A while back, I discovered I needed more shelving and counter top space in my kitchen, so I decided to build what you see to the right. The hutch is made of “natural”-stained red oak sanded to 600 grit with 4-5 layers of polyurethane depending on the piece. The counter top is made of manufactured granite which is really just polished concrete. The wood structure is held together with dowels and wood glue.
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A while back, I decided I’d had enough of the 3+ USB-attached hard drives I had connected to my primary desktop at home and that it was time I consolidated my digital storage capabilities into one, easily accessible location. It was time for a dedicated network attached storage (NAS) box. Naturally, I figured I’d use mostly parts I already had available and throw one together myself. I’m pretty utilitarian, so this ended up being the epitome of “beige box”. The only things I ended up purchasing for this project are the drives, drive cage, handles, clasps, and some #6-32×3/4″ screws to hold the drive cage and power supply in place. Everything else was something I already had, a donation from someone who wasn’t using an item and never planned to, or scrap material.
Here’s a shot of the NAS as ready to be used:
Here’s another shot of it opened up and ready for swapping things around:
As you can see above, one side of it is still completely empty. In the unused side, there is space for at least two more four-drive cages just like the one I already have installed. Filling out those two spots would give me space for 12 drives total which would require a SATA or RAID card since the board itself can only handle five internal drives.
This ended up taking far longer than it really should have and I swear I will never attempt to make 45 degree edge cuts on MDF ever again without the proper tools being setup the correct way and only when absolutely necessary.
Case Materials:
I decided to snag a pair of F8Z942-P A2DP receivers since they’re now cheap ($25 each) on Amazon. I picked up the Belkin variant because it seemed to be what I wanted with the ability to pair up to 6 devices and a range of 10 meters (around 33 feet).
Everything connected immediately and I had no problem transmitting from my laptop or phone…until I moved more than 5 feet away from the receiver. At this point, the audio began to break up or cut out completely. This was certainly not what I expected, so I decided to investigate a little.
What I found inside made me a little angry at Belkin’s marketing department and more so at the company as a whole for not requiring a full test of the hardware in the final enclosure as approved by marketing. This is what you see upon removing the top of the enclosure.
Yes, that’s a slug of metal in the bottom of a WIRELESS device to give it heft and make it feel not cheap. Once I removed the slug of metal, the receiver regained its full range and became the device promised by the spec sheet. That said, I shouldn’t have to modify a device to fix a marketing blunder that breaks its functionality.
My D implementation of the google protocol buffers serialization standard is nearly complete and very usable. I recently had it included on the google 3rd party implementation page. More information can be found on the protocol buffers wiki page.