Stealthing a card reader - anyone tried it?

[Sankari]

Just throwing around some ideas for my new build (see sig for details) and need some advice on stealthing drive bays. Has anyone tried stealthing a 3.5 bay before?

This is what I'll be working with:

It's the Mitsumi USB 2.0 floppy drive & card reader.

My Li Li case will come with a factory-fitted 3.5 "faceplate" bezel, and I'd like to use that for my stealth solution; in other words, a complete cover-up so the drive isn't visible until I want to use it. But how to achieve this without impairing functionality...?

All suggestions gratefully received!

 

[Sankari]

Thats going to be a tough one matey,

Cd/Dvd roms were easier because you could just mount the stealth panel to the drive tray, and when you hit eject it came out as one.

With this i havent a clue lol. You could make it so it clicks in place, but you would have to pull the cover off each time you wanted to use it.

Yeah, I've been wracking my brains over this one.

I did have some sort of vague idea about making a drop-down flap from the original "placeholder" bezel, but I'm still not sure how this could be done.

My first thought is to stick the little bugger in a 5.25 bay (with the help of a bay adaptor) and cover it with one of these. That would be half the job done.

The tricky part is finding a way to open and close the bay with the exterior button on the CD/DVD bezel.

Which is where I'm stuck on at the moment.

 

[Sankari]

I'm going to work on this problem over the next couple of months. And if I find a way to solve it, I will post a worklog immediately.

 

[Sankari]

I would've thought it should be possible to rig something up with a push to release catch or similar?
Remove all the spring mechanism thats in the bezel currently, this should let it simply drop downwards. Then you need to find a push to release catch and mount this on the back. With any luck the catch releasing should swing the drive bezel down & when its up the catch can hold it in place. You could also do the same sort of thing with a magnetic catch, although this would require a handle of some description to get the initial release.

May require a little modding to get things to fit right but that'd be the basic principle IMHO.

-Leezer-

I reckon you're onto something there, mate.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[Sankari]

Get an external USB card reader?

...

 

[Sankari]

Hmm, it's a good idea; I'm just not sure how it would work in practice.

 

[Sankari]

I like your idea, and I have seen photos of something similar on other sites - though it sounds like you've taken the process further than most people.

But I don't trust my tool-handling skills, and I really want a "total stealth" look for my Li Li, with all drives completely covered by bezels. So, back to the drawing board for me.

At the moment, it seems that my best chance is to fabricate a flip-down drive bay cover from the supplied Lian Li bezels. But the devil is in the details!

 

[Sankari]

OK, I've had an idea.

The picture below shows the stealth bay door which covers the combined floppy/card reader of my SN21G5:

At the outside edge of the bay you can see a spring-loaded press-release catch, partly recessed so that the bay door remains flush when closed:

If I can find a place which sells that mechanism (or something like it) I should be able to fabricate a customised press-release stealth bezel for the card reader in my new Lian Li.

The process would be something like this:

• Install card reader to 5.25 bay (using 5.25-3.5 bay converter) and ensure that it is partly recessed
  
  
• Attach the "female" half of the spring-catch to outside edge of bay converter
  
  
• Attach "male" half of the spring-catch to inside panel of Lian Li stealth CDROM bezel
  
  
• Install Lian Li stealth CDROM bezel

With any luck, this should result in a push-button stealth bezel.




*Edit* A magnetic push-release catch would be even better!

 

[Sankari]

Ok, time to be an annoying picky illegitimate son.

Firstly, have you checked that the bezel has enough space when open to allow you access to the reader?

No, but I'm confident that it will. If it space enough space to operate a CDROM, it'll provide enough space for a card reader.

Secondly, a normal magnet doesnt get turned off when you push it

True. That's why I'd use a spring-loaded magnetic pressure latch:

Well, a low-profile one, anyway.

Alternatively, I could use an electromagnetic pressure latch and mount the button elsewhere on the case:

Or I could be really boring and just use a non-magnetic pressure latch:

and the aluminium the bezel is made of won't stick to a magnet anyway.

Of course not. But... glue for the win!

A magnetic touch-latch comes in two parts. I'd put one on the back of the bezel, and one on the bay itself.

Other than that sounds like a great idea...

PK!

Thanks. Now I just have to get the kit and try it out.