Rack Mount Systems for the Home Experimenter?

Sadam Andler asks: "I am looking to replace my home's multiple PC test network with a small rack. Separate cases are too bulky and will block access to each system. What I have in mind is a filing a cabininet-sized box with 5 to 15 sliding shelves, one for each motherboard. Quiet cooling and power supply would be handled in a centralized manner. Each computer and its cabling should be easily accessible for the swapping or testing components. Is there a cheap solution for me?"

Comments

Hmm...

[cr0sh]

While you can get short racks fairly cheap (small cube like 19 inch racks), for around $50.00 - surplus, and it is possible to build your own rack system, here is a solution, that while not standard size, might be something interesting to try.

Take a trip down to Walmart (or K-Mart, sometimes Target). In the hardware section, look for steel shelving. Walmart sells these shelves (by the seashore?) that are made out of the flimsiest damn steel you can imagine. Pick the right day, and you might be able to pick some up for $12.00 a box. The shelves are about 42" high, 30" wide, and 12" deep, generally with 4 shelves. Supposedly, each shelf can hold around 200 lbs. Now, putting them together is a bitch, because they are very flimsy, until you get them tightened up. Once tight, though, they are damn strong. I bought six of them earlier in the year, used 1.5 to build an almost "double-high" shelf, set them side by side (3 tall shelves), anchored them to the wall (and to each other), and filled them with books - excellent bookshelves!

The same could be done to hold computers (or even just bare motherboards, using risers/standoffs to keep the boards from shorting out on the shelves), just more shelves per shelf (since the shelves are spaced far apart in a regular configuration). You will generally end up with leftover parts, which might be useful elsewhere. Sometimes, they package the boxes wrong, and give you extra parts (normally, you get extra parts - though I would imagine it would be possible to end up with fewer parts in a box as well). These shelves are el-cheapo, the boxes may be mangled, the parts may be drilled wrong or bashed/bent - but you get what you pay for, and all you have to do in most cases is break out the power tools and do some bashing to get it all to fit.

Add some back and side panels, and a large piece of plexiglass to the front for a "custom" look - cut holes in the top and stick some 120VAC muffin fans in for ventilation (you might have to drill holes in the intervening shelves for proper airflow, or replace them with something else).

Hell, I have talked enough on this that I might try it myself. I honestly think you could build just about anything with these shelves - they are excellent!

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

My experiences

[LiNT_]

I've been through this whole situation myself. I started off by wanting to do exactly what you did. I even looked into making my own cases via sheet metal or plexiglass. In the end I went with standard rackmount cases. I didn't like the look of individual shelves with motherboards and cables hanging all over the place. I didn't like towers sitting on shelves in a rackmount cabinet. It didn't give me that "cool" feeling I was looking for. Your results may vary. You might be happy with that. I wasn't and in the end it cost me because I had to trash everything I had done up until that point and start from scratch

Here's a couple ideas that I thought were pretty neat.

• Nexel Shelving. It's pretty cheap and works great as a computer shelf. You can grab a 48" x 84" x 24" rack for around $200. Stick some mid towers on the bottom shelf. Use the middle shelf for monitors. Third shelf up for more towers and the top shelf for storage. Since the rack is made of wire it's easy to zip tie down all the cables.
• Office Cabinet. You know the cabinets I'm talking about, you see them in every office enviroment. The ugly putty looking things. You can find these real cheap at office liquidation sales. Stick the towers on the shelves. Cut a hole in the back for one of the windows fans you find at Home Depot. Cut some ventilation in the shelves. Instant rack. The nice thing about this system is you can close it and lock it. Cabling is somewhat difficult though.
• Rackmount
• This is the way to go in my opinion. It's definately expensive but this is exactly what you want to do. That was the whole point of rackmount! If your not in any hurry, ebay is a great place to find rackmount equipment. Older cabinets can be found for around $100 and easily painted and fixed up. Cases generally go around $150-$250 for the decent ones. The smaller cases bieng more expensive. I can put together a solid 1U case for under $800.
• SBC. This kinda goes along with the rackmount option. This can be even more expensive sometimes. Find a big 8U case that supports a 20 slot passive backplane. Get a 4 segment, 20 slot passive backplane. Now add four SBC's and you got four full computers in one box. BoomRack makes a nice 8U case although retail is around $1200. SBC's can be found a lot of times pretty cheap on ebay.

My last words of warning:

If you do buy rackmount I would avoid the Top Power cases. I've found them to be horribly engineered.

Boomrack makes really nice cases although thier a tad more expensive than most others.

Rackmount Pro has some good prices and great service but watch out for the Top Power cases they sell.

Stay away from ebay sellers that sell from Atlantec. While I can't prove it I'm relatively positive that they have a bunch of shill accounts that they use to bid up thier auctions. They always start off low and then in the last day they'll be bid up to retail price by someone with zero to two feedback. Normally I woudn't think anything of this but it happens EVERYTIME! Thier items never sell for more than a couple dollars less then what they sell for in thier web store.

Cheap and effective solution: Carpentry.

[Christopher Thomas]

By far the cheapest solution will be to build an ordinary set of sliding shelves for the boxes. It works quite well; as long as you pay enough attention to ventilation, you could easily fit a dozen or more systems inside a small closet (or a rack the size of a small closet).

If you want to make things even more compact, gut the cases and screw the motherboards directly on to the shelves. Make sure you use screws small enough not to short against anything else on the motherboard, and make sure you put a sheet of cardboard or something else insulating under the motherboards (I've never trusted bare wood to be a perfect insulator; residual sap can really ruin your day, though I suppose a good paint job takes care of that). You're still not going to get a 1u machine, but it'll be easy to access the guts of each system.

If you *really* want a 1u form factor, look into getting some of those PCI riser cards that turn cards 90 degrees. That should get thet board height down to something reasonable, as long as you aren't using more than one or two cards per system (integrated chipsets are Your Friend if you're building a rack; you generally don't care about sound or a kickass graphics card for a server box).

Failing all else, remember that even the cost of a conventional rack is likely to be much less than the cost of the systems you're putting into it.