Technology From Scratch

I have so many old computers and weird devices that it was starting to get out of control. Since throwing stuff away wasn’t an option, a server rack was pretty much my only recourse. Buying a factory built rack was way out of my budget, so my next thought was a DIY project. I’ve seen some guides out there for building server racks before. To be honest, I wasn’t very impressed. Many of them looked flimsy or used wood instead of steel. If you don’t want your rack to collapse, or weigh 200lbs, I would suggest going with a steel frame.

So I ordered some server rack rails and went to the hardware store.

The finished DIY server rack.

Materials:

• 4x Rack rails
  (I got the tapped communications rails because they have the compatible spacing - try Middle-Atlantic)
• Angle Iron (Lots of it )
• Flat Iron (for the stabilizers)
• Nuts, bolts and washers
• Sheet metal if you want to install shelves
  (or you could buy the $50 rack mountable shelves instead)

Everything except for the rack rails can be found at a local hardware store.

Tools:

• Metal grinder/Dremel with grinding wheels/Hack saw
• Metal File
• Socket set and monkey wrenches
• Safety glasses

1. That’s a lot of money for materials. If you cut your angle iron wrong, it could be another $12. Make sure you know what size everything needs to be. I would recommend comparing the length of a test piece to the width of your server case just to be certain.You also need to decide on a rack depth, which depends on what size equipment you’re putting in the rack (and what you want to do with the wires in the back). I chose a 24 inch depth because I wanted some room in the back for wire management. Standard rack depths are between 19 and 26 inches, but not all sliding rails are compatible with all racks. Once you chose a rack depth, measure your angle iron and start cutting the side pieces. Lucky for you, people have been bolting steel bars together for quite some time, and they’ve made some innovations you can take advantage of. Take this one for instance
   

   Slotted holes, so you don't have to be as good at measuring.

2. Before I cut any of the cross links, I assembled the sides of the rack. Depending on the height of your rack, you’re going to have either a top bar and bottom bar, or a top bar, bottom bar and middle bar. I added the third middle bar both for stability and to add a shelf to the middle of the rack. Note: For each bolt  I used, I put a washer next to the head of the bolt, threaded the bolt through the slots I was connecting and then put a second washer on before the nut. Your rack will need to hold a lot of weight, and you don’t want a single point of failure to cause an expensive accident. Washers help distribute the force over a larger area. Trust me, you want that.
3. Next, it’s time to join the left and right side. This is the tricky part. If you were off by a little in your previous measurements, the sliding rails will adjust to make up for your error. You don’t have as much wiggle room here. The sliding rails are usually slotted from left to right, but you need to be as precise as possible to avoid bending the rails inward. Measure *twice*, then cut the front and back cross bars. I would recommend attaching some of the frond and back cross bars, and then testing your rack with a pair of sliding rails and a rackmount server. If it fits, try it at a different height in the rack. When you are absolutely confident that you measured correctly, cut the rest of the cross bars and finish assembly.
4. What?! Your rack is all wobbly?! If you can’t sit on it and feel comfortable, you shouldn’t put your expensive servers in it. Fortunately, I remembered the bridge building part of my engineering class. This is a simple solution. You did buy that flat iron, right?
   

   Add strength to your rack by inserting slot iron diagonals.

5. Before going any further, you should probably try out your rack. Install a pair of sliding rails and put a server in there. Cross your fingers and hope you measured correctly.
   

   You might want to test your slide rails and put an actual server in your rack at this point.

6. If it worked, tighten all the bolts and you’re finished. If not, see if you can cut something down to make the server fit. Enjoy.
   

   My work station is more organized now. Sort of.

   Optional:  I decided to add shelves to mine. To do this, I bought some sheet metal squares and cut them down to size. I used a higher powered drill to makes bolt holes in the metal, but a dremel will also work. Shelves will help you fit the little things that can’t be rack mounted. If you don’t want to build your own shelves, I’m sure you can find some rack mountable shelves on sale for the low, low price of $50.

P.S.

I know the pictures are crappy, I only had my phone to help. There will be more crappy pictures up later.