentioned working on his own bracket for this purpose (see: NVMe U.3 Backplane / solution - #5 by SpringerSpaniel), and he generously provided a download of it… but I just printed it and test-fit it—and the drive orientation being front-to-back means the connectors would not fit on the drives with my tower cooler.
There’s also this vertical bracket by @Venson – HL15 Vertical SSD mount by GerVenson - Thingiverse (but it also only works with narrower drives, and has the same cable issue where I wouldn’t have the clearance with my tower cooler).
hey @geerlingguy
Adapting my design for a 45° angle or maybe even a V shape and for 15mm height is a relatively easy task i could do if you are interested. That should give you plenty clearance for cooling towers.
45° would be interesting—I would be a little worried with the heft of 15mm drives to put more than one or two on a rack that only mounts into two of the mounting holes though…
also not really an issue. I can give you an inverted top part as well. should be easy to get mounted as well.
45Drives sells a 15mm sled in their store, so they could just add that to their printables files. The work has been done.
Unfortunately that won’t work for this purpose, as the drive is U.2, meaning it requires the NVMe / PCIe pins attached—the backplane that ships with the HL15 only supplies SATA and SAS in the connector currently, and doesn’t work with ‘tri-mode’ adapters like the Broadcom HBA I’m using.
Sure why not break my 3d modelling software?
But ok. This is the Plain version @geerlingguy , i am (mostly) convinced that if printed with some absurd infill percentage like +60% it should be fine
U3 SSD bracket by GerVenson - Thingiverse
I have the idea to add a support structure underneath it if that will not be sufficient. Small disclaimer, i dont have a U2SSD to test the margins so feedback is appreciated. For Cooler Clearance, on its longest tip the new design is 83mm deep. If thats not enough there is still a bit of room to make it a tad shorter
Edit: Added version with some support beams that rest against the case. Will block airflow like hell but if that breaks (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
I created a version that holds two U.2 15mm drives. It is mostly identical to the 45 drives version, except for converting four of the slots into two slots. Here is a screenshot. I’m not sure how to upload the step file here, but once I figure that out I can send it over. This version worked perfectly in my HL15 to hold two Kingston U.2 drives.
I uploaded it as a remix on Printables. Here is a link: https://www.printables.com/model/823840-ssd-mounting-bracket-with-two-15mm-slots.
Thanks, I’ve just downloaded this model and will give it a go—hopefully things will fit together nicely! Not sure when I’ll be able to fit it permanently but I’ll try to test fit it tomorrow.
Looks like a nice way to fit four drives! I’ll give it a go if the other model posted doesn’t work out. I do like having a little extra airflow here, but it could still be a tight squeeze with the large cooler I have installed. Maybe I can pop one of the fans off—that little Ampere CPU is quite cool inside.
alright. Also please check the holes for the screws. I dont have an U.2 SSD so no idea if they are correctly positioned.
The screw holes are in the exact right positions, it looks like it’ll fit nicely! I won’t be able to put it in today but hopefully soon. The cable routing should work out well too. The only concern could be airflow, but I’ll have to do some testing and see how hot the drives get. The front one I’m not worried about at all.
Would be great if 45Drives or an enterprising forum member would be able to sell these 15mm SSD mounts, I am looking to do the same as Jeff here and yet do not have a 3D printer, or currently the time to invest at the moment to understand how to print one if I had. Have not yet found any options to order one at a reasonable price online.
What about the person who made this post, did you contact them?
I’m using a pair of these to pice brackets to take advantage of the space over the 0x slot (my16x slot is in 16x mode, so it’s neighbor is 0x), and over the 4x slot (which I have unpopulated). They easily fit 2x 15mm drives each
Thanks both, does anyone have a view or input on the idea I had of designing a caddy that would fit in one of the 15 drive bays that would allow you to mount u.2 drives with the ports facing upwards towards the top of the case, whilst leaving some space above the backplane ports below of course.
It looks to me like you could potentially run a cable up by the side of the fans on the far sides of the case near to either slot 1 or 15, or possibly between fans, that would allow you to utilise spare drive bays if you have less than 15 drives, using them to mount u.2 drives.
Could be a useful option if it works and cables can be cleanly routed, that is until 45drives (hopefully) creates a backplane that supports nvme u.2 drives.
U.2 drives are a similar size to sata SSDs? Looking at their regular ssd mount for scale.
I think you could design something similar to fit 2 (presumably) ssd sized drives vertically. Obviously the drives would be in an inverted orientation, and would have to be recessed enough to fit the top cables.
For cable management you could route it anywhere under the fan assembly (like any of the other drive cables already do), and maybe design a channel in the caddy to allow the cables to pass through vertically to the top?
