Getting more eyes on the problem
Friends,
I need assistance finding something very specific. Having failed so far, I'm trying to get more eyes (and more existing knowledge of what's available) to work on the problem.
What I need to be able to do is to mount two 2.5" solid-state disks into the 3.5" hard disk cage in a Thermaltake Element G case. What I need in order to accomplish this is, of course, is two 2.5"-3.5" SSD/HDD mounting adapters.
That part is easy. Heck, the SSDs I bought shipped with mounting adapters. But there's a catch.
You see, the Thermaltake case uses a vibration isolation HDD mounting system that requires the use of Thermaltake's own provided mounting screws, which are shouldered screws with an integral rubber bushing. Of course, since they're designed for mounting 3.5" hard disks, they naturally and quite reasonably have standard, relatively coarse thread #6-32 HDD mounting screws. They wouldn't work if they didn't.
The catch is that without exception, every 2.5"-3.5" adapter I have so far found, including the ones that ship with the Mushkin SSDs, is threaded for fine-thread M3-0.5 screws. Which means the Thermaltake HDD mounting screws won't fit. Which means the adapters won't work in the Thermaltake case. (See this page¹ for more information on the screw sizes. The third photo clearly illustrates the problem.)
So, here's what I need: A pair of 2.5"-3.5" SSD/HDD adapters that mount into the case using #6-32 screws.
Can anyone point me at such a thing?
Update:
I forgot to mention above that in this case, you do not screw hard disks into the drive cage, you screw rubber vibration-isolation bushings (hence the special shouldered screws that must be used) onto the drives - or, in this case, the adapters - and slide them into rails in the drive cage.
After bouncing ideas around a little, I think I've come to the conclusion that however much I would have preferred to find some adapters that actually used the correct size and pitch threads in the first place, the best solution to this problem is going to be to drill the M3-0.5 holes in the Mushkin 3.5" adapters out to 9/64" and buy a package of #6-32 Nylok nuts.
[1] Yes, I know that page says a 6-32 screw can be made to fit into an M3-0.5 screw hole. And a square peg can be made to fit into a round hole, if you have a big enough hammer and the mechanical aptitude of a caveman, but neither the peg nor the hole will ever be good for much again.
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