Rosewill 4U Server 5.25" Drive rails.

I was rebuilding my venerable Rosewill 4u chassis, model number unknown, and one of my optical drives was simply hanging loose. I realized it was because I couldn't find my metal drive rails.

Well, I solved this by scavenging a couple from the adjacent fan cage modules, but after I did that I thought it would be a fun challenge to 3D print new rails. 

These are NOT perfect. I think you can expect 3-5 actuations before the plastic posts sheer off. Someone could easily improve this, but I have it working good enough that if I ever need more in the future, these will get me going. Examples are printing in pink for visibility, obviously print whatever color you'd like =)

General instructions:

• Print. I have a 0.12 layer height, just for assurance of tolerances and pin stability. This is probably overkill.
• Bend the short flap every so slightly AWAY from the pin-side, on each rail. They should show proud of the rail about 1mm or less.
• Bend the long flap quite a bit AWAY from the pin-side, only on ONE of them. This will go on the side of the drive adjacent to the release button.
• Pop the rails onto the drive, shorter flap facing towards the front
• Slide into the bay. You should hear a quiet click when it's seated, and movement should be minimal.

How this is working is that the short flaps are engaging bump-stops near the front, and the longer flap is springing into a retention area that is only on one side. Pressing the retention release will allow drive removal.

Issues:

• The nubs that interface with the drive could be much stronger. I copied the metal rail and simply didn't spend the time to make it better. Knocking into the drive sharply will break these easily.
• Once these are attached to a drive, the likelihood of removal without breaking the pins is very low.
• The tolerances are tight. If this doesn't engage properly with the retention area, take some scissors and shave off a tiny bit of the long flap until it works.
• Bending PLA outward feels weird. I'm sure there's a more clever way to do this involving springy designs, but again this was a few hour effort only.