Custom NAS Case Mod

I have been running FreeNAS / TrueNAS now for over 5 years. As the array has grown with new drives the case has struggled to keep up. Initially the array had one Icy Dock for LFF (3.5 HDD) , over time I added the 6 bay SSD dock, then finally another LFF Dock. That last LFF dock had to live outside the case which was not great.

I really like my case with the front flip panel, and now that I have had the case for over 15 years at this point I guess its a bit sentimental. So instead of throwing it out, I decided to modify the case to fit the "external" LFF Icy Dock

The modification has 3 parts really, cutting the front of the plastic case, cutting out the metal from the structure of the case, and create bracing for the Icy Dock.

Cutting the Metal, this didn't turn out to great, could use better tools.

Using a hack saw blade I was able to get a pretty nice cut on the plastic, overall this turned out pretty good. https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-12-in-24-TPI-Bi-Metal-Hacksaw-Blade-2-Pack-DWHT20552/205049944

Now that everything is cut out, time to create a mount for the for Dock. I took some galvanized metal and contoured it to fit. This tray raised the dock to appropriate height.

Next we need some braces to keep this thing from moving.. As you can tell I am not a metal worker ;)

The finished product! At the end of the day I am happy with the setup, I wish I would have taken more time to make the metal frame a bit nicer. Unfortunately I didnt have anything that could cut the metal smoothly. So far HDD temps have all stayed around 35C which I will continue to monitor. For now, I have 2 Raidz2 pools, and 1 stripe mirror pool.