So basically… The previous owner of my Fracal Design Define XL case decided in his infinite wisdom (yeah I know nobody has optical drives anymore) to remove the optical drive cage from the case and lose all the parts… Can’t find anyone else selling the original case and replacement parts aren’t available.
I’m thinking of making my own drive cage somehow…
Have you checked out Fractal’s web site too ?
I checked there but didn’t see anything mentioning the optical drive tray/mount.
Yeah I even submitted a ticket but they just told me to take it to the forums as they can’t give me any schematics even for discontinued products.
That is too bad, but I understand that it is their IP.
I’ve never used their cases nor a lot of current cases.
I still am rocking my old CM Stacker 800 from Cooler Master I got when CompUSA went out of business.
If I had that problem I’d be looking at spacers and double-sided tape. Get the good stuff from 3M and it’ll be more than strong enough to keep the drive stable just as if it were rigidly attached.
buy a cheap case cut out the drive cave and attach (they are all very similar because 5.25 is a standard size.
use some rivets to attach
The issue is the case. It’s Define XL, right, or us it ARC XL? Cause the ARC series have super easy fix for that.
You mount your hard drive cage on the roof 120 fan mount and all you need is a hole to secure it.
If you need an optical drive bay, now that may be a but more problematic…
hmm good idea, I’ll need a drill bit tho
The original cage is missing, I would attach it with screws through the rivet holes if I had it
Yeah its the original Define XL and the original cage is missing (rivets were drilled out)
You want the optical drive functionality or you want to support the case? Have it lost rigidity?
Might want to paint the donor part too
Functionality specifically, the thing is like a tank
1 Like
Yeah, I was thinking you could just stick the drive its self to something that gave you the correct offset you need to make it usable from outside the case, but lifting a donor cage from some other case is probably easier.
Old Fractal cases usually are…
Trying maybe something like a server OD bay?
PS: wow I thought you can buy separate optical drive cages… Turns out you can’t really…
Honestly tho OP, I have moved to USB external ODD and dont miss it at all.
If you have existing drive you need an enclosure for
Still havent found one that isnt overpriced that ships fo Finland, sadly.
Also I have multiple drives and the Define XL is the only case I have where having them would make sense (it’s a NAS build)
1 Like
You got 4 screw holes to hang two strips from each side to hang stuff like the rivet holes = mount points
Some mdf could also help make a more efficient mount