Packaging:

        The Tech Stations can be purchased as fully assembled or as a simple kit with detailed instructions for assembly. The fully assembled unit is shown here - fresh out of the box. As you can see the very tight wrapping of shrink wrap deformed the PCI/AGP support which caused the supporting lets to rotate inward to the body of the unit. This was of some concern to me after unboxing, but it turned out to be a simple cosmetic fix. After unwrapping the unit, the support bar was easily pushed downward into working position; this fixed the rotation of the supporting legs. After realigning the bar, I was not able to easily move it again as it was quite sturdy.

Wrapped

Quite

Well

     A placard on the top of the unit details some features of the Tech Station as well as states that the products are "Hand Made in the USA!". What a surprise to see something that has ANYTHING to do with technology was not imported. The main platforms are crafted from HDPE, which is a High Density version of Polyethylene plastic. HDPE is made entirely from hydrogen and carbon atoms, making it lighter than water and, ironically, dishwasher safe. The unit is advertised to support upwards of 150lbs - it easily supported my ~180lbs without waver. 

Accessories and Features:

    After unwrapping, we can see the detailed features that make this unit so great. Rubber grommets provide spacing and support for the motherboard and if you look closely you can see the two Teflon posts which anchor the motherboard into place. Acrylic rails mounted to the underside of the top plate provide slide-in mounting for two hard drive units. Black plastic thumb screws mount in threaded holes in the PCI/AGP support piece and provide hard mounting for various interface cards. Dual 120mm fans with four pin Molex connectors provide airflow through the bottom of the unit.

Assembly Instructions

ATX Control Kit

Dual 120mm Airflow Fans

   Enclosed are two pages of assembly instructions complete with images and a small "accessory" kit. Having been supplied a fully constructed unit, I did not require assembly instructions, but I read through them and found them to be exceptionally straight forward with great examples... I'm not sure you could ask for much better instructions.

   The accessory kit consists of an extra plastic thumbscrew, a sheet of adhesive rubber squares, and the "ATX Control Kit" which provides power, reset, power LED HDD activity LED, and PC Speaker functionality. The control kit devices are mounted into appropriate pinouts for most motherboards.

   The test motherboard uses a two-pin, side by side (xx) pinout for the power LED, and the kit supplies a power LED in a two pin, spaced pinout (x_x). The sheet of rubber adhesive squares are designed to provide non-skid "mounting" for devices on the top plate. The instructions suggest attaching them to your actual components, i.e. power supply and optical devices. 

   I think that for most applications, however, mounting them to the top plate itself would prove to be more useful.

   Most consumers who would utilize a tech station would frequently be exchanging components and I'm sure the adhesive rubber squares would not last many reapplications.

    Here you can see the beastly dual 120mm fans that provide airflow. The unit I received sported Evercool DC Brushless models which were surprisingly quiet. The airflow fans were actually quieter by themselves than the test heat sink fan was by itself.