Saturday Rack Project

W

widefault

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Dec 18, 2000
Messages
5,137
Sometime a week or so back I decided I hated the full tower cases in my room, and wanted to get a little floor space back. Made the decision to go rackmount, but I didn't want the typical huge rack cabinet. Got this idea in my head to build a 12/14u cabinet. Did my planning during my day job, ordered a few parts, then got up this morning and went to Home Depot for the rest. $75 plus three hours labor resulted in the following.
rack01.jpg

rack02.jpg

rack03.jpg

rack04.jpg


Yes, it looks like a crate. That's because it's supposed to, the rest of the furniture in my computer room looks like crates, too.

The main body is MDF, trimmed with .5"x2.5" poplar. Overall size is 24" deep, 28.5" tall, and around 21.5" wide. It's techincally 14u in height, but the rails are only 12u and staggered front and back. My idea was to have a spot in the rear for mounting a network switch that wasn't in line with anything in the front. Plus, the 12u rails were cheaper. It ended up surprisingly sturdy, will hold my 200 pound fat-ass easily.

Still have to paint or stain, haven't decided yet. Also considering changing the casters, the cheap ones I bought just don't roll well. Also thinking about putting a door on it, not sure if I really want one, though.
 
That looks really cool, I'm going to keep my eye on this project.
I think a door would be good on that, as long as sufficient airflow isn't effected. Maybe a door with some of that "Modder's mesh"?


On a sidenote, I bought a Matrox Millenium PCI card from you a few years back for about $10. It's still going strong and it is running ubuntu right now.
 
I'm leaning away from a door right now. Each of the rack cases I'm using has its own filter and locking doors over the bays. Just not liking the idea of having to open two doors just to change a CD.

Still not sure if I'll paint or stain. Need to make up my mind so I can get this done and loaded up.
 
I guess there's a reason that your rails aren't lined up front to back. Looks good what kinda of case are you going to use to mount in that?
 
the 12u rails were cheaper
Click to expand...
That was at the heart of it, but laying them out the way I did lets me mount a network switch in the rear at the top without interfering with the front-mounted rack case.

Cases to be used are a pair of Maxtop 4039B and a beige 4u similar to the Maxtop 4032. Systems are one Pentium-M and two Celeron-M boxes using an AOpen i915Ga-HFS, AOpen 855GME, and a DFI i855GME-MGF. Should actually be cool and quiet.
 
I really like the look of the case, you did an excellent job on it :)

Cargo brand furniture FTW!
 
Those cases look pricey but nice I liked the server tower I saw very good of modding.
 
hey let us know how much weight that rack cabinet will hold, I am leaning toward something like this also to free up some space.

I am subscribing to this thread!
 
great job on the rack. I've been toying around with the idea of making a rack for all my network gear I have in my basement lab. Something like what you have there would be perfect for what I need. Where did you get the rails?

again good job. stain it.
 
GuitarCenter sells them, i bought some and made a rack out of 2x4's for my audio stuff
 
Weight-wise, it can handle me sitting on top of it with no creaks or wobbles. That's 200 pounds plus. The one weak point is where the rails attach to the MDF. I don't think they could possibly pull out since the cases will pretty much keep them in place, but if I were to put a lot of wieght in the top case it might make them want to tilt backwards. Of course, I think that'll take more than the 3 cases I'll have in there.

Decided against finishing it right now. Going to let it age and get dirty for a while, then I'll think about preserving the dirt and filth. I mean, come on, how many shipping crates are shiny and clean?

And I won't be putting a door on. The rails are only 1.5" back from the opening, and one of my cases has 2" handles that I don't want to remove. So I'm going to finish trimming out the opening instead. By doing that I'll actually gain another .5", so in the future I COULD add a door and make everything fit. That's as long as I don't get any cases with bigger handles. :rolleyes:

Found the rails on ebay, several sellers and several sizes available.
 
You could paint it olive drab and make it look like an ammo box or go with the crate theme and paint "explosives" on the side.
 
The cats are my folks, and they have just the two.

The black one is Kramer, ~2 years old, 24 pounds and 3 feet long. And not really that fat, his "proper" weight should be near 20 pounds. :eek: He's just a big boy. Earned his name by the way he enters a room, at full speed then a sudden stop.

The other is Scruffy, a one-eyed female my folks found near death around 5 years ago. She's now a healthy 12 pounds, and not overweight. Rather large for a female, and tougher than nails, too. Doesn't take any crap from Kramer, despite his giant weight advantage. Scruffy actually sat next to me for most of the build time. Banging, drilling, and cutting don't phase her one bit. My dad says she regularily hangs out in the workshop with him.

Hoping I'll have this thing all together and in place this week. Waiting on a few upgrade parts before I tear down and start moving systems into new cases..
 
First system has been transferred to the rack case. Hopefully I can get one more in tonight, and the last tomorrow. Then it'll be a matter of routing cables. Ugh.
 
I'll get some pics once I have everything loaded and in place. Should be before the end of the weekend.
 
Lmao yep, gotta be the oldest thread I've ever bumped anywhere. Hey, maybe the guy has email notifications on the thread?

He DID say he was going to let it get filthy... A decade of wear should show lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top