5.2 A2, Sled Tower
A2 is A (3.1) with a control bay and lights. The trays, the rails, the duct and its slots are the same. It grows 8 mm deeper and 10 mm taller, to 142 × 171 × 287 mm.
The control bay
A's 35 mm fuse bay becomes a 45 mm control bay, behind the door, under the first tray.
- The LCD stands at the front on a printed bezel: a 66 × 43 mm plate with a 41 × 31 mm window, on a 20 mm foot. It looks straight out through the door, so the screen sits under the five boards like a label.
- The controller stands right behind it, 70 × 40 mm, about 15 mm deep, so the screen's leads are a few centimetres long.
- The hub is at the back of the bay, lying flat, 80 × 45 × 25 mm with the INA226 on it now, leads facing forward. The 5 V leads from the power supply come up through a hole in the deck beside it.
The bay is 45.5 mm from the deck to the first tray's underside. The LCD is 35 mm tall and sits 4 mm up, and the controller stops 2.5 mm under the tray.
Why it got deeper
A put the power supply 4 mm behind the plinth's front wall, with the mains compartment behind it 47 mm deep. Claude's first plan put the screen in the plinth, in front of the supply, so the inside grew from 150 to 158 mm and the supply moved back 8 mm. The screen ended up in the bay instead, but the extra depth stayed: the duct moved back too, so each board now has 34 mm behind it for the air from the slots to spread out, not 26.
Lights
Two 10 mm WS2812B strips stand in grooves in the front corners of the side walls, from the first tray up to the roof, about 150 mm each. They shine across the trays from both sides, just behind the door. The grooves are 3.2 × 10.4 mm in a 5 mm wall, so 1.8 mm of wall is left behind them.
The side vents had to move to make room. A had four 5 mm slots per tray starting 4 mm behind the front. A2 has three, starting at 16 mm.
Sensors
The intake sensor sits in the duct, at its foot. Each tray's exhaust sensor sits by that tray's right-hand vents, where the air leaves after crossing the board. The seventh is in the power supply's chamber at its side vents. Each one sits in a small printed clip on the inside of a wall; those clips aren't modelled yet.
Checks
All pass, with no ballast.
| Check | A | A2 |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | 142 × 163 × 277 mm | 142 × 171 × 287 mm |
| Mass (estimate) | 1.74 kg | 1.91 kg |
| Tips at | 30° | 30° |
| Push at the top to tip it | 4.3 N | 4.6 N |
| Largest print | 142 × 160 × 197 mm | 142 × 168 × 206 mm |
It's taller, but it's also heavier and deeper, and the push to tip went up:
What's left
- The tower is still one big print, now 206 mm tall.
- The bezel's window and screw holes need the real LCD.
- From straight in front, the boards are still seen edge on. Whether five lit shelves over a glowing screen make up for that is something I'll judge on the real thing.