D-AOC in a 1U case...Am I a crazy fool?

Hmm I think I may be. 

Per say, what if I built the PSU board and toroid in a separate box then used a good cable to connect to the rack..bad idea?  What if I connected the valves away from the PCB in a sideways config and just used cable to go to the pins on the PCB...stupid? What if I got transformers that would fit a 1U....hmmm it's never gonna work is it. Would those caps even fit a 1U?

if you mount the valves away from the PCB you could do a P2P version anyway ;-)

Ahah I'm not sure about that Volker, I've never done P2P before. But do you think it is 'theoretically' possible to stuff it all in a 1U this way (with PCB)? My rack space has a serious real-estate shortage..

'theoretically' nearly everything is possible  ;D
BUT: the PCB isn't small. You need more space to mount the tubes (you can't put them on the PCB).
Heat will be a problem. Wiring is always a point where most mistakes happen.
You still need a 2nd enclosure for the PSU transformer etc ...

I guess there are too many ways doing mistakes just for one RU.

How are you going to fit the power transformer? The toroidal I have from musikding is quite tall, it would definitely exceed the height limitation of a 1U rack space. You could build an external PSU but by the time you've done that you may as well have just bought a 2U

8)

Yeah my plan was to use an external PSU case. It's not a cost thing, it's more aesthetics and also my rack space is really precious these days as I've had to downsize my studio last year. 

That's a good point about the heat, I didn't really think much about that. Maybe if I cut a grill into the rack in a few places.

I'm guessing the Tubes is what makes most of the heat?

It is  6 valves iirc. Could have them out the back to breath .
I-O connectors and transformers will need to be optimised for size. Meters not necessary. Maybe a led or 2 .

External psy could be big with surplus power/rails for other gear.
Better get another rack.

FWIW, I bought something like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Magni-AVM-510-Automated-Video-Monitor-DC-Power-but-no-power-supply-/201438800670?hash=item2ee6b02b1e for about US$20. It had an actual separate front panel that was blank except for a tiny square hole for an LED, and vents on the top, and it was deeper than this one.  Also with an US IEC connector on the back.  So plenty of real estate.  Broke weird boxes come up on ebay fairly often lot. The one I picked up was some kind of video switching thingy, Plan to put a 1U PRR in there.