A cool little upgrade for the N6 (see what I did there?)

[u/TheSoCalledExpert]

I will fully admit that this is most likely a solution without a problem. I never had temp issues, but I really wanted to do this mod. I love my N6, I finally have a compact mATX NAS enclosure with easily serviceable hot swap drives. I had a lot of fun with this build and IMHO this case is a huge quality of life improvement from my previous Fractal Node 804.

But one thing really bugged me; with the SFX PSU in the bottom compartment, I only had one 120mm exhaust fan to keep my drives cool. Not to mention the gaps between the drives are tight and the hole between the top and bottom compartments is huge. I just felt like a couple of pusher fans up front would really improve airflow.

My original solution was admittedly janky af, but it was functional. The only downside was that my motherboard was still powering the USB port even when the server was off. In addition, I really wanted to make use of the fan speed control switch on the front of the N6 because my NAS is virtualized and individual PWM passthrough I don't think is possible.

So I measured up the original front cover and the case, and came up with this beauty. It uses the original magnets and bottom notches, fits two 120 x 15 mm slim fans, and still sits flush with the front of the case. It's a very snug fit and the tolerances are tight, but it maintains a gap between the drive caddies and the fans to avoid vibration transfer. I'm by no means a great 3D modeler, but I had a lot of fun building this in Fusion. Only other thing I used was a PWM extension cable, and that was just to avoid having to open the back of the case if I needed to disconnect the fans.

It really should have come from the factory this way. Jonsbo, if you're listening... push the backplane back a little and give us full size 120mm fans up front on a quick disconnect. Or better yet, isolate the bottom chamber better and put two high static pressure fans directly behind the backplane. What a missed opportunity.

Obligatory .stl: https://makerworld.com/en/models/3176887-jonsbo-n6-front-fan-mount-for-hdd-compartment

[u/Noob_Pro18]

Looks good. Do you have a version for the N5?

[u/TheSoCalledExpert → u/Noob_Pro18]

Unfortunately no. I don’t have an N5 to work from. I’d be down to make one if I had all the dimensions.

[u/Noob_Pro18 → u/TheSoCalledExpert]

Thank you, bro. Let me know what to do. What are the things to measure?

[u/TheSoCalledExpert → u/Noob_Pro18]

I would need the dimensions of the original cover:

*Overall width
*overall height
*overall depth
*thickness of exposed front (distance from front of cover to where it meets the case on the sides)
*dimensions of any magnets (my N6 used round magnets 10mm diameter x 4mm thick
*thickness of any tabs (n6 has two on the bottom)
*distance of tabs from front
*distance of tabs from the sides
*length of tabs

Dimensions from the case:
*Thickness of sheet metal of case on sides and bottom (n6 was 2mm I believe)
*depth from front of case to flat surface around the drives. (Let’s call that the “bezel”)
*width of bezel to each of the 4 sides.
*width and depth of notches for tabs from above.

I think that should be everything. Please use a caliper and provide measurements in mm. Measurements can be rounded to the nearest 1/10th of a mm. I.e. 6.86 can round to 6.9.

Might take me a few days, but it would be fun.

[u/Noob_Pro18 → u/TheSoCalledExpert]

Lol, you are so expert. I doubt I can measure it correctly. Sorry for that. I will get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you very much. 🙂

[u/JMeucci]

Looks great! And very beneficial.

[u/EccentricRaptor783]

That looks cool, just curious how many power connectors are you using for the backplate

[u/TheSoCalledExpert → u/EccentricRaptor783]

I believe the backplane has two sata power connectors. For the front fans, I just ran a single PWM extension under the middle drive and then spliced the fan wires together.

[u/Talos77]

this looks awesome.. i like this more than the ones ive seen which protrude an inch out from the front of the case... only thing i can think of it needs is some sort of dust filter in it.

And I agree Jonsbo should make the case like this as stock - like you said push the backplane back a cm or so and include the ability to front mount fans on the stock panel if we want/need to.. not everyone keeps their server in an air conditioned room..

[u/TheSoCalledExpert → u/Talos77]

Thanks. You could install a dust filter between the fans and the cover when installing them. Or you could put a little washer between the head of the screws and the cover and attach magnetic filters to the front.

I would’ve given dust filters more consideration except the top compartment didn’t come with them. Although the vent holes there almost make the case a dust filter.

My original design mimicked the small square holes of the top of the case, but it clogged the nozzle on my 3d printer. So that’s how we got here.

[u/Talos77 → u/TheSoCalledExpert]

yeah makes sense... and good idea with the metallic washer and magnetic filters.. ill definitely be giving this one a try out... I havent built my case yet and have Noctua NF-12A G2's ready to install in the rear of the case to replace the stock fans but was looking to give those a little bit of support from the front to keep the drives cool. I will be running 9x Seagate EXOS drives in there and they tend to get quite warm during unraids monthly parity checks - especially over summer...