Keeping cards from bumping into each other with no case?

[Adam]

I'm just wondering what other people have done to keep cards safely separated when you need to cram them side by side on a motherboard and have no case to screw the cards into?  I had a machine go down last night when one of the cards moved a little and the fan slammed into another.  I don't think there was any damage that can't be fixed, but I obviously want to prevent this from happening again.  For now I stuck some pieces of a cardboard box between each card, but I was wondering if anyone had a more elegant solution?

[BombaUcigasa]

[supa]

They bump together... and that still didn't help you realize the problem with what you're doing...

Maybe.... It would probably take about 5 minutes to go find a plastic ruler or similar thin piece of material.  Pop a few holes in it and use the existing mounting brackets and screws to build something somewhat structurally sound that isn't going to destroy good equipment and/or cause a fire.

Or.... use plastic chains and spread the equipment out on plastic hooks until it looks like the final scene in the first Hellraiser movie.  Stick a paper banner saying something like, "AMD wept...."  Now you have functional art.

Or.... get a case.  If your cards don't fit in one case, get two cases.  A lot of cases (especially Antecs) allow both side covers to be removed - you could remove the side that usually is on the solder-side of the motherboard and mount the card inside the case with any PCIe extender cables stretched over into the next case.  Duct-tape them together side-by-side and use them for a spare bench.

[Swishercutter]

L shaped aluminum strip, Drill holes .8" apart (so 1.6" for a double) make sure to get the distance from the edge right, I used some spacers from my case to mark the distance. 

It looks like this: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=7216.msg178870#msg178870

[Meatball]

L shaped aluminum strip, Drill holes .8" apart (so 1.6" for a double) make sure to get the distance from the edge right, I used some spacers from my case to mark the distance.  

It looks like this: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=7216.msg178870#msg178870

Is there anything supporting those cards upright from the table or is it just a single L bracket along the top of the card brackets?  I'm just wondering if you are still letting them be supported vertically by the slot, or if you have something else.

[kiwiasian]

This

[Atoth]

L shaped aluminum strip, Drill holes .8" apart (so 1.6" for a double) make sure to get the distance from the edge right, I used some spacers from my case to mark the distance.  

It looks like this: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=7216.msg178870#msg178870

Is there anything supporting those cards upright from the table or is it just a single L bracket along the top of the card brackets?  I'm just wondering if you are still letting them be supported vertically by the slot, or if you have something else.

Just the single L bracket along the top of the cards, with all the cards screwed to it it's very sturdy. I was having issues with the first card moving too much in the PCI-E slot, the others not so much, but GPU3/4 the screws in the rear of the cards were touching the fans of the card behind it till I put in some foam spacers as a temp fix. Now with the bracket its 1000x more stable.