http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/ Engadget Comments for How-To: Rackmount your gear for cheap http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/But I guess if you are tapping aluminum to drive in steels screws, its 'good enough'.
I assume you are using steel bolts on the other side... or not mounting anything heavier than a small switch.]]>Aug 25th 2008 3:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
This stuff really isn't that expensive, it is impossible that drilling (?) your own rails is going to be easier than just buying them from a rack mount supply shop.

I do a lot of infrastructure work for a living, and this article is BAD ADVICE, even for a small data closet in your home or office.]]>Apr 11th 2006 1:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://matsu.blogdns.net/?p=28]]>Apr 11th 2006 1:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
I have some equipment that is rack mountable but some requires shelving. Anyone have any idea how to build cheap shelves?]]>Apr 11th 2006 1:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
Also, J -- can you post a link to somewhere where you can buy tapped rails?]]>Apr 11th 2006 1:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/Apr 11th 2006 1:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
If you're only mounting a few pieces of gear, a small slant rack like this ($30):
http://www.zzounds.com/item--MUPRB7030

is an excellent option. I use mine for audio gear & it's mounted on the edge of my desk.]]>Apr 11th 2006 1:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
There are huge catalogs of this stuff (lots of surplus deals too). I can't believe someone took the time to do this and then document the whole process. Aluminum rails? Your equipment WILL drop.]]>Apr 11th 2006 1:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
And looking at the switch they've got there, one would wonder why they'd spend hundreds of dollars on a switch (unless that's a 3xxx class Cisco, in which case we're talking thousands) and NOT spend just a hundred or two on a decent 1/4 rack. I mean, you spend that much money, you might as well spend a good amount to keep it from crashing onto the ground and breaking...]]>Apr 11th 2006 1:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/Apr 11th 2006 1:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
This home-made rack idea shows creativity and merit for anyone who already owns everything they need except the personal inspiration to solve an un-noticed deficit.

The rack would not take very long to build. Thanks for the ideas!]]>Apr 11th 2006 1:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/Apr 11th 2006 2:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
Evidence? One of those bolts could easily hold the entire amount of weight being placed across four without snaping or shearing. The aluminium rails, while not something I would want to use in a street luge vehicle, also have plenty enough strength to hold the equipment. While I agree that there are relatively cheap alternatives out the're going to, keep your equipment "from crashing onto the ground and breaking." any more than this setup. This has more bragging rights and that's most likely why it was undertaken as a project.]]>Apr 11th 2006 2:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
Catalog # : 512609 ASIN: B00008616C DPCI: 249-02-1689]]>Sep 1st 2006 10:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
http://www.smarthome.com/prodindex.asp?catid=914

Work rather well in both my home theater and home office applications... They also have racks with "wood" sides (MDF)for those that were looking for that type of thing... slap on a few wheels from Home Depot and you have yourself a rolling rack case. Heck... get two and screw them together for an even bigger case.

That's if your lazy... want to save even more? A 4x8 sheet of melamine coated MDF only cost me $30 at a local shop... takes some work on the table saw, but you can save over the pre-made ones.
]]>Apr 11th 2006 2:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/home/navigation?q=rack+rails]]>Apr 11th 2006 3:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/I did the same thing, but used a wooden shoe rack that fits into half a hallway cupboard - the rack has 5 slatted shelves, so there's plenty of air movement. It's a cheap pine job, and set me back less than a couple of cards.

The top (5th) shelf comes at stomach height, and perfectly houses a laser printer - the rack is about 2 laser printers wide. The 4th shelf houses consumable boxes (two A4 sized, about the height of a ream of paper) and equipment boxes. The 3rd shelf houses two more consumable boxes and electronics toolkit, box of parts, packs of blank DVD/CDs. The 2nd shelf houses a notebook (household network server), a mini-itx box (household file/application server), a wireless dsl gateway/hub, a NAS box and a phone line ATA. The 1st shelf (lowest) is for cable management: power board, excess spools, etc. I mounted a small cigarette pack sized antenna on the wall at about 8 foot up (nice 9 foot ceilings) and lead the cable in and down to the wireless box.

I had new power outlets put in the cupboard, so no external cabling. I mounted an internal flourescent switched strip light above the rack. I had the main phone line looped through the cupboard -- so it breaks out to the DSL box and to the ATA, then the ATA line site goes back into the wall. It means that the main phone line in the house is transparently hooked directly into Asterisk.

It's absolutely great - takes up only the bottom half of a cupboard, yet fits everything (and it could fit more) unobtrusively -- the only giveaway is the small antenna pack on the outside.

In the rest of the house we have seven wireless clients (notebooks, desktops, pdas, etc). If I'd had the chance to renovate the place, I would have cabled everything and also terminated in the cupboard - current 802.11g speeds suck.

The cupboard (two doored) is also the hallway coatrack when opened on the other side. It's warm enough in there that anything damp dries quickly.

]]>Apr 11th 2006 4:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/you can purchase rack rails at any music retailer, Guitar Center has them for under 10 bucks.
hell, you can buy a freestanding rack for less that 30.
]]>Apr 11th 2006 7:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
I rather have this little self-made kitchen-rack, than the one from the link someone posted for $30 bucks.

This is really nice :)]]>Apr 11th 2006 8:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
Try a rectangular plastic milk crate some time. ;)
I mounted lightweight stuff using wood or sheetrock screws, and heavier items with #10 bolts and nuts.

You can even cut what is now the back out for more access.

I applaud the project! If it works for you it's great!
It doesn't have to do anything but work and satisfy the builder as far as I'm concerned. ]]>Apr 11th 2006 9:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/Apr 11th 2006 9:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
I am all for saving a buck when it makes sense.]]>Apr 11th 2006 10:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
Wow.

You're brave. And by 'brave', I mean 'bad at physics and metallurgy'.]]>Apr 11th 2006 11:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/I've spent alot of time around network installations. Aluminum racks are used all the time.
Remember that the thinner aluminum used here is intended for light weight equipment, *not* heavy rack mount computers.]]>Apr 11th 2006 11:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/]]>Apr 12th 2006 10:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/]]>Apr 12th 2006 10:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
Basically, I bought two pairs of 18U tapped rack rails from Parts Express (http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=262-392) and angled, slotted, galvanized-steel as well as the customary nuts, bolts, and casters, from my local hardware store. I planned it so I only had to cut a few of the angled steel pieces in half to get a 26" deep rack, so it ended up not being too labor intensive other than extending a few of the slots in the steel and bolting it all together.

It's _very_ sturdy and currently houses an Xserve G5, a PowerMac G4 (with Marathon Computer G-Rack), switch, cable modem, stereo components, etc. I host my site off those servers.

I was going to write up how to do this back when I actually built it, maybe I should actually sit down and do it.

I do appreciate seeing others write how-to's like this as it can be a very education process to build your own rack. This how-to may be a little inelegant, not very cost effective, and limit what you can put in a rack, but it's still worth providing an option.]]>Apr 12th 2006 10:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
As to the question of mounting a rackmount PC on aluminum rails -- I wouldn't think twice about it if it were a four post rack. Really I would never use a front-only mounting for a system. You rackmount a PC for convenience and space saving, and if it can't easily slide in and out of the rack with one person then it's certainly not convenient!]]>Apr 12th 2006 10:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
I think the PC he's using is a Digital Celebris 6200.
Running everyone's (my) favorite processor: Pentium Pro.

<UselessInfo>]]>Apr 12th 2006 12:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/I did a couple (less intensive) home LAN organizer projects myself. It's a fun way to kill an afternoon.

http://www.jonathanboutelle.com/mt/archives/2005/03/home_lan_caddy.html
http://www.jonathanboutelle.com/mt/archives/2005/11/wallmounted_lan.html

People need to lighten up ... DIY isn't just about cost, it's about making yous own solutions, and learning a little bit along the way.]]>Apr 12th 2006 12:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/Apr 12th 2006 5:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/Apr 12th 2006 5:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/Apr 13th 2006 4:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
http://www.zzounds.com/a--884937/item--MID2R12

On mine, I have a 3u APC UPS, (2) 4u servers, switch, kvm, and it can support a lot of weight and very sturdy too.

I think that Target rack will collapse if I try to bolt my APC UPS on that thing. ]]>Apr 13th 2006 5:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
Leave the back off, or add a fan if heat is an issue.]]>Apr 13th 2006 8:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/Apr 16th 2006 8:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
When ever you work with aluminum use a cutting/tapping lube. Your tools will cut better and last alot longer. The lube also should have a cooling agent in it. I just use my high speed dremel knock off and it cuts aluminum like butter. Tapping by hand is easier too.]]>Apr 16th 2006 9:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/Jun 16th 2006 1:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/Like matsu I also tried to stealth my rack
this ist the old "normal" rack
http://rack.modzone.dk/Worklog_rack.htm
and here is the new rack
http://rack.modzone.dk/Worklog_rack2.htm]]>Jul 3rd 2006 1:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
I walked into Walmart today and there came the epiphiny.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?dest=9999999997&product_id=4529471&sourceid=0100000030660804902498


A $20 TV cart! Measures in Inches (L x W x H): 23.5 x 15.5 x 20.9 I cut the top and bottom to the same dimensions as the sides on a table saw to make it square. Stand it up on the side and you got a rack case. I just screwed the amps into the wood and bought some castors from Walmart. ( The castors that come with it suck )

Its strong, looks great and cost total about $30 The right side isn't finished in black but that doesn't matter to me as you can't see it in my case. [I]Guess I could always paint it later.[/I] Also the rack stuff is about an 1/8th inch too big on each side but who cares? I am very happy as I was planning on spending about $170 without castors for probably the same thing.

http://www.vexedband.com/rack.jpg]]>Aug 22nd 2006 1:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/
This looks liike a good project, and every professional rack mount enclosure I have here have all ALUMINUM parts - With some pretty hefty equipment mounted, and I've never had any problems with it. What probklems I do see, are jerkity assjacks who have never hefted a drill, happer, adz, plane, or other tool in their life - The only thing these people have hefted are checkbooks, hence, our current economic status. These finks were too lazy to ever MAKE something themselves, and when someone posts abot something they BUILT, they immediately tell us all how lousy it is. Well I'll tell them how lousy THEY are, not just somethuing they built, but how lousy quality PERSONS they are.

To the guy who originally posted this article, good job.]]>Aug 6th 2009 7:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/11/how-to-rackmount-your-gear-for-cheap/http://www.rackmountsolutions.net/]]>Mar 14th 2010 3:56AM