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I thought I would post some of what I've been fiddling with lately - if you haven't seen the S5 acrylic case mod I did a while back, it's probably worth checking it out for some context:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1086882

What I've now been working on is controlling the heat from the miners, and try to come up with a more modular large scale solution.  I really wanted it to be self-contained and not too far of a radical departure from the S5... Since I love me some 8020, it's always the starting point for my larger projects:

http://www.analogx.com/images/plenumS5v1/DSCF3207s.jpg

My idea was to have a way to mount multiple S5's and their respective power supplies at the same time, this was the general layout I had in mind (position, not orientation):

http://www.analogx.com/images/plenumS5v1/DSCF3209s.jpg

I then just repeated the spacing so that I could have 8 rows of 3 sets of S5's/PSU's, for a total of 24 to a build:

http://www.analogx.com/images/plenumS5v1/DSCF3206s.jpg

Next stop was my laser cutter, and I tried to come up with something that would be workable within my cutting area (12x20), but also modular, so if I wanted to make a different mounting plate for a different miner, like an S5, then it would be possible as well.  In production, I wouldn't use acrylic, I would probably use aluminum - but acrylic is super easy to work with, so it's always my starting point.  Notice the notch above the PSU, this is so the power cable can loop back out so only a little bit is in the air chamber:

http://www.analogx.com/images/plenumS5v1/DSCF3221s.jpg

Let me tell you, repeating this 24 times starts to get tedious.  ;)

http://www.analogx.com/images/plenumS5v1/DSCF3223s.jpg

The actual air chamber is meant to work as a plenum, to channel the air out to where-ever.  While I have all the fans connected in the initial design, I have toyed around with the idea of just using two large extractor fans somewhere further down in the plenum to eliminate the unit-fans altogether:

http://www.analogx.com/images/plenumS5v1/DSCF3218s.jpg

One of the things I love about 8020 is that you can use the extrusion as guides - so all of the mounting plates slide into the enclosure - making it easy to work with.  If a machine goes down, at worse you have to remove the two machines in front of it to get access - but I haven't really had any machines fails, so that wasn't high on the list of my design goals.

I use their 2x1 extrusions for extra strength and rigidity, but where they slide in I use two singles, so one locks in after they're all installed to stop any air from flowing out to the side.  You can also see how well the acrylic sits in the extrusion:

http://www.analogx.com/images/plenumS5v1/DSCF3229s.jpg

Top down, you can see that everything comes snugly together, but still decent spacing around the S5's and PSU's:

http://www.analogx.com/images/plenumS5v1/DSCF3232s.jpg

And then with all the miners installed - I had originally intended to use it in more of a table-top configuration as in the picture, but it turned out to be inconvenient in working with, so I changed it to an upright design:

http://www.analogx.com/images/plenumS5v1/DSCF3228s.jpg

Finally, here it is with some of the other machines, starting to get setup - for the side panels I just used high-heat fire rated wood composite - the back panels are removed so you can see the machines, and it vents up into the ceiling:

http://www.analogx.com/images/plenumS5v1/DSCF3240s.jpg

All in all the design works really well with the addition of some extraction fans - the problem I had without them was that the PSU fans didn't generate enough static pressure, and the air would actually vent out through them even with their fans going.  Since the air was hot, this in turn would thermal shut down the PSU and the miner - super annoying when it first happened, since some of the PSU's were more susceptible to it than others, and it looked more like some strange PDU issue at first.

One super-nice thing about this design is that it gets the hot air all in one place and keeps it away from the S5's, so the space in general runs much cooler.  The acrylic cases work great also, as they channel the flow over all of the board, not just the part closest to the fan.

I've done a couple modifications since I took the pictures, and I'm also redesigning the mounting plate - I'm probably going to create a separate air channel for the PSU's, and have it more of a split system.  I really like J4bberwock's new PSU design:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1178099.0

So I'm going to be focusing my future designs more around them... And next on my list is playing around a bit with water cooling, so who knows where that will lead me.

Anyway, hopefully this sparks some ideas for other people on ways to control airflow... It would also be super easy to extend this design to do some sound control also, if that was an issue.

That looks really sexy mate! Well done!!!

I would agree very nice indeed.  I love the clear look to it.   The acrylic was a great choice with this.

How many hours did you put into this project?

Wow amazing  :o ! Really good job dude.

Nice work!  It looks amazing.

Impressive. I hope it can easily be modified for S7s.

Actually, not as many as you'd probably suspect - I've built things like this before, so I generally knew what would work, and I had the templates for the PSU and S5 from when I did the acrylic case.  So in actual hours building the thing, I would probably say maybe 20 - in terms of real world time it took, it was several weeks because when I would miss something I'd have to order whatever I needed, and you lose a week each time.


Yeah, the S7 would be no problem... The S5+ would probably be a bit more problematic with acrylic probably because of it's size, but the material I used was 5.6mm so it's pretty strong.

Part of my intention with the design was to end up with something that would be easily modified for whatever might come out in the future - and the nice thing about this design is that it's just a matter of replacing the mounting insert to match whatever the device is.  It won't work with something super-heavy like the InnoSilicon Terminator 110's, but for most miners it should work like a champ.

Exactly - we have two deployments, but I do all my testing in my garage setup.  I have 400a service to the house and about 300a going into the garage, so try to have it at capacity whenever possible... It's a great environment to actually see how things work in the real world over the course of more than just a couple hours.  I have both forced air and exhaust fans going in there, as well as a direct/indirect evap cooler, but even then I can get it pretty toasty in there.  ;)

Really nice design do you plan to sell these to the home DIY miner?

my buddy in the brooklyn navy yard has a cnc it would have to cut down the time.

Looks fantastic Mark, well done once again!  Quick question, are the intake sides of the S5's supported somehow, or are they completely being held up by the 4 bolts through the acrylic cutout through the fan?

@ MarkAz Iwhs I had as much space as you to out into a build like you have. Some really nice compact and tight units going on their. Maybe next  step in making dust proof and getting some dust filters on units that can be took off and hovered and cleaned every now n then to keep good air flow to the units :) Very impressive.

well my farm is far from the average home miner I have a whole warehouse filled with miners and I am interested in this if you're open to selling your design and or plans to build it I could source the materials local and have a local shop cut the Plexi for me

Wow really nice setup! I have 3 S5. Will like to know if I could order you a setup for 3.

Let me know.  ;D

Ok, I'll try to answer everyone's questions!  :)


I'm in Arizona - commercial rates are quite good, and even residential rates are workable (about 0.08c), but it's super convenient to be able to test things in my garage.


My original acrylic case enclosure is much better for home mining I think - it reduces the operating temps when the entire mod is done, plus it's pretty basic to do.  I've played around with unit-specific ducting, and probably will again - but the challenge is the amount of airflow that flex ducting allows.  This was one of the better links I found that breaks out both round and square, plus also flex vs sheet:

http://www.northwestenergystar.com/sites/default/files/resources/EasyDucts%20Slide%20Deck_Final.pdf

A 120mm fan exhaust hole is basically 4", so you're looking at 30cfm, which isn't great.  Plus with flex duct it decreases even more over distance because of the turbulence caused by the shape, etc.  Even a 4x6 rectangular duct only moves 60cfm, which is roughly the size of the back of the S5.  You can increase the CFM with more and more static pressure, but the problem is that you're buying that CFM at the cost of additional amps of consumption.


Exactly - you need to be to a certain minimum size to be able to make this work.  You also need to be wanting to mine for more than a year - the reason I designed it the way I did was to be able to replace the inserts with whatever new device profile that showed up.  Plus you can also vary orientation to give more options as well - for instance, I originally designed it for the units to be facing down, but it could easily face up as well - so heavier or smaller items worked better.

For my ROI calculations - I consider this very much like a PSU, it's a cost that is going to be amortized over the life of more than one miner.  Plus the gain in the raw amount of miners I can run more than makes up for it.


My laser cutter should be faster than most CNC's - the only cutting I'm doing is for the actual inserts and the panels on the sides of the air channel (plenum).  The extrusion can be ordered pre-cut to your exact lengths - but the extrusion profile is super basic, so if you've got a local place that does things like that, it would certainly cut costs down considerably.  I'll use a local manufacturer for our main deployment.


The S5's are light enough that the bolts are more than sufficient to hold it - originally I was worried about how delicate it might be, but 5.6mm of acrylic is very strong, and I did some tests to failure, and interestingly the acrylic cracks (as expected) but didn't actually come out of the plenum - it was jammed in there by the broken pieces.  One of the advantages of the tight fit, and the ~5mm of acrylic embedded in the channel is that it turns out to be a very durable and equipment-safe design.  And if that really is a concern, you could just change the orientation as I described above.  I'd love to get my A2 Terminators running on this wall, but I'm going to have to change their cases considerably to do that, for both weight and bulk.


I try to manage dust coming in at the intakes and less at the device - but one of the big advantages of my original case mod is that you don't get buildup behind the fan on the heatsink anymore.  Ultimately I'd like to get rid of the fan on the units altogether and just have a couple big extractor fans, but that will be the next rev... ;)


PM me if you'd like to talk about it seriously - this is designed for maximum flexibility, but depending on your space and other variables, there could be smarter/cheaper ways to lay things out.  The way we deploy these isn't exactly the same as what you see here, this is my garage version, but the principle is the same - it's all about controlling airflow.

Damn you didnt answer mine  :P

I like the modular design like you said a row can be upgraded with new plates as new miners with a new foot print come out and you upgrade but for me its always been a project do build something to try and capture and channel the heat where i want it to go my first version was a bunch of cardboard boxes with a few High CFM barrel fans ducted out the window to keep the room ambient temp lower and it worked so this could help take that up a notch and be even more efficent then my card board box method  ;D

Next rev huh. Must be making enough on the mining then and your power is paid for with it. Am guessing free energy or very cheap and working out good for you. What is your current cost on kw/h and what you actually making profit to equipment wise. Sure would like to get an idea as this makes me want to buy more equipment but UK prices are stupid on import tax and also energy cost to use.

these might be nice for a few S7's would make it more data center friendly thats for sure..  Looks good though

OP can you answer to my pm ?  ;D

Thanks - it actually doesn't really lend itself to smaller builds, the right cost per unit started around 20 units or so I think, which is why it houses 24.  Once J4bberwock makes his new PSU, I think I can increase the density a fair bit, and probably get closer to 30 or maybe 36 in the enclosure.  I also have sound soundproofing foam I may put inside of it to help reduce the sound, not that it's that bad.


It's going to be pretty hard to beat the price/performance of card board boxes.  ;)

In all seriousness, I used wood for the panels, but I was originally planning on using some sort of plastic - I figured it would be lighter weight and probably cost less.  But in the end it came down to what Home Depot had in stock, so wood it is.

I'm on the hunt for an S7, so I'll be adding it in the mix to see how it works...


Arizona is pretty good, my residential rate is 0.08c and commercial is under 0.06c... I've found a way to get under 0.05c as well, which I'll be spinning up next month.  TBH, as the efficiency of these miners get better, it becomes a lot less about power and alot more about noise and heat. 

One super-easy change I haven't tested yet, but plan to, is moving the fan inside the case instead of outside - this should be dual benefit.  The first is that I don't need to cut a spacer between the case and the fan anymore, as the insert is the spacer.  The second is that the fan is completely inside the enclosure, so should be somewhat quieter as well.  What held me back from doing this before was mounting becomes a bit trickier (I need a 2x size removal, not 1x), and I wasn't sure about exposing the fans for prolonged periods of hot air - since all the ambient air around them would be very hot relative to intake air.  Of course the intake air should cool the fan motor itself, but still not sure about the long term effects.

Very well done. What was the estimated cost of the build? also, are there any plans that you have for others to look at for construction?

wow that rig is quit amazing dude - nice work :)

Keep this up :D Hopefully difficulty will not increase :O

regards
BTC LOVER

heheh, thanks!  Here's the latest version, but I'm doing (hopefully) the final small tweaks:

http://www.analogx.com/images/Avalon6/DSCF3434s.jpg