re: Towerizing GS

[jfenske@muug.mb.ca (John Fenske)]

If you're interested in towerizing your GS, first decide exactly what you
want in it and what connectors you require on the back panel. Measure up all
you have and then measure up the IBM cases at the store to make sure
everything will fit. I looked over quite a few before buying.
 
I ended up putting in the motherboard (no gs case), hardrive, 3.5 and 5.25
drive, modem and 40 watt power amp for the Sonic Blaster. The biggest pain
was getting a case that could fit the 5.25 drive (these drives are quite wide
in PC land and only a very few will allow room). I had to make a special
cradle/cage for the drives but if you're just going with the 3.5 then you'll
find a fair amount of room in the PC 5.25 cage.
 
If you just want to throw the GS case and all in and leave out the drives,
that is your choice (why bother then). Gramma told me that if you're going to
do a job then at least do it right.
 
The back panel connections can be made by either making a number of small
cables that plug into the GS and surface mount on the back panel or just
mount the motherboard right up against the back panel and cut out the proper
access holes (which is what I did). I would have preferred the cables but
where I live, the DB19 and small din connectors are either too expensive or
basically not available.
 
The case I used had a vertical flat metal surface larger than the motherboard
so it was easy to mount. You'll need to find some holes in the GSboard for
mounting and make sure you use some sort of insulating washers or nylon
bolts. I also made up some brackets from plastic/acrylic that support all of
the cards that are used. Probably a good idea as having the gs vertical means
the cards will be horizontal. This applies a sideways pressure to the
connectors which will eventually cause problems. Especially if you plan to
move the case around.
 
The drives can actually be screwed into the case's cages if you don't mind
making a hole in your drive. I took apart the drives and found plenty of room
between the plastic case and the actually drive inside. I just made 4 tapped
holes in the drive case and screwed the drive to the cage (don't
overtighten). I removed the plastic drive cover front plates and made up my
own metal cover plate as of course, the drive openings in the front are not
the same size as the Apple drives. The harddrive fits in the case's harddrive
cage (something that actually fits). The modem and amp (actually a car amp)
was fastened with some metal brackets. (the bigger the case, the more room to
work with and to add any extras).
 
For the power supply, I just cut and spliced the GS power connector to it.
The gs pwr supply was not working which is the reason for towerizing in the
first place. (the tower with supply was the same cost as a replacement gs pwr
supply). There was even enough 12v capacity that I decided on the car amp
installation with speaker connectors on the back panel.
 
I used the PC speaker because the GS wouldn't fit so I just spliced the
wires.
 
Of course, you should make sure you PLAN OUT EVERYTHING CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU
EVEN ATTEMPT IT. Being handy with a soldering iron and "metal manipulation"
is a good idea. This has not covered much in detail but let me know what
doesn't make sense or exactly what you are towerizing if you want any
detailed description. (especially about the modem and mounting the board up
against the back panel...two problems I didn't anticipate)
 
Also the HD light was connected to the hard drive and the Mhz display is
wired for 3 Mhz normal and 73 Mhz in turbo mode :-).

 
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