Dell 2950 Support Bracket

After solder joints on two NetFPGAs failed in transit, while mounted in a Dell 2950, we looked into the issue. The failures occurred with an early version of the NetFPGA that did not have a sufficient amount of solder, which may have contributed, but the other contributor was likely the fact that the NetFPGA is not long enough to reach the green plastic edge slot, to support the backend of the card. As a result, we figure that in shipping the vibration on the end of the card were amplified, and accelerated the time to failure of the DC-DC converter solder joints.

To prevent this problem in the future, we ship the 2950 and NetFPGAs separately. However, if you need to ship them together or expect a high-vibration environment, a support bracket to eliminate this vibration is probably a good idea.

We designed a laser-cut plastic support bracket, which in qty 9, came out to about $10 each, including a parts, cutting, and shipping costs. The source files are available as a zip , with a dimensioned drawing .png file, Autodesk Inventor part and drawing sources, and a .dxf file suitable for sending to a laser cutter.

Order the raw ABS sheet from TAP plastics (~$9):

1 18791 ABS Sheets Black 3/32 2 x 2'

Have them ship to Pololu [www.CustomLaserCutting.com], which will do the laser cutting. The material must be flat, not rolled or warped, shipped to the below address:

Pololu Corporation 6000 S Eastern Ave Ste 12-D Las Vegas, NV 89119 USA

Our cost as of early 2008 was $36 for cutting and $6 for USPS priority mail with 3-business-day turn. Make sure to get a quote first, using the .dxf file.

Finally, you'll need to find some screws/nuts at the local hardware store to securely connect the plastic bracket to the NetFPGA.