Adi Roiban

Somehow I got a 2U rack mountable server but I was missing a rack. I was in the mood for making something, other than software, so I start searching and planning to build a rack... actually a frame to mount the rails.

With some spare wood around provided by my father and inspiration from Lack Rack, we made the plans for building a wood based rack.

While mounting the rails is a bit more complicated than with one based on angle bars, it has the advantage of being cheap and easy to work with.

You can make it as tall as you want... I ended up with a 18U since this was the available space in the attic... so the height does not really mater.

I didn't have a real rack to measure so I just measured the server and rails.

The most important measurement is the inside distance. Based on experimental measurements I choose 450mm.

The depth is not so important, as most rails are adjustable in length. I choose 900mm.

The job is to cut the wood, buy a few metal plates, corner metal plates and wood screws and they put all this parts into a single piece.

Start by making the front and back frames. They are very important as the rails will be mounted inside this frames. Do frequent measurement as you build them, both for distance and square angles. Don't forget to bring a try square.

After you have the front and back frames, connect them with the transversal beams. Use the try square as a guide.

Reinforce some corners using the corner metal plates. No need to do this for all corners.

Some rails have a smart no-screws clipping system, but this does not goes well with the wood. I had to make some cuts in the wood to attach the rails.

Here is the back top join. Use the same binding for bottom.

Here are some details for bottom back bindings:

Here are some details for top back bindings:

Here are some details for top front bindings.

The top frames extends the sides a bit higher to allow mounting a switch or other light weight equipments... maybe a cable organized. My extension are on the front, like a rugby goal, since I could not extend them in the back.

Next I plan to mount a small LCD screen on the front extensions and put some wheels.

That is all. Time to relax.

"Ella On Laundry Rack" by mandymooo