[Beowulf] [EXTERNAL] Re: server lift

[Lux, Jim (US 7140)]

From: Beowulf <beowulf-bounces at beowulf.org> on behalf of mathog <mathog at caltech.edu>
Reply-To: mathog <mathog at caltech.edu>
Date: Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 5:03 PM
To: "beowulf at beowulf.org" <beowulf at beowulf.org>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [Beowulf] server lift


On Tue, 19 Oct 2021 07:40:24 -0400 Michael Di Domenico wrote:
On Mon, Oct 18, 2021 at 9:33 PM Lux, Jim (US 7140)
<james.p.lux at jpl.nasa.gov<mailto:james.p.lux at jpl.nasa.gov>> wrote:
>
> Do you want one with a scissor lift type arrangement, or with a "prongs" arrangement (more like a forklift)

we have one with the prongs now, that's one of the biggest issues.
trying to slide an unlevel server, that's very heavy, onto rails in
the rack is difficult.  and with the width of the isle and the counter
weight on the lift, trying to lift the low side of the server slightly
involves and act of yoga by a superhero

If the prongs are level couldn't you attach a shelf of sorts to it?  Then you would only have to slide the computer onto or off of the level smooth shelf.  Consider the big industrial forklifts, they are usually lifting palettes, rathan than the objects themselves, even when there is just one big object.

Regards,

David Mathog


Certainly.. But that’s getting perilously close to the words of doom “all ya gotta do is fabricate….” – I worked in a place (physical special effects shop) where that’s essentially all we did, and it was a joke, because if we could buy something to do what we needed, that’s what we’d do, because “fabricate” always takes longer than you thought, even with racks of metal, all the nice tools, and people skilled at machining and welding.

Yes, Yes, I know I have advocated for building clusters using bakery racks and double stick foam tape to stick the mobos, drives, and power supplies down to baking sheets,  with box fans ziptied to the sides for cooling. But that’s an attempt to *avoid* fabrication of custom chassis – taping mobos to off the shelf kitchenware is not fabrication.  There is no cutting or fastening or fusing of metal involved.
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