Yet another eBay bargain find

[SenorWanderer]

I just picked up 1 of these stainless NEMA 4X enclosures. I got the smaller 24x30 size, which is still massive, but I think it'll work out just fine. There is still a whole bunch of stuff still in the cabinet that the owner said I could probably get a couple hundred dollars for on eBay if I were patient. Double score!

I'll post pictures soon, all I did today was drop it at the storage unit to get it out of the car. Fortunately they're in Boulder and I'm in Denver or this wouldn't have worked. I can't imagine what shipping would be.

So once I get the full eHERMS build with eKettle up and running and I get everything i need into the cabinet, what should I do with the extra space on this thing? I'm leaning toward a DITCHES type build in that I'd like to have a direct fired MLT and HLT so that I can do step mashes. There's enough room on that face for 2 PIDs (HLT and kettle) switches for the elements, switches for two pumps, auto ignition switches for two burners, and a master on/off switch. All that will take up only half the face. what do I do with the other half? Am I missing something? Any cool ideas for stuff to put there? i've though about a cheap 10"-12" laptop/netbook wired into the cabinet so I can run beersmith. I'd put the screen on the top half and everything else on the bottom. Then I'd weld on a small shelf at the bottom to hold a keyboard. I'm not really into the whole automation thing, so the computer is the best idea I have so far. Please give me some more; no idea is too out there!!

 

[fc36]

No need for a beersmith computer in the upper half. Just keep your regular laptop handy on a work bench or something like that. Instead why not wire in a small LCD TV and watch some Big Lebowski while brewing? The Dude abides.

 

[SenorWanderer]

Nice! That's really the only other thing i can think of. I could wire in one of these, along with a tiny 1TB hard drive and have 200 movies at my beck and call. My only real concern with that is getting distracted!

 

[fc36]

Nice! That's really the only other thing i can think of. I could wire in one of these, along with a tiny 1TB hard drive and have 200 movies at my beck and call. My only real concern with that is getting distracted!

The only problem with the WDTV Live is the fact that to make it work on wifi, you have to have an extra USB WiFi key lying around. Much better to just buy the regular WDTV without wifi capability for about $80 and save yourself a little scratch for actuators and SSRs. In fact, I've got one hardly used I could sell you on the cheap. I just use my XBox 360 to sling movies from my computers to the TV now. No need for the WDTV anymore. And about the distraction, just choose movies that you already can quote basically from memory and you won't even have a need to pay attention to them while brewing. I'm glad you liked the idea. I know I wouldn't want to type on a keyboard that's mounted to an enclosure and how will you use a mouse?