So I have had the current server rack for about a year now, and it has served its purpose well. But it was time for a new, better looking and more practical one.
I had planned this for a bit, size-wise, and ended up with something a bit lower, but deeper than the last one. Now nothing sticks out of the back anymore either.
As seen in the previous picture I’m using 16mm MDF-boards. I’ve measured up and cut the top and (soon the)bottom plate here and routed a 16mm wide groove for the wall to fit into. Doing this makes the structure very stiff, and hopefully completely square.
Everything ready for assembly. I’ve predrilled three holes in each groove in case I wanted to fasten the top and bottom extra with screws. I then filled the grooves with the correct type of glue and hammered down the sides. It’s a very tight fit! Rubber mallet was quite necessary.
I made sure that what I would use as a front was perfectly flush – as good as I managed at least… Checked the angle with an angle-tool, and it was 90 degrees – all good!
So, filled the top plate with glue in the grooves to and hammered it down. I then secured the top with a total of 6 screws, just to be sure. I know MDF doesn’t take screws so well, but glue, screws and the general TIIIGHT fit of the boards should make this connection real strong.
After wiping of all dust I painted it. I used Jotun Lady Pure Color 02, Super matte in black. This paint dried so fast that I could paint two layers in the same evening. And it really was matte and tough.
Oh, and for the rack rails, I bought it from this ebay seller.
Here it is together with the old one…
I’ve placed the rug underneath it on purpose, because I couldn’t put wheels under it because of a height-restriction I set myself (Wanted it to go underneath the step the old rack crashes into), so because of this it’s quite impossible to move when fully populated. Now I can slide it around on the rug, albeit barely because of the weight.
The finished rack looks like this, with a shelf on the backside for the power adapters and excessive TP-cabling.
Top to bottom:
- Patch panel
- TP-link 16 port Gigabit managed switch
- Power strip (will be replaced)
- Cable routing (will be replaced with a black one)
- NAS, router and wireless AP
- PowerWalker VI 1000RT LCD
- HP ProLiant DL360 G6 (Virtualization Server)
- Fileserver
All in all, very pleased with the outcome. I have planned to add a door in the front, it’ll be fixed with magnets and be a frame covered with speaker fabric to not block air flow.
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