SSD Tray, 2U

A 2U tray for our 10-inch rack holding one to ten 2.5-inch drives stood on edge, in a printed card cage.

On edge is the whole idea. Laid flat a 2.5-inch drive is 69.85 mm across and needs a strap either side of it, so two of them fill a 220 mm floor and three do not fit at all — which is why our 1U drive tray stops at two. Stood on edge the drive presents its thickness to the rack instead, 7 mm for an SSD and 15 for the thickest laptop disk, so ten of them and their dividers take 182 mm of the same floor. It costs the height, which is why this is two units.

A cage, not a caddy per drive. Two combs span the tray with fins hanging between the drives; a drive slides in from the front between two fins and sits on the floor. Nothing is bolted to a drive and nothing is bolted per drive. The slot is cut 1 mm wider than the thickest disk the form factor allows, so it is a guide rather than a precision sliding fit — the kind of thing we avoid printing on purpose.

Connectors face the back, so cables leave through the rear of the rack and the front stays a plain face with a big opening in it. That opening is how the drives go in.

Prints in five pieces: two lapped bezel tiles — a 254 x 88.9 mm face does not fit a 224 mm bed — the vented floor, and two combs. In the box: all five, twelve M4 heat-set inserts pressed before shipping, and twelve M4 x 10 screws.

Choose: one to ten bays, depth and floor venting. You supply the drives.