Here's a full write-up on the first year of my Home-Lab: https://piefed.social/post/1002037

Since then I've now added networking and a self built 10" rack, I was undecided between MikroTik and UniFi but ended up going UniFI and I'm quite happy.

Building the 2020 Aluminum profile 10" server rack was a lot of fun and I learnt a lot of lessons along the way like:

  • Cutting perfectly straight with a hacksaw is a bitch and nearly impossible (or at least for me) would not recommend.
  • Buy a table/mitre saw or have them pre-cut
  • Tapping threads yourself is a lot of fun, and I would recommend doing it yourself, worked perfectly every time.
  • Bolt length and head size matters, even 1mm matters (that's what she said)

It's janky I know, but I love it and it's a lot less Janky than when everything was just on my desk

Next step for me would be to buy a 3D Printer (Sovol S6 Plus Ace) and print custom racks for everything

Shout out to https://www.motedis.com/ for the Aluminum parts, they can cut and tap all the parts to your desired length if you don't want to bother with that, but that's half the fun (and frustration)

all 46 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 56 points 10 months ago
[–] 48 points 10 months ago

Hey, nice rack.

  • source
  • [–] 36 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    Thought it was so much bigger until I saw thoss HDDs 😀

  • source
  • hideshow 8 child comments
  • [–] 14 points 10 months ago

    I disagree, not jank.

    I have the same duck.

    Nice job OP. Thanks for posting. I'm going to do the same.

  • source
  • [–] 14 points 10 months ago*

    This is so fucking awesome! Congrats on the build!

    It’s jankey I know

    if this is jankey, my 10" rack belongs in the landfill

    Do you have any interesting plans to do something against the future dust buildup?

  • source
  • [–] 9 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    I absolutely love that zip-tie mounting solution, it's the kind of thing I wish I saw in more homelab setups.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 8 points 10 months ago

    Thats awesome. And really tidy, ive only just started making something like this and it already looks like this:

  • source
  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago* (1 child)

    Was eyeing a 52Pi rack for a good little while this post inspired me to get one, but then I saw the shipping cost.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] [S] 3 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Ooof that is rough!!

    If you can make your own like I did I would highly recommend it.

    If you have the Alu tubing cut and threaded for you most of the work is done

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago* (1 child)

    If you can make your own like I did I would highly recommend it.

    Honestly I could, metal fabrication comes in handy, get it shop issued and laser or water cut send it through the machinists, I would have to supply the material myself which would be difficult but certainly doable.

    I’ll have to consider this! By chance do you have drawings or dimensions of your rack as a starting point, looks like you’re using Aluminum HSS for the frame? Completely understandable if you rather not share the details,

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago

    Looks much more professional than mine, I just built my case from wood added room for enough disks and placed it into a kitchen cabinet.

    And it's a nice touch fastening the disks with zip ties.

  • source
  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Nice build. We use a lot of aluminium profiles at work for prototyping. We also have a mitre saw ;)

    You can also have polycarbonate panels made for cheap to have a more finished appearance at the cost of ventilation and ease of access.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago* (4 children)

    How stable is this rack? Would that be a good frame for building a 3d printer table?

  • source
  • hideshow 8 child comments
  • [–] 10 points 10 months ago

    Extruded aluminum of that type is insanely stable and easy enough to build for a reasonably handy person.

    You only need a cheap cutoff saw and a drill, or you can order pre-cut and ore-drilled pieces to order.

    There are a number of makers of extruded aluminum building systems, basically tinkertoys for adults. I have personal experience using 80/20 and the Tslots brands. They are functionally identical.

    I have used it to build stands for heavy equipment like ultra-cold freezers for labs. It is more than sufficient for any server racking.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 child)

    I have an FDM printer (Ender 3 clone) that is mostly 2020 aluminum extrusion as the frame. A few years ago I found some 2020 on sale and built a set of shelves for my wife’s plants out of it. (Now - I know. It’s not the most economical use of materials, but it was the middle of winter, and I didn’t want to go work in the garage. Plus the 2020 was on sale.) It’ll support a slew of plants over a 4-foot span (~1.2m) without any sagging or other concerns. It can be wobbly side to side, but that’s a matter of bracing and connectors.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago

    Good work man, that's a nice setup. Loving the custom frame.

  • source
  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago

    tapping threads is fun

    oh buddy you gotta put the disclaimer of "in soft materials" on that, it's not much fun on steel even with buckets of lube

  • source
  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago

    Damn thats a clean setup 🔥

  • source
  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    That's pretty slick.

    What are the HDDs plugged into? Would you mind posting some photos of the back?

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] [S] 4 points 10 months ago*

    Right now the back is literally empty, I'm planning on moving all the power cords there soon.

    The HDDs are plugged into the ODROID H4+ (the thing that looks like a PSU)

    Check my linked post and you'll see what I'm talking about

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Congrats on the setup. Is that proxmox I see in the background?

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago

    i like how your hdds just chilling there.

  • source
  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    A table saw is for lengthwise cuts, for cutting long things like these you need a cut-off saw.

    Fun fact, you don't really need to tap soft aluminium like this. You can just drive the bolt straight in with an impact driver. I thought it was sketch at first, having always tapped them beforehand. But my buddy said it's a waste of time, just drive the bolts in right away. So I tried it and he was right, it works perfectly every time. They form perfect threads so you can easily remove and re-add the bolt just like when it was tapped beforehand.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    I have enough of a machinist background to doubt the threads are anywhere close to perfect. However if you are saying more than good enough I will agree.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    How/to what are the drives below connected to?

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] [S] 3 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    They are connected to the ODROID H4+ mini PC above with SATA

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (1 child)

    How did you connect a 3.5 externally? Sata to mini PC and power from the PSU?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    Not that jank, it looks great.

  • source
  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    Thats a beautiful rack

  • source
  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    It's perfect!!!

  • source
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    Fully custom? Sick! Where do I get one? 😅

  • source
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    Nice! I want to build a rack too but want to fit a regular ATX board to fit older / cheaper hardware. So it has to be at least 304mm wide, probably 400mm

  • source