Year: 2024

Hardware for Engineering Stream

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My beloved blog post still sits on the throne as the most effective format for engineering projects. To me, Inlining code, photographs, CAD models and schematics in an interactive way trumps other mediums. This level of interactivity closes the gap between reader and material, allowing an independent relationship with the subject outside of the story being told by the author.

Working on stream to an online audience has a similar effect, the unedited and interactive format yielding a real understanding of the creators process and technique.

For a while there, I’d settled into a nice habit of broadcasting project development live on twitch. Two moves later, things have settled down enough in my personal life that I feel it’s time to try to get back into this habit.

Before we get started again, I took some time to improve the ergonomics (both hardware and software) of my stream setup. The following documents a few smaller projects, all in service of these upcoming broadcasts.

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Stage Pieces for Bensbeendead.

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There’s an unspoken tenant of the maker movement that demands: calls for bespoke engineering work from friends should always be answered. Maker projects for friends pay dividends in net-happiness injected into the world.

My ‘ol pal Ben (A.K.A Bensbeendead.) knows this kind of work is a favorite of mine. So when he asked, of course I jumped at the opportunity to design and manufacture some “elbows” that mount his laptop and controller atop RGB stage lighting.

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Perfecting the Sliger CX4200A: Rear Exhaust Fans + Drive Shelf

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In the years since the GANce days, Rosewill’s massive 4U chassis, RSV-L4000U has housed my daily-driver virtualization host. The guts of the build are almost identical to the original spec, but it has come time to move into a smaller case. CX4200A from Sliger won out because of a few factors.

The main one is that, following some flooding in my city, someone discarded a Hoffman EWMW482425 26U short-depth rack with a flawless glass door and an MSRP over over $1000:

Server rack sitting near dumpster.
Before…
Sliger CX4200A in server rack.
After! CX4200A is the big red one.

Under the cover of darkness, a co-conspirator and I were able to heist the rack from its resting place back to mine.

Judging by the bits left in inside, it looks to have served as a housing for telecom gear. Much of the rackable gear I’ve come into over the years is similarly short-depth with one exception, the Rosewill.

The 25″ of depth is way too much for the rack. It was great for being able to work on tesla cooler, plenty of room for weird coolers and hard drives. The weight, the physical mass of the thing is also just too much. I’ve moved apartments twice since acquiring the Rosewill and have dreaded moving it both times. These aren’t RSV-L4000U’s fault, these are features for the majority of users. Just not for me right now.

Enter the Sliger CX4200A and a few modifications to make it perfect for my needs:

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