Well, Still no new word on the official PSU metal, so I'm tinkering away at my hack job solution.
The next problem I have been turning around in my head is how to mount the toroid flush with the L bracket cleanly. I looked around to see if anyone made a dimple die that would work, and was surprised that nobody had anything like that, so it was back to old-school hammer-time for me. . . (car body type sheetmetal fab procedures). I thought I'd post it up even though it's a bit off-topic because I haven't found a procedure like this on forum, and it would have been helpful to know.
First I prepped 2 scrap pieces of plywood to clamp my L bracket between. One has a shallow 1" diameter hole, and the other has a 1 1/2" diameter hole all the way through.
Then, drilled a small hole in the center and I sandwiched the L bracket between with lots of clamps, found a somewhat suitable object (back side of a nail setter) and started pounding out a dimple.
And, the result. . . a bit messy on the finish with some hammer marks, but nothing that won't clean up if you're so inclined to sand it down. I was not so inclined . . . also, this added a significant amount of rigidity to the L bracket due to the new shape as well as work hardening that happened to the aluminum as it was hammer formed.
I then cut down the bolt for the toroid by about 1/4" and did a test fit.
Not bad. . . just a little deeper than flush on the back side which is perfect. This should slip into a single case without interference.
Next, it was just the usual drilling, hacking, and grinding to try and make the other bits fit.
And, here's where I stopped today. . .
The holes aren't perfectly aligned, and my component selection is let's say a bit clunky and fumbling still on anything that is not provided in a complete kit, but there's only one way to start figuring things out I guess. I realize now that it'd probably be better to have used a 2 pole switch to switch both the neutral and the live. . . I had a fused power input module, but it would not fit the depth of both the L-bracket and the face plate. Looking back, I could have easily cut the L bracket hole over sized and used that module. Now, I'll have to put a separate fuse holder inside. I'm hoping this will be ok with just the fuse on the mains because I don't have room to put 5 fuses for all the DC rails.
I skipped LED's for now just to get things done, and I it's going to get pretty tight inside with A/C and DC lines and toroids running way closer to each other than I would like already.
Also, I'm not quite sure how much this 30VA 12V x 12V avel transformer is going to be able to power and also on the same line, what value fuse to use on the mains. I'm guessing a 1.5 or 2 amp fuse. My primary concern is if I have enough heat sink for the 16v rails. A lot of excess will get dumped into those regulators. I figured the face plate was probably my biggest piece of available aluminum that could move some of that heat outside the rack. The powerstation itself should be able to handle 3 amps, so that part should be ok.
I wonder how many modules I will be able to power with this. . . I'm hoping 4 but will be able to use this if it can get 2.
