Mac Pro 4,1 and 5,1 Universal 3.5" HDD Sled by hnzxdv

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

A replacement 3.5" hard drive sled for 2009 and 2010 Mac Pros with mounting holes for both older SATA drive mounting patterns (1.75 in, 44.45 mm) and the newer pattern (3.00 in, 76.20 mm) featured on helium-filled 6, 8, 10+ TB drives, such as the HGST Ultrastar He8.
Addressing Common Misconceptions:

Won't the drives overheat? Plastic doesn't conduct heat as well as aluminum.
No. The original sleds are not designed to work as heatsinks. They have rubber vibration isolating pads and do not make direct contact with the drives. Even if they did, the cross-sectional area of the stamped aluminium standoffs is far too small to conduct any meaningful amount of heat. As with the original sleds, drives mounted in printed sleds will be cooled by the fan in the front of the computer.

Won't the sleds melt or deform?
My original PLA sleds were in continuous use for 2 years straight without incident. If your drives are getting hot enough to deform PLA, something is seriously wrong. That said, if you're worried about creep or the low HDT of PLA, feel free to try other polymers.
03/2021 UPDATE:
I've uploaded a new version which no longer requires supports. The bridging pattern requires a layer height of 0.2mm.
There are now also versions with drive numbers extrude-cut into the lower right corners, if you missed that feature from the original sleds. Numbered versions are otherwise identical to the new, support-free model.
For 2006, 2007, and 2008 Mac Pros use this sled instead.