Moving main PCs to the Loft : Looking for a Loftbox

[The Jackal]

Was wondering if anyone had any ideas ?

House is finally tidied up (more like missus is pressing me to move back in).

I want to move all the power PCs up to the loft and want to buy something similar to half 19" rack size enclosures (except not necassarily rack mountable).

All I need is a simple enclosure wooden or with metal/plastic shelves that I can either build or is pre-made. Anyone have any recommendations if I can get anything from B&Q or IKEA something cheap n cheerful ?

As far as using the PCs are concerned they will be extended via CAT5 (I have the infrastructure and hardware already bought from earlier this year) so that all I have on my desk should be just a mouse/keyboard/monitor and maybe a few SFF
PC's hidden around the house.

[Paul K]

Whats the loft enviroment like for dust, damp air etc?

[The Jackal]

Originally Posted by Paul

Whats the loft enviroment like for dust, damp air etc?

I would say winter is ideal it's kinda cold average humidity and dust

Summer it's boiling hot up there....

I think for the winter I can get away with just having the PC's covered but wil have to think of a better solution in the summer (maybe move them all to the shed in the garden).

[superbiatch]

Originally Posted by CrC-3rr0r

I would say winter is ideal it's kinda cold average humidity and dust

Summer it's boiling hot up there....

I think for the winter I can get away with just having the PC's covered but wil have to think of a better solution in the summer (maybe move them all to the shed in the garden).

We have our stand alone pc in the loft as thats where the modem is located (we also have laptops which we use wirelessly throughout the house). The stand alone pc in loft gets extremely hot and requires a fan on it all thru the summer. Its not too dusty, as it is converted - but the heat can be quite stifling. Have you got a window in there?

[The Jackal]

Originally Posted by superbiatch

We have our stand alone pc in the loft as thats where the modem is located (we also have laptops which we use wirelessly throughout the house). The stand alone pc in loft gets extremely hot and requires a fan on it all thru the summer. Its not too dusty, as it is converted - but the heat can be quite stifling. Have you got a window in there?

You're crazy if you're just letting it sit there exposed : I dont want to do this I need them to be covered

[superbiatch]

Originally Posted by CrC-3rr0r

You're crazy if you're just letting it sit there exposed : I dont want to do this I need them to be covered

Its in the coolest part of the loft (away from the window), any suggestions what to cover it with?

Its only an old P3, but its a back up when you need it

[Strzelecki]

this the kind of thing? http://www.minitran.co.uk/pages/prod...facturer=Mini5
the mini5 stuff is quite good.

[The Jackal]

I'm thinking of buying a few of these cheapos and cover them with a DIY dust sheet or maybe a canvas cover:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...2Bshelving.htm

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...2Bshelving.htm
(height between shelves looks like only being 30cm which might not be good enough)

---------- Post added at 14:47 ---------- Previous post was at 14:45 ----------

Originally Posted by Strzelecki

this the kind of thing? http://www.minitran.co.uk/pages/prod...facturer=Mini5
the mini5 stuff is quite good.

Yeh I know as I said I dont want a cab : I would need a full size rack ! and they are bl**y heavy n expensive unless u shop around on ebay

[Strzelecki]

Ok fine, you might like to look around the rest of the site that is all and see if they do anything else?

[The Jackal]

Just picked up a simple plastic shelving unit from wickes along with a dust sheet £15 the lot.... No point investing in a cab as the environment is not really suited for it.

Should fit at least 4 midi sized pcs just checked the width and it's perfect midi size.

Was looking at building my own wall mount shelving but not sure how to enclose the whole thing I'll have to look around for materials

---------- Post added at 16:41 ---------- Previous post was at 16:36 ----------

Right I'm off to wire up the loft to the central patch panel theres 8 cat5/6 cables up there just need to work out which is which grrrrrrrrr

[markknell]

I have a patch panel in my loft along with a switch with internal fan and sometimes I wonder how that survives most of the time. I would never put a PC or server in the loft. Even on a winters day it *could* get very warm up there if the Sun is out. Just my 2p thought.

You could always just buy a very good spec box and run VM's

Originally Posted by CrC-3rr0r

Just picked up a simple plastic shelving unit from wickes along with a dust sheet £15 the lot.... No point investing in a cab as the environment is not really suited for it.

Should fit at least 4 midi sized pcs just checked the width and it's perfect midi size.

Was looking at building my own wall mount shelving but not sure how to enclose the whole thing I'll have to look around for materials

---------- Post added at 16:41 ---------- Previous post was at 16:36 ----------

Right I'm off to wire up the loft to the central patch panel theres 8 cat5/6 cables up there just need to work out which is which grrrrrrrrr

[handyman]

Keep an eye out on ebay for 19" cabinets. Theres not a lot on at the moment but this looks ok. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rittal-11U-19-...QQcmdZViewItem

They normally have SH ones as well.