Lenovo Thinkcenter Tiny M900 M.2到PCIe扩展槽箱

Summary

Based on a previous design https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6059430

This is a PCIe cage that connects to Lenovo Thinkcenter Tiny M900 machines. The idea is to use a flexible M.2 to PCIe slot adapter to add additional networking cards to the device. The M.2 slot on the M900 is inside the main chassis, underneath the SATA slot. I've found that the ADT-Link adapter can fold around the SATA drive and still extend enough for correct orientation for this chassis. This chassis is designed to replace the top lid of the M900.

NOTE:

• The metal frame that secures the SATA drive must be removed for this design to work. I've found that the SATA slot is secure enough to hold an SSD but I would have concerns about vibration for HDDs without the metal holder.
• The metal SATA drive frame also connects to one of the wifi antenna, so you will need to find an alternative antenna cable if you want similar wifi capabilities.
• The PCIe slot design only takes full height brackets.

Other materials required:

• ADT-Link M.2 to PCIe adapter (25cm or longer)
• 4x M3 30m bolts
• 5x M3 nuts
• 1x M4 nut
• 1x M3 computer screw

Assembly:

This cage is designed in small parts such that it can be printed on an original PRUSA Mini, as such it requires a bit of assembly.

To assemble the back wall, you need to super glue the PCIe clipon piece to the end of the pcie slot.

The PCIe block piece, goes in the hole on the other end of the PCIe slot, you must first place an M3 nut in the hex hole, then super glue the block into the hole above it. You can then use a regular M3 motherboard screw to fasten a PCIe card in place.

There is also a hole on the bottom of the back wall for an M4 nut, used to secure the M900's back thumbscrew. It's a little tight, so I recommend placing the nut and using a regular M4 bolt to tighten the nut until it's fully in place. Then you superglue the surrounding walls and place the back screwblock piece.

The left wall and right wall come in two pieces, for identification the right wall pieces are shorter. These pieces have little tabs that slide and hook into the metal sides of the M900 chassis. The two pieces must be superglued together for each wall, make sure to superglue the tiny holes for the tabs. The rest of the area with the squares can be liberally applied with glue. Once glued together you should have a wall with a ~1.5mm channel at the bottom, this is designed to be place onto the metal sides of the M900.

I recommend testing the fitting of the right and left walls before full assembly. The location of the tabs are indicated by the arrows, and should line up with the gaps on the metal sides. Once pushed down, you can then slide the wall into its final position (the front should be flush).

Once all the parts are glued together, the corners are secured with four M3 bolts and nuts. The two longer corner fixings are at the back and the three smaller fixings for the front. Take care that the walls do not flex as you tighten, particularly the more fragile front wall.

To attach the cage to the M900:

I recommend attaching the ADT-Link (or other) M.2 to PCIe adapter and SATA SSD before you attach the cage.

1) Align the right and left wall arrows with the gaps on the side walls (as you've tested before)
2) Lower the cage onto the walls, ensuring that the metal goes into the bottom channels on the right and left sides.
3) Apply slight pressure to the back wall, one side at a time. It should slide into place with a bit of pressure.
4) The front IO wall may need a little adjustment to get into place, once the audio jacks are in place you should be able to push the left and right walls back until everything is flush.
5) Remove the power button from the M900 lid, there are two teeth at the back that you can squeeze together with long nose pliers to pop it out.
6) Insert the power button (with sprint) into the front of the pcie cage.

You can now extend your M900 with a PCIe card!

The front wall is designed to accommodate 40mm fans, there is just about enough room to fit in these 20mm deep Noctua fans and a Mellanox ConnectX-3 card:

• Noctua NF-A4x20 5V PWM

Unfortunately with the ADT-Link adapter, the third fan must be a 10mm deep fan.

• Noctua NF-A4x10 5V PWM

Note that Mellanox cards use 12V, so you must attach an external PSU. If you only need 10GBase-T, I recommend a TP-Link card, this can be powered via USB to SATA connectors.

• TP-Link 10Gb PCIe x4 card
• Aukson USB to SATA Power Adapter

There are no fan headers to plug in 12V fans on the backs of these machines. 5V Fans can be powered by USB with a simple connector like this.

• Winwill USB to PC Fan Cable

I've printed these models with Prusa PETG. The FreeCAD project is included in the files!

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