One of the rubber bands in my new P150 snapped. I just did one twist... hmmph.

Does anyone know where I can get a replacement? I didn't see any in the spare parts section of Antec's online store. AntecRep, are you listening?

EDIT BY ADMIN: Turned into a poll.... Please add comments if relevant.

How many harddrives are you planning on suspending??? I presume it comes with at least three sets of rubber bands, and unless you are suspending more than two drives, you should be sweet.

That said, as being part of the case, it should be covered under warrenty, so I'd try the vendor who sold it as a first point of call.

I was able to replace two of mine that broke with industrial o-rings (the type that should have come in the P150 in the first place!) Can't say offhand where you can buy them (we have them in stock at work), but I bet with some internet research you could find the right size.

OK. It's only early days, but how many of these rubber bands are breaking out there in P150 land?? Has anyone had one break with the hard drive in it?

I have had 5 rubber bands snap. I called antec, and they are supposed to send me replacements.

So far, my harddrives are ok. Although they were running diagonal and leaning on the bottom of the case and on top of each other for god knows how long. :/

So far, I've had one snap in my one-month old P150. It left my bottom hard drive resting at an angle for about a week. Thankfully, the other rubber band and cable kept it from falling.

I'd be interested if anyone finds a suitable replacement. All Antec will tell me is that they're on backorder.

http://www.mcmaster.com/

I can look up the exact part number I used from our stock at work tommorow if people are interested. I guarantee you won't have another failure if you replace the stock bands with a good o-ring.

Just opened my case today to find that 3 out of the 6 rubber bands had snapped. Two of my drives had dipped but luckily none had come completely loose. I think they are not well suited to dealing with temprature changes and over time become brittle.

I felt a little shy about contacting Antec since this would be the second time - the first time one of the drive bay covers had broken, but after reading this I feel more empowered to do just that.

Please post the part number. Thanks.

I just got a P150. If the rubber bands snap and my hard drive falls, Antec will be receiving a phone call from a very angry customer. I guess I'll have to replace the rubber bands ASAP if they are having this kind of a problem. I had brought my P150 thinking that Antec resolved the snapping issues drive suspension typically had.



The part number would be nice.



One of my drive bay covers broke on me the moment I picked up the case for the first time. If I contacted Antec regarding that, do you think it will get me any where or do you think I will be wasting me time?

Wow, this business w/the breaking O-rings sounds serious! Perhaps this should be turned into a poll?

I was going to purchase the P-150 mainly for the suspended drive placement, but now it looks like those rubber bands are not a viable solution. Even calling Antec to replace those bands doesn't appear to be such a hot idea if they are giving you the same quality bands in return.

Have you been able to get the part number of those better o-rings?

Well, I'd have to say the strengths of the P150 include a lot more than just the rubber bands. The way they are implemented is excellent, and it allows you to replace the rubber bands very easily.

I would not assume at this point that all the rubber bands are weak & break -- this has not occured with the two samples that passed through SPCR, although Ralf Hutter said his sample did suffer broken bands.

I think it is very possible that not all the P150s have the same rubber bands -- perhaps it's a weaker batch that got put in at some point in some units. I will turn this thread into a poll to find out more -- later.

For all those that are interested I will post a part number next week when I'm back in the shop.

I wonder if these bands are breaking because of case movement. In order to check/clean the front fan filter, you have to take off the side panel first. I know in my situation that would include sliding the case out of its location to check/clean the filter.

I would have preferred they had a way to get at that filter without having to remove the side panel.

BTW, I don't believe any twist is needed. IMO, it makes the rubber band too tight and probably reduces the decoupling effect.

Technically in elastic method you will need to twist the bands but the P150’s rubber bands aren’t very good at this job so its better to leave the HD untwisted; If you don’t move the case then you should be ok.

This is funny -- technically according to who or what? It's just whatever works!

The P150 system I sent to my friend Frank in Thailand (from Vancouver BC) had a suspended HDD in it -- without a twist. It was packed pretty seriously... but Frank didn't have to touch the HDD -- just removed the packing around it and it works fine.

I know it is suggested not to move the case while you have hard drives suspended. I made a single full twist in my rubber bands simply so that I could know for a fact the drive will stay put when I pick up the case and move it.

Ideally if your case never moves, of course the bands don't need to be twisted, but if you plan on moving your case around at all, then twisting them saves you from having to open it up and remove the HDs before moving.

I love my new P150...I hate my motherboard chipset though. It didn't USED to be loud when I had OTHER loud parts...now it's unbearable

You gotta love "the poll effect"...

Welcome to all of you new people here

With the known psu incompabilitys, this thing might turn out to be the final deal braker for many.

Sorry for posting to this poll without any input on the case.

Doesn't Antec give instructions to not move the case and twist the bands?

Btw, I think many will have to move the case just to check/clean the filter.

What about NoVibes? Somewhat same situation with rubber bands but haven't heard complaints of the bands breaking.

IMO, the instructions to not move the case with suspended drives means don't travel or extensively move the case, because the drives could fall out, not "don't move the case for normal maintenance." The bands breaking is an entirely separate issue. Two of mine broke merely from the action of installing the drives. This is a quality control issue, not user abuse.

Actually the user manual for the P150 instructs you to use a single full twist.

I don’t see the funny part; neither have I seen why you have a smiling icon. Technically you will have to twist so the drive will stay there safe, in my P150 the bands are way too lousy to be left untwisted but since I don’t move the case at all I left it that way. Mike have you considered that maybe the HD you used is ticker than others or maybe my rubber bands have changed in size because of stretch.

So after all I cannot believe that you had a HD in there untwisted and it stayed so tight that you decided to ship it to another country like that, unless the rubber band in your P150 was very different than mine.

spolitta --

I admit the o-ring tension around the drive was low -- but I like it that way, maximizes decoupling (noise reduction) and minimizes potential damage to the rubber. Also, the way I packed the system, there was no empty space inside the case at all -- every space was packed full of packing foam to ensure nothing would move.

^speaking of which, has frank got his rig yet? what does he think?

i think some of you may be forgetting that the P150 does indeed come with drive sleds...if you dont like the rubber band method, use them!

I think some of us buy the P150 mainly because it has that suspension system

I think if you value your data that's exactly what you have to assume - even if the snapping bands are limited to certain bad batches, you won't know if yours came from one of those batches until they let you down. It's not much comfort knowing that the rubber bands are excellently implemented and very easily replaced if the damage has already been done.

My bands are OK (so far) and I voted accordingly, but as a direct result of this thread my HDDs have gone back into the standard drive sleds, at least until I can find something more reliable to suspend them with, which is a shame as the suspension was in fact my main reason for buying the P150 in the first place. I'd imagined that the bands were made of some whizzbang modern space-age polymer that would last as long as the case itself, but apparently not...

How do they sound fixed in the drive sleds compared to being suspended? Is there much vibration? I'm considering the P150 because I get an awful 'beat effect' pulsing vibration with my 2 hard drives, but I might just go for a couple of 2.5-inch drives in my old case instead.

Would a thicker hair-tie work as a substitute O-ring?

I have a hair tie - I cut it and measured. It is 10.75" or 273 millimeters long and about .14" or 3.5 millimeters thick. The tie contains 4 thinner bands enclosed in fabric. Very elastic and strong.

If these measurements sound similar to the P150's rubber ring, it may be a good substitute. These can be found in the hair section of Walmart or other stores with hair products.

If these measurements are nowhere near close, sorry in advance.