Thats crazy I just bought one…
looking to mess with it also Do you have a guide on the parts and things you did? amazing work! time to get my 3D printer out
I’m about half way through a rough cut for assembling using the laser cut boards. Most of same probably applies for the 3d printed methods.
On the Cables…
https://www.highpoint-tech.com/product-page/8643-4sas-1m
I have regular hard drives and over 12TB …
"1M 8643 SAS to 4x SAS with Power cable
“The 8643-4SAS-1M cable is designed for use with the RocketRAID 3740A and RocketRAID 840A RAID controllers, and has been tested with a wide range of enterprise and Pro-NAS class SAS hard drives up to 12TB in capacity.”
will these cables work on hard drives binger then 12TB?
I don’t see how cables would not work with hard drives of a certain capacity. I’m sure this is just an artifact of what the largest common HDD capacity was when the cables were first released (2016?). Also, all it says is that is they did testing up to 12TB capacities, not that anything higher is unsupported. I’m sure the marketing blurb wasn’t updated since the cables were first released.
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what screws did you but for the cables?
There is an amazon link above with the plastic rivets I used. They worked well enough for me. I’m not sure what screws @blitz used.
I bought these m3 nylons off amazon: Amazon.ca
I used 12mm and the nuts to fasten the cables to the boards.
I used the 25mm stand offs (my unit did not come with any).
Im not sure how tall the ones supplied that come with the chassis are.
thank you guys! Found some at HomeDepo and worked
I ordered these from aliexpress for crimping new molex ends.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003387331055.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.23.1e7518024WUKUx
I’m sure you can find something similar on amazon.
(You can also use any other kind of 4 pin connector, it doesn’t necessarily need to be molex. It just needs to be able to handle the amperage pulled through)
I highly recommend you get a proper PH crimper. I personally used this one. Amazon.ca
SingularityComputers has a nice video on how to do perfect crimps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkiBCtz13oI&t=965s
I used a pair of needle nose pliers to close the ends a bit which helped hold the wires in place before crimping (follow video). I was able to fit max 3 runs per molex crimp.
Would these work?
The second one would work for the spacing, I would still combine at least 2 of them into one connector. You will have a tough time compressing them under the plates if you don’t join at least 2 together.
Did these custom backplanes ever get finished, i picked up a pod about a month ago and wanted to do an overhaul and went down a deep rabbit hole haha.
I was ok with taking on a project like yours, but as you said this is my long term solution so I desire a high level of stability.
Also congrats on all that work, the project did look amazing in its final form!
I was looking at getting a custom backplate from the HL15, but I’m not sure its compatible with my Storage Pod 2.0.
How did you guys splice the power supply? How many did you put on each power?
Thanks
I did every two power connectors.
My psu is a seasonic 1000W. It has 6 6-pin ports on it. I spliced the 12V and the 5V and both grounds off each port to make 6 4-pin cables. So 45/6, some cables feed 7 drives, some feed 8 drives. More than enough for each drive. I’ve attached a photo of one of my 6 cables.
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Custom backplanes still in development. First run of them I’m hoping to get within a month or two. But even after receiving them I’m going to put them through weeks or months of extensive testing outside my server before ever installing them. Need to verify they are 100% solid before committing to the solution for the long run. Sure they’re designed by a close friend who has a masters in electrician engineering, but he’s never designed a board quite like these, so testing is definitely required. So most likely wont be releasing the schematics for them for at least 4-6 months.
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Haha yeah that makes sense, I would love to get my hands one some in the future when they are verified whether you offer the files for a fee or setup something to have them ordered that would be cool as well. I was also thinking about getting the dimensions for the HL15 drive mounts (the metal parts) and then getting them produced by OSH Cut. Then doing the work to retrofit them in the storage pod so I can use the HL15 Backplanes. It was an idea that I still need to play around with though.
I was able to get all the cables and wires however I am not able to fit the cables and cut them and put them back together I was only able to get 2 rows working great 3 was a no go for me 
Hope others were able to do it better!
Not sure if it will help but here is a quick rough cut showing how I assembled a board. It’s sped up but shows how the power lines were soldered. I do have a chest cam angle as well but that hasn’t been synced up yet. The gauge of wire I used is also overkill if you do one molex connector(or other power lead) per board so even more under-board space can be saved potentially.
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Hey did you ever get to these backplanes?
I have a Storinator V4 I think (2014-2016 model)
It has SFF-8087 connectors so I’m looking for a way to upgrade to a more modern standard ( SFF-8643 ?)
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