Hi I'm heron. I'm glad someone is finding useful one of my designs. To solve the power supply nightmare I simply converted all barrel jacks to Power Delivery over Type C. Now I can plug everything to the same DIY PD power supply (a 24V PSU + a SW3518 board from china), which is capable of supplying 5V, 9V, 12V and 20V (which is fine for my 19V n100 itx board). Speaking about the KVM, I DIYd one installing PiKVM on a spare Pi2. I have a design on printables that moves the HDMI, USB and Ethernet ports on the front using standard keystones. I confirm It's a lot of fun. To this date I've already built 3 mini racks.
The USB-PD PPS trigger boards are few and far between, but they exist (PPSTrigger for example) and would let you give the itx board precisely the 19V it wants
@@defectv I have a 24V power supply board. It powers a SW3518 board. Contrary to most PD chargers this board has 4 fully independent type c outputs. PD chargers can provide a number of voltages. Usually there's a chip inside the receiving device that can request a specific voltage. You can simulate this behaviour with a little and cheap board usually called a "trigger board", whose job is to request a specific voltage. One side of my trigger boards have a type c connector that plugs directly into the sw3518 board, the other side outputs the requested voltage. You can solder your DC barrel connector to this side.
10 inch rack is definitely not a gimmick! I have a small apartment and there would be no way I could store a full size 19" rack. It lets me keep my gear organized. I have some basic network equipment (patch panel, switch, cable modem, router) and a few Rasberry Pi's all packed into a single 10" cabinet. I love it.
This is exactly the reason I went 10 inch rack route while building network for my daughter. poe 2.5g switch, router, modem, nas in a pile with a lot of cables around would make a mess in a living room or a bedroom. In a proper enclosure it can even serve as a decoration in a living room (like a black box stand for a lamp or a planter, but with blinkenlights behind glass door).
@@vadimbich4602 Yes! Nowadays, everyone prefers clean and minimalist designs. We will subsequently offer a 4-channel centralized power supply module, which is already available. It features 4-channel USB power supply with a 5V interface for power, capable of current and voltage detection, equipped with an OLED display for status, suitable for DIY, and only requires a 6-24V DC power source for operation.
I agree. I have a 10" 6u in my house. 19" is way to big to put 1 or 2 mini pc's and 16 ports in it. Better a full 10" then a 19" that's almost empty. Waist of space in your house.
Did you see they have a half height mini rack now!? What's next, a 1U mini 10" rack? lol My wheels are turning, thinking of building like 'Homelab, 3 ways' with three of these things.
Wow! That's a fantastic combination! The explanation in this video is also very, very nice. Thank you so much for your recognition of our product. I didn't expect that 3D printed parts would enrich the configuration of the shelves on both sides, which really surprised our team, haha! Looking forward to more DIY videos, I really enjoy them!
Great job, Colton. I really like the way it came out. This is what homelabbing is all about. You are a great inspiration for the next generation of tinkerers.
I 3d printed my own 10inch rack! Nuts and bolts. Everything! I love it. It holds my 8 port switch and wifi AP on top. NAS on the bottom. It made everything a LOT neater than wires strung everywhere.
If you don't have a lot of space, a 10 inch rack is pretty great. I bought one to use in my utility closet where a 19 inch rack would never fit. With a UPS, it's been great for having just a little bit of internet when having power outages. I set it up like so: - ISP modem (on top of rack) - Access Point (on top of rack, master node of mesh wifi system) Rack: - 1U shelf: Main Router (Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X) - 1U Patch panel (All CAT6A cables coming from the house, labeled) - 1U Zyxel 16 port unmanaged switch (managed 16 port is hard to find sadly or very expensive) - 2U Shelf: Intel NUC (Proxmox with Home Assistant + NVR) + Plugwise Energy Meter - APC VA500 UPS
I have a fully 3D printed 10" rack that I designed to fit perfectly in an IKEA usit, have two rpis, a switch and my router in there and it works a dream. Edit: Since so many asked there is now a community post on my channel with a couple of pictures and info about my rack.
This is the most detailed and cool video I've seen on the usage configuration of the Rackmate T1. Not only has it been highly customized according to one's own needs, but I also really like the layout. It's fantastic! Thank you for your video, which helps more people learn about the various uses of our Rackmate T1. Soon, there will be an even more compact RackMate T0 coming to the market!
plugging your UPS into your kill-a-watt is going to show the power used by the charging circuit in the UPS plus draw, the UPS itself is going to show the actual mean usage by the tiny rack minus the power used by the UPS for charging and maintaining the battery pack, this is a pretty sweet little project ngl and gives me a few ideas for some older machines i have kicking around the parts room
I have this rack and it honestly went entirely over my head to consider there was 3D printing community for 10 inch racks so I will definitely be looking into that. I did find some…. Solutions for making effective use of the space, I found magnetic mounts that allowed me to fit 140s inside the side of the racks with enough space away from the acrylic to draw proper airflow. Also I found a computer desk recessed power strip on amazon that perfectly mounts to the back of the rack which has allowed me to more cleanly manage the cables on the back side. I love this rack, I currently have a NAS running off a CWWK X86, Plex/PiHole running off a pi and an ITX board for VM fun in addition to a switch and patch panel. This is my first rack and I am dedicated enough to it that I want to properly flesh it out for almost all of my home needs and with this configuration I have a ton of space still available.
I just built a 10 inch rack in the past few weeks! One downside to every video on this topic being sponsored by Geeekbench is that only their rack is discussed (besides the other one briefly mentioned earlier). I bought a 9U cabinet (as in fully enclosed with a plexiglass front) from Navepoint for $140 (which is not far off the cost of the Geeekbench rack). I've loved working with it, and because its got a lot of depth I was able to fit a flat Cyberpower UPS in the bottom 2U space in the cabinet!
This year built myself a 10" rack out of 20x20 extrusion profile as a 6U rack does fit pretty easily into a Kallax cube with still some clearance on either side. That's enough for a patch panel, two 8 port switches and my mini pc home server with still 2U left to spare. 3 power sockets mounted to the rail in the back to power the switches and mini pc with also enough room for a second unit.
Omg, this is the one video, i was look for and acutally researching, how to cram my current nas, router, RPI and switch in a 10" rack, thanks you sooo much!
OMG so now I need to ask Santa for 3D printer and a rackmate T1 and I will be golden. I tried doing something similar last year but gave up due to a lack / cost of 10 inch parts. But a 3D printer seems to have solved a lot of this. Amazing video so fun to watch and got me thinking for next year.
I'm at the same place at the moment, i will get a 3D printer (or at least if the box i found tells something about its content) and will save for such a 10inch rack, will be a bliss, to have the mini homelab with NAS in one place :D
It is recommended to make a plan before purchasing, to map out the scale of your homelab, the necessary accessories, and whether there is a suitable place to install the equipment.
Network racks are configured differently from server racks. For server racks, you'll want to mount the switches and patch panels on the back of the rack. That way, the switch ports can easily connect to the servers which have their networks ports facing the back. Typically, you put the patch panel at the top and use them for connections outside of the rack. The switch(s) are next. These are called Top of Rack (TOR) switches. Servers are below the network gears. UPS are at the bottom since they are heavy. Power outlets can be in the rack or vertical, facing the back. Network racks have switch ports facing the front.
Rather than that type of UPS, you can use a 42v battery with Buck converters to your needed voltages. That should be much more efficient and tidy than going from DC(battery) to AC(inverter) to DC(the power bricks).
That's exactly what I was thinking, are there any good guides how to go about this? Making a diy DC UPS for low voltage devices like router, switch, Raspberry Pi, external HDD and similar is something I wanted to do for a long time.
Homelab for the SFF crowd. It's right up my alley and I probably would have built something like this if I didn't already build my home lab in a short 19" rack. I just love the challenge of miniaturizing my tech.
For the power situation, there are some PD power brick that might consolidated your adapters mess into one device. It comes with variety of power rating up to 200-300 watts! And you can easily find type c to barrel jack also in the marketplace or do it your self for pennies
I gave up a long time ago keeping metal cases. Getting the boards out offered so much more flexibility, and I will eventually one day end up with a sandwitch of boards, cooled from the back by large fans. I am currently experimenting with GAN chargers with USB-C (even for barrel plugs via some cheap adapters) for most of the devices that do not eat a lot of power, like switch, WiFi AP, fans, smart hubs, even chromebook minipc. Proved stable in the past months if cooled.
Excellent video as always (great intro btw). The idea of a 10" rack seems excellent especially when you don't have a lot of space. The only thing that is missing for me is some more space at the back to manage the cables. Maybe a rack with a larger back could accommodate that.
Awesome! So awesome to see you flex so many 3d printed parts! The only thing that's missing is the Minecraft server. 😉 I bought a RackMate T1 mostly for desktop peripherials. Along with two rpi's, it houses networking, an audio interface, KVM switch, thunderbolt hub, and power conditioner.
it's quite the coincidence that you upload this!! over the last week or so, i've actually begun working on an entire ecosystem of 3D-printable modules for various different components and setups that are all of a standardised shape and thus all fit into a serious ton of bays on an equally 3D-printable chassis, that can then be racked or placed standalone. in my year or two of homelabbing, i've always found that my 'perfect case' hasn't really existed, so i figured i'd not only try to make mine, but help others find theirs too :)) i've never really done a project much like this before, but it's looking good from here!!!
For the most of the video I was wondering about most choices you have made, but your summary at 25th minute was great realisation that 10" racks are a bad idea always
For my build I reserved the bottom 2 U for power. All of the wall warts and excess cable sit in a 10" 2U mini ITX case, nothing is visible and it's all tidy that way.
I really like this setup. It's neat and compact. It almost makes me rethink my choices for standardization a little over 4 years ago with regards to my setup. Almost, because I already have way too much invested in my current setup to change that. But even with the 19" open rack setup that I have, cable management is an issue. Power and network cables are always either too long, or too short and since too short is a no-go in any case, you always end up with the excess of them awkwardly snuck away or stuck to the sides. Back when I started out, keystone equipment was still insanely expensive, and they have only recently become even remotely affordable, so "true" cable management has not on the top of my priority list for very long. Still, even the little bit I have done so far make everything look just that tiny bit neater. By the way, from what I gather, it looks like the 10" could have used a bit more depth. That would probably have made your life a little easier, because you would have had room to mount one or two 10" PDUs to the back of the rack from which you could have fed most of the equipment in there. I know there are 10" PDUs out there and I also know some 19" PDUs (especially the ones that are purposed more for audio equipment) have, for instance, USB power ports, so who knows, maybe there are also 10" PDUs with USB power?
You could totally make a rack-mount mini-ups/mini-battery bank for that bottom blank slot you have there out of something like 18650 or 21700 batteries and throw in a mobile network solution (I've seen another video somewhere about one that uses both publicly available wifi and cellular networks to keep a steady connection while driving) and give yourself a very solid portable homelab. Some quick back-of-the-napkin math says you could fit roughly the same storage capacity as that APC UPS you have there in that bottom slot, and potentially up to 1500 watt-hours if you kept to just one switch in the setup.
i did not know that 10 inch racks existed... but i am definitely interested when i get to build my first home lab soon i hope :) awesome video, gave me some great inspiration!
I would LOVE to see you do this rack again, but as a challenge use ONLY USB-C power so you can power EVERYTHING off of a USB-C power distribution system. 100-140w MAX per device. I suspect the switches can use USB-C to to jack converters as long as the switches are 9-12V. THEN use NUCs, Low power ITX, or single board computers to bring the power usage DOWN. The NAS will be a challenge, but I BET you could do it. Worst case? NVMe NAS.
If let me build this chassis, I may use PoE hat with Raspberry Pi 5 to build the whole system, but some other network device may not be easy to power from same power supply ~
if you want to build massive storage array, you may consider about the 52pi N16 quard NVMe adapter board for Raspberry Pi 5, it will not occupy a lot of space~
I think the 10" minilab with 3d printing is extremely fun and fits with a less serious approach to messing with this sort of stuff. I am having a blast with mine and I have barely configured any software on it 😅
I've been considering getting into 10inch racks myself for a few reasons, notably the ease of handling and the lower power draw you'd expect from the limiting formfactor, and due to recent developments it might actually be a plausible project for me now.
in the future what you could do for cable management on that setup is break down the power supplies voltage / current and then get one power supply that can provide the various ranges of power, then make custom cables for each application. you can use the original connectors from each power brick but just spliced and connected to your new power supply. for aesthetics, you can braid the cables. for additional management, you can 3D print a cable management panel for the back and customize it for power delivery.
Sooooo, what's stopping people from just printing the 10" rack itself?? And don't say "plastic not strong enough", I've designed multiple frames and handles that can actively support well over 100lbs using basic PETG alone. I'd imagine a semi-stationary rack like this would require no more than 1-2kg if designed well. Plus you could include unique features and custom mounting options in the 3D model.
Whats awesome is the creality k1 max is large enough you can print the entire rack and mounting accessories. You can find the official dimensions online pretty easily and work up your own size rack like maybe you only want a small 4u for just networking 😁
You could build that rack mount out of angle iomron or box sections with wholes in. Especslly if you want to 3d print all the mounts. This way you could really taylor the width to your widest items. Also id have a bit more hight and house the power bricks on thre bottom and have a shaped smooth bit of material funnelihng all the hot air out the side. And have cold air in twke from the opposite side for the top component half of the build. Tey snd keep the two sections sealed off form each other. This is a decent idea if you have a confind space tour dealing with. Soem angle iorn, soem scrabs of mdf or similar and of course a 3d printer. Bit given the size, a bed side cabnet would work as a forndation if you jave a printer, and that could blend into any room.
This is super cool, probably needs to be taller so everything can fit inside the rack itself. Probably also want to think about PDU options, maybe have a DC supply that can power everything that needs it, that'd tidy things up substantially I'd think.
Those little racks are pretty sharp for very small projects....might try to pick one up and load it for my nephew who's recently discovered the IT world..... What he really wants is one of his uncle's 42U 19" cabinets but his folks said no (sometimes I just don't understand people).
WOW! T|his video gave me so much ideas. I was first thinking just to buy a case and be done with it. Now I want to build a 10" Rack in an IKEA Expedit bookcase (I flat out refuse to use the new name for it). If I have don my complex maths right, I ought to be able to fit 7U inside it (14 if the back side is used as well) and that is more than plenty. Now I need to buy me a 3D printer...
A good beginning, but the power situation needs some work. You can replace all of the the wall warts with a Meanwell 12V power supply, and if something runs on 5V or USB-C, just find the appropriate automotive adapter. This only leaves the 19V for the HP mini, which may be run off of its AC adapter. On the other hand... My partners and I run a prototyping lab, and we are downsizing our network rack as well as taking it off-grid. The goal is to run mobile offices, moving them from client to client, improving collaboration, speeding up iteration, and saving shipping. We've downsized the office network, from 2x36u racks to a 20u rack, and now to a 10" 12u rack. The last piece is a DC PS / PDU / UPS fitting in a 10" form factor which we have been designing and refining over the last 5 years. The price would be comparable or less than a similar commercial lithium UPS. This has been a slow burn project since I thought we were the only ones interested in such a device, so we didn't make it a priority or crowdfunded it. Building more would be about the same work as building ours, so if there is interest we can take the project off the back burner and build as many as needed. As currently designed, this 2u 10" rack UPS provides a number of 5V, 12V, 19-20V, and 48-54V barrel jacks, as well as USB-C outputs. There are no AC outlets; it is DC only. A small OLED touchscreen and embedded web server are used to monitor and control the UPS as well as send shutdown signals to the connected servers if and when the batteries are depleted. The system will recharge and run on AC power and/or DC (solar?) as available and provides up to 1120W of power. It scales from 500W/h to 7W/h of capacity. This means that it has 20 minutes of real run time at max load for the minimum system, and up to 6 hours for the maximum. At a lower load, such as the 238W we expect to be drawing, we are looking at 2 hours for the minimum system and well over 24 hours for the maximum, which was our design specification. Note that KVA ratings don't really translate 1 to 1, since no AC is provided, but it is close enough. The way it scales is that it is a 2u 500W/h device that is expandable with up to 3 additional 2u battery packs each adding 1W/h for a total of 3.5W/h. For AC (shore power) charging, we plan to have a 3u 1/3 depth AC adapter that can be mounted on the rear of the rack enclosure, convertible to a front mounted 1u 1/2 depth unit by flipping one set of rack mount ears and discarding the rest. Yes, this would occupy a total of 8u, 9u with the AC power supply, so we are also making a small 1/2 u, 1/3 depth ATS that allows up to 2 UPS and battery expansion systems to be mounted in a different 10" rack enclosures as well as providing load balancing and automatic fail-over. Since we plan to run Starlink, a network, local AI server, NAS /container server, PoE phones, wireless APs, lighting, and other systems in the mobile office, this isn't as much overkill as to seems. The UPS would also work well in a tiny home, vanlife, or other compact low power application. If it sounds like this is something you need or want, please let me know and we will start making it a reality.
Tripp Lite makes a little 300w ups with 4 ports it's 2.3" high and 10" wide. it can fit in the bottom of that rack but not on a shelf since the 10" is at the screws. i had to tilt it in first before putting anything else in.
hmm, interesting ideas. A lenovo M720Q + 8e HBA + a 6-8 drive backplane with a pair of SFF connectors, the correct couple of cables, and that would be a neat compact nas. It'd be really cool to be able to get a NAS, and 3-5 nodes (tinyminimicro) + a small switch with a 10G uplink all into here.
24:20 maybe you can have 1 pc powersupply and find a way to plug it to all the devices, at most you will need a power converter. check the labels, it should be possible. and it will look waaay cleaner
My biggest problem with the rackmate was that it uses imperial screws. I'm used to all rack gear being M6, I still haven't figured out how imperial screw sizing works, let alone which ones the rackmate uses.
Thanks for this, great vid! Love the idea of these mini-racks, but have been put off by the matching DeskPi ITX case being 2U and not being able to fit a full height PCIe card. Adapting that printed tray to 3U/full height should be perfect for me!
Hey Im a 16 year old boy from Germany who looks every video and loves your videos, please make more videos about home networking and good luck for your next projects 🎉
In my experience that overture PETG is some of the easiest PETG to print with(save going with a $40+ spool). Their clear PETG was also the clearest out of three I bought.
Have you considered running a 5, (9 if you need it) and 12v bus rail powered by a power for cable management? This way you just make short 2.5mm jack leads and eliminate all the wall warts. This does involve soldering, but it would look so clean. And modular
The ups is drawing more than it shows because it also has to charge the internal battery. I noticed that the battery indicator on the UPS shows that it wasn't fully charged yet.
Only four videos in and he's upgrading the rebuilt homelab.
Having a homelab/NAS channel is a big deal to keep suspense.
Hi
This type of hobby is for people who like to burn money
@@wewillrise3663 people who value data over money
What did you even do with one of these ???
Hi I'm heron. I'm glad someone is finding useful one of my designs.
To solve the power supply nightmare I simply converted all barrel jacks to Power Delivery over Type C. Now I can plug everything to the same DIY PD power supply (a 24V PSU + a SW3518 board from china), which is capable of supplying 5V, 9V, 12V and 20V (which is fine for my 19V n100 itx board).
Speaking about the KVM, I DIYd one installing PiKVM on a spare Pi2. I have a design on printables that moves the HDMI, USB and Ethernet ports on the front using standard keystones.
I confirm It's a lot of fun. To this date I've already built 3 mini racks.
Love that! Can you maybe upload some pictures to share? Thanks!
I'd like to know more about the power supply solution.
The USB-PD PPS trigger boards are few and far between, but they exist (PPSTrigger for example) and would let you give the itx board precisely the 19V it wants
@@defectv I have a 24V power supply board. It powers a SW3518 board. Contrary to most PD chargers this board has 4 fully independent type c outputs.
PD chargers can provide a number of voltages. Usually there's a chip inside the receiving device that can request a specific voltage. You can simulate this behaviour with a little and cheap board usually called a "trigger board", whose job is to request a specific voltage. One side of my trigger boards have a type c connector that plugs directly into the sw3518 board, the other side outputs the requested voltage. You can solder your DC barrel connector to this side.
@@muazzamchoudhury3939 I fear that sharing any link in a UA-cam comment could trigger automated anti spam actions.
10 inch rack is definitely not a gimmick! I have a small apartment and there would be no way I could store a full size 19" rack. It lets me keep my gear organized. I have some basic network equipment (patch panel, switch, cable modem, router) and a few Rasberry Pi's all packed into a single 10" cabinet. I love it.
never liked bigger racks, smaller is fine- when you go bigger you invite sagging
There's also the smaller Rackmate T0, which will soon become your new favorite, an even more compact version.
This is exactly the reason I went 10 inch rack route while building network for my daughter. poe 2.5g switch, router, modem, nas in a pile with a lot of cables around would make a mess in a living room or a bedroom. In a proper enclosure it can even serve as a decoration in a living room (like a black box stand for a lamp or a planter, but with blinkenlights behind glass door).
@@vadimbich4602 Yes! Nowadays, everyone prefers clean and minimalist designs. We will subsequently offer a 4-channel centralized power supply module, which is already available. It features 4-channel USB power supply with a 5V interface for power, capable of current and voltage detection, equipped with an OLED display for status, suitable for DIY, and only requires a 6-24V DC power source for operation.
I agree. I have a 10" 6u in my house. 19" is way to big to put 1 or 2 mini pc's and 16 ports in it. Better a full 10" then a 19" that's almost empty. Waist of space in your house.
Did you see they have a half height mini rack now!? What's next, a 1U mini 10" rack? lol
My wheels are turning, thinking of building like 'Homelab, 3 ways' with three of these things.
Wait what? Do you have a link?
@@HardwareHavenMy other comment went missing probably because I put a link, but it's called the rackmate T0
Do it Jeff!
I love that 2 of my fave 'tubers are in each others comments!
Party on Jeff!
I’m On Board With Jeff’s Idea As Well With Multiple Layouts Just To Test The Creativity In Us Tinkers
Wow! That's a fantastic combination! The explanation in this video is also very, very nice. Thank you so much for your recognition of our product. I didn't expect that 3D printed parts would enrich the configuration of the shelves on both sides, which really surprised our team, haha! Looking forward to more DIY videos, I really enjoy them!
Great job, Colton. I really like the way it came out. This is what homelabbing is all about. You are a great inspiration for the next generation of tinkerers.
I 3d printed my own 10inch rack! Nuts and bolts. Everything! I love it. It holds my 8 port switch and wifi AP on top. NAS on the bottom. It made everything a LOT neater than wires strung everywhere.
Mine is only 4U but I can add more anytime I want.
If you don't have a lot of space, a 10 inch rack is pretty great. I bought one to use in my utility closet where a 19 inch rack would never fit. With a UPS, it's been great for having just a little bit of internet when having power outages.
I set it up like so:
- ISP modem (on top of rack)
- Access Point (on top of rack, master node of mesh wifi system)
Rack:
- 1U shelf: Main Router (Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X)
- 1U Patch panel (All CAT6A cables coming from the house, labeled)
- 1U Zyxel 16 port unmanaged switch (managed 16 port is hard to find sadly or very expensive)
- 2U Shelf: Intel NUC (Proxmox with Home Assistant + NVR) + Plugwise Energy Meter
- APC VA500 UPS
Very detailed configuration, it looks like your planning is very reasonable.
I have a fully 3D printed 10" rack that I designed to fit perfectly in an IKEA usit, have two rpis, a switch and my router in there and it works a dream.
Edit: Since so many asked there is now a community post on my channel with a couple of pictures and info about my rack.
please share the photo of your rack
@@jtpro2572 Where should I?
I’d also be interested in seeing
@Caplonky5 maybe on your channels community post
@Caplonky5 the r/minilab subreddit would be the best place to post it
The back is the fat homer meme xD
Colton, your joy is showing and it's contagious. Seasons Greetings and keep up the awesome work!
The little rack with the 3D printed trays looks incredible! I appreciate your creativity with this stuff. Thank you!
This is the most detailed and cool video I've seen on the usage configuration of the Rackmate T1. Not only has it been highly customized according to one's own needs, but I also really like the layout. It's fantastic! Thank you for your video, which helps more people learn about the various uses of our Rackmate T1. Soon, there will be an even more compact RackMate T0 coming to the market!
plugging your UPS into your kill-a-watt is going to show the power used by the charging circuit in the UPS plus draw, the UPS itself is going to show the actual mean usage by the tiny rack minus the power used by the UPS for charging and maintaining the battery pack, this is a pretty sweet little project ngl and gives me a few ideas for some older machines i have kicking around the parts room
I have this rack and it honestly went entirely over my head to consider there was 3D printing community for 10 inch racks so I will definitely be looking into that. I did find some…. Solutions for making effective use of the space, I found magnetic mounts that allowed me to fit 140s inside the side of the racks with enough space away from the acrylic to draw proper airflow. Also I found a computer desk recessed power strip on amazon that perfectly mounts to the back of the rack which has allowed me to more cleanly manage the cables on the back side. I love this rack, I currently have a NAS running off a CWWK X86, Plex/PiHole running off a pi and an ITX board for VM fun in addition to a switch and patch panel. This is my first rack and I am dedicated enough to it that I want to properly flesh it out for almost all of my home needs and with this configuration I have a ton of space still available.
Haha, I feel the same way, it's like discovering a new continent. The idea of combining 3D printing with metal brackets is truly fantastic!
“His 10 inch rack” isn’t something I thought I’d hear that early on in a tech video… 😂
I was literally just talking to my screen, "you could totally slide the switch over and add a JET KVM" and then you did it! Love it
I just built a 10 inch rack in the past few weeks! One downside to every video on this topic being sponsored by Geeekbench is that only their rack is discussed (besides the other one briefly mentioned earlier).
I bought a 9U cabinet (as in fully enclosed with a plexiglass front) from Navepoint for $140 (which is not far off the cost of the Geeekbench rack). I've loved working with it, and because its got a lot of depth I was able to fit a flat Cyberpower UPS in the bottom 2U space in the cabinet!
what's the ups model?
This year built myself a 10" rack out of 20x20 extrusion profile as a 6U rack does fit pretty easily into a Kallax cube with still some clearance on either side. That's enough for a patch panel, two 8 port switches and my mini pc home server with still 2U left to spare. 3 power sockets mounted to the rail in the back to power the switches and mini pc with also enough room for a second unit.
Now knowing that there is a community for printing parts for this rack really has me considering it
Best justification for a 10” rack I’ve seen yet.
Omg, this is the one video, i was look for and acutally researching, how to cram my current nas, router, RPI and switch in a 10" rack, thanks you sooo much!
Thanks!
Nah thank you! Next time though get yourself a RAID membership though, that way you at least get some perks 👍🏻
OMG so now I need to ask Santa for 3D printer and a rackmate T1 and I will be golden. I tried doing something similar last year but gave up due to a lack / cost of 10 inch parts. But a 3D printer seems to have solved a lot of this. Amazing video so fun to watch and got me thinking for next year.
I'm at the same place at the moment, i will get a 3D printer (or at least if the box i found tells something about its content) and will save for such a 10inch rack, will be a bliss, to have the mini homelab with NAS in one place :D
I was already considering one of these now I'm 100% onboard with getting one this year
It is recommended to make a plan before purchasing, to map out the scale of your homelab, the necessary accessories, and whether there is a suitable place to install the equipment.
Network racks are configured differently from server racks. For server racks, you'll want to mount the switches and patch panels on the back of the rack. That way, the switch ports can easily connect to the servers which have their networks ports facing the back.
Typically, you put the patch panel at the top and use them for connections outside of the rack. The switch(s) are next. These are called Top of Rack (TOR) switches. Servers are below the network gears. UPS are at the bottom since they are heavy. Power outlets can be in the rack or vertical, facing the back.
Network racks have switch ports facing the front.
actually many servers have the network ports on the front for easy connection ;-)
This is making me rethink all of my future homelab plans, great video!
The cleanest setup i ever seen, approved ✅
New intro music!! Thanks for an awesome year good sir.
Rather than that type of UPS, you can use a 42v battery with Buck converters to your needed voltages. That should be much more efficient and tidy than going from DC(battery) to AC(inverter) to DC(the power bricks).
That's exactly what I was thinking, are there any good guides how to go about this? Making a diy DC UPS for low voltage devices like router, switch, Raspberry Pi, external HDD and similar is something I wanted to do for a long time.
Homelab for the SFF crowd. It's right up my alley and I probably would have built something like this if I didn't already build my home lab in a short 19" rack. I just love the challenge of miniaturizing my tech.
Fun thing i did was modify 10" rack equipment to fit into the bottom half of an Ikea Billy Bookcase and use that as my ~14" homelab rack
Watching someone share how they've had fun for the past few days is the best kind of video
Wow, this looks fantastic! Kinda makes me wanna create something like this when the budget allows it.
Put a multi output variable power supply in the bottom and get rid of the individual PSU's.
Do you have any more information about how to accomplish this?
just get usb-c powered stuff (mini pc's) and use a single supply with like 4 outputs
That KVM sounds amazing! I would *love* to hear more about it.
For the power situation, there are some PD power brick that might consolidated your adapters mess into one device. It comes with variety of power rating up to 200-300 watts!
And you can easily find type c to barrel jack also in the marketplace or do it your self for pennies
Loving these 10" racks!
I gave up a long time ago keeping metal cases. Getting the boards out offered so much more flexibility, and I will eventually one day end up with a sandwitch of boards, cooled from the back by large fans. I am currently experimenting with GAN chargers with USB-C (even for barrel plugs via some cheap adapters) for most of the devices that do not eat a lot of power, like switch, WiFi AP, fans, smart hubs, even chromebook minipc. Proved stable in the past months if cooled.
Excellent video as always (great intro btw). The idea of a 10" rack seems excellent especially when you don't have a lot of space. The only thing that is missing for me is some more space at the back to manage the cables. Maybe a rack with a larger back could accommodate that.
This was really fun.
Learnt a lot about the pitfalls of 3D printing, for example!
Great video - I recently printed all the shelves for my 10 inch rack, nice idea with the keystones. I need to do that. You said 'little' 28 times 🎉
Awesome! So awesome to see you flex so many 3d printed parts! The only thing that's missing is the Minecraft server. 😉
I bought a RackMate T1 mostly for desktop peripherials. Along with two rpi's, it houses networking, an audio interface, KVM switch, thunderbolt hub, and power conditioner.
you can install the Minecraft server on your Raspberry Pi 5, make it as a server, it works fine, I have build it on my homelab
it's quite the coincidence that you upload this!!
over the last week or so, i've actually begun working on an entire ecosystem of 3D-printable modules for various different components and setups that are all of a standardised shape and thus all fit into a serious ton of bays on an equally 3D-printable chassis, that can then be racked or placed standalone.
in my year or two of homelabbing, i've always found that my 'perfect case' hasn't really existed, so i figured i'd not only try to make mine, but help others find theirs too :))
i've never really done a project much like this before, but it's looking good from here!!!
So.... Gridfinity for racks?
0:18 the typical Internet user would've made a post on reddit asking the answer to this question.
He used an AI instead. Much more reasonable.
Looks amazing, great video!
For the most of the video I was wondering about most choices you have made, but your summary at 25th minute was great realisation that 10" racks are a bad idea always
A rack like this would be great rebuild for my home setup. Merry Christmas to you and your family, sir!
For my build I reserved the bottom 2 U for power. All of the wall warts and excess cable sit in a 10" 2U mini ITX case, nothing is visible and it's all tidy that way.
I really like this setup. It's neat and compact. It almost makes me rethink my choices for standardization a little over 4 years ago with regards to my setup. Almost, because I already have way too much invested in my current setup to change that.
But even with the 19" open rack setup that I have, cable management is an issue. Power and network cables are always either too long, or too short and since too short is a no-go in any case, you always end up with the excess of them awkwardly snuck away or stuck to the sides. Back when I started out, keystone equipment was still insanely expensive, and they have only recently become even remotely affordable, so "true" cable management has not on the top of my priority list for very long. Still, even the little bit I have done so far make everything look just that tiny bit neater.
By the way, from what I gather, it looks like the 10" could have used a bit more depth. That would probably have made your life a little easier, because you would have had room to mount one or two 10" PDUs to the back of the rack from which you could have fed most of the equipment in there. I know there are 10" PDUs out there and I also know some 19" PDUs (especially the ones that are purposed more for audio equipment) have, for instance, USB power ports, so who knows, maybe there are also 10" PDUs with USB power?
You could totally make a rack-mount mini-ups/mini-battery bank for that bottom blank slot you have there out of something like 18650 or 21700 batteries and throw in a mobile network solution (I've seen another video somewhere about one that uses both publicly available wifi and cellular networks to keep a steady connection while driving) and give yourself a very solid portable homelab.
Some quick back-of-the-napkin math says you could fit roughly the same storage capacity as that APC UPS you have there in that bottom slot, and potentially up to 1500 watt-hours if you kept to just one switch in the setup.
Thanks I’ve been searching for ideas for small server racks
Beryl AX would be a sweet portable router option, it has some excellent features. and fits beautifully inside of the 10 inch rack.
With the drive enclosure you can get a M.2 NVME to Mini SAS SFF-8087 adapter.
Nice! I crammed a small UPS and a 6 SFF PC cluster in my Geeekpi mini rack . With a KVM, and some small network switches
i did not know that 10 inch racks existed... but i am definitely interested when i get to build my first home lab soon i hope :)
awesome video, gave me some great inspiration!
I would LOVE to see you do this rack again, but as a challenge use ONLY USB-C power so you can power EVERYTHING off of a USB-C power distribution system. 100-140w MAX per device. I suspect the switches can use USB-C to to jack converters as long as the switches are 9-12V.
THEN use NUCs, Low power ITX, or single board computers to bring the power usage DOWN. The NAS will be a challenge, but I BET you could do it. Worst case? NVMe NAS.
If let me build this chassis, I may use PoE hat with Raspberry Pi 5 to build the whole system, but some other network device may not be easy to power from same power supply ~
if you want to build massive storage array, you may consider about the 52pi N16 quard NVMe adapter board for Raspberry Pi 5, it will not occupy a lot of space~
3D printing + Home lab = like on your video!
I think the 10" minilab with 3d printing is extremely fun and fits with a less serious approach to messing with this sort of stuff. I am having a blast with mine and I have barely configured any software on it 😅
i like the minecraft music in the intro
10:46 a strip of foam tape on the sides will help reduce the "wiggle" and provide a more snug fit ;)
I've been considering getting into 10inch racks myself for a few reasons, notably the ease of handling and the lower power draw you'd expect from the limiting formfactor, and due to recent developments it might actually be a plausible project for me now.
Awesome video. I love 10" homelab racks. I hope it becomes a standard.
20:39 Channelling some Tina Belcher there 👓
Looks really cute!
in the future what you could do for cable management on that setup is break down the power supplies voltage / current and then get one power supply that can provide the various ranges of power, then make custom cables for each application. you can use the original connectors from each power brick but just spliced and connected to your new power supply. for aesthetics, you can braid the cables. for additional management, you can 3D print a cable management panel for the back and customize it for power delivery.
we have launched new accessories to solve this problem, 4-Channel USB Power supply module .
Sooooo, what's stopping people from just printing the 10" rack itself?? And don't say "plastic not strong enough", I've designed multiple frames and handles that can actively support well over 100lbs using basic PETG alone. I'd imagine a semi-stationary rack like this would require no more than 1-2kg if designed well. Plus you could include unique features and custom mounting options in the 3D model.
Because it wouldn't make for a 15 minute video
I love everything about this and I am going to do the same thing now.
I got a few tweaks in mind.
i see those gridfinity trays, you are a man of good taste
Leave a space, preferably at the top for all the power bricks. hide them away, but let the heat out.
Whats awesome is the creality k1 max is large enough you can print the entire rack and mounting accessories. You can find the official dimensions online pretty easily and work up your own size rack like maybe you only want a small 4u for just networking 😁
recommended PETG material or carbbon material
You could build that rack mount out of angle iomron or box sections with wholes in. Especslly if you want to 3d print all the mounts. This way you could really taylor the width to your widest items.
Also id have a bit more hight and house the power bricks on thre bottom and have a shaped smooth bit of material funnelihng all the hot air out the side. And have cold air in twke from the opposite side for the top component half of the build.
Tey snd keep the two sections sealed off form each other.
This is a decent idea if you have a confind space tour dealing with. Soem angle iorn, soem scrabs of mdf or similar and of course a 3d printer. Bit given the size, a bed side cabnet would work as a forndation if you jave a printer, and that could blend into any room.
The phrasing here is hilarious talking about racks and 10 inches 😂 im differently mature i swear nice video btw 🎉
This is super cool, probably needs to be taller so everything can fit inside the rack itself. Probably also want to think about PDU options, maybe have a DC supply that can power everything that needs it, that'd tidy things up substantially I'd think.
Fun setup for IT/hobbyists/tinkerers in rental premises. Easy to relocate.
I think this will be perfect for my needs.
Pretty nice project. Thank you for this video.
I do enjoy when things are more funner.
Those little racks are pretty sharp for very small projects....might try to pick one up and load it for my nephew who's recently discovered the IT world..... What he really wants is one of his uncle's 42U 19" cabinets but his folks said no (sometimes I just don't understand people).
WOW! T|his video gave me so much ideas. I was first thinking just to buy a case and be done with it. Now I want to build a 10" Rack in an IKEA Expedit bookcase (I flat out refuse to use the new name for it). If I have don my complex maths right, I ought to be able to fit 7U inside it (14 if the back side is used as well) and that is more than plenty.
Now I need to buy me a 3D printer...
A good beginning, but the power situation needs some work. You can replace all of the the wall warts with a Meanwell 12V power supply, and if something runs on 5V or USB-C, just find the appropriate automotive adapter. This only leaves the 19V for the HP mini, which may be run off of its AC adapter. On the other hand...
My partners and I run a prototyping lab, and we are downsizing our network rack as well as taking it off-grid. The goal is to run mobile offices, moving them from client to client, improving collaboration, speeding up iteration, and saving shipping. We've downsized the office network, from 2x36u racks to a 20u rack, and now to a 10" 12u rack. The last piece is a DC PS / PDU / UPS fitting in a 10" form factor which we have been designing and refining over the last 5 years. The price would be comparable or less than a similar commercial lithium UPS. This has been a slow burn project since I thought we were the only ones interested in such a device, so we didn't make it a priority or crowdfunded it. Building more would be about the same work as building ours, so if there is interest we can take the project off the back burner and build as many as needed.
As currently designed, this 2u 10" rack UPS provides a number of 5V, 12V, 19-20V, and 48-54V barrel jacks, as well as USB-C outputs. There are no AC outlets; it is DC only. A small OLED touchscreen and embedded web server are used to monitor and control the UPS as well as send shutdown signals to the connected servers if and when the batteries are depleted. The system will recharge and run on AC power and/or DC (solar?) as available and provides up to 1120W of power. It scales from 500W/h to 7W/h of capacity. This means that it has 20 minutes of real run time at max load for the minimum system, and up to 6 hours for the maximum. At a lower load, such as the 238W we expect to be drawing, we are looking at 2 hours for the minimum system and well over 24 hours for the maximum, which was our design specification. Note that KVA ratings don't really translate 1 to 1, since no AC is provided, but it is close enough.
The way it scales is that it is a 2u 500W/h device that is expandable with up to 3 additional 2u battery packs each adding 1W/h for a total of 3.5W/h. For AC (shore power) charging, we plan to have a 3u 1/3 depth AC adapter that can be mounted on the rear of the rack enclosure, convertible to a front mounted 1u 1/2 depth unit by flipping one set of rack mount ears and discarding the rest. Yes, this would occupy a total of 8u, 9u with the AC power supply, so we are also making a small 1/2 u, 1/3 depth ATS that allows up to 2 UPS and battery expansion systems to be mounted in a different 10" rack enclosures as well as providing load balancing and automatic fail-over. Since we plan to run Starlink, a network, local AI server, NAS /container server, PoE phones, wireless APs, lighting, and other systems in the mobile office, this isn't as much overkill as to seems. The UPS would also work well in a tiny home, vanlife, or other compact low power application.
If it sounds like this is something you need or want, please let me know and we will start making it a reality.
1:17 GRIDFINITY SPOTTED
Tripp Lite makes a little 300w ups with 4 ports it's 2.3" high and 10" wide. it can fit in the bottom of that rack but not on a shelf since the 10" is at the screws. i had to tilt it in first before putting anything else in.
Damn that looks so cool!
i have no idea what any of this is but watched it all. Cool time machine space ship.
hmm, interesting ideas. A lenovo M720Q + 8e HBA + a 6-8 drive backplane with a pair of SFF connectors, the correct couple of cables, and that would be a neat compact nas. It'd be really cool to be able to get a NAS, and 3-5 nodes (tinyminimicro) + a small switch with a 10G uplink all into here.
24:20 maybe you can have 1 pc powersupply and find a way to plug it to all the devices,
at most you will need a power converter. check the labels, it should be possible. and it will look waaay cleaner
Based on your switches the keystones on the mini pc are the right way around and it is your keystone panel that is upside down
Any normal person has a project in mind and designs a box to put it inside.
This man has a box and "designs" a project to put it inside.
Man! awesome video!
My biggest problem with the rackmate was that it uses imperial screws. I'm used to all rack gear being M6, I still haven't figured out how imperial screw sizing works, let alone which ones the rackmate uses.
Thanks for this, great vid! Love the idea of these mini-racks, but have been put off by the matching DeskPi ITX case being 2U and not being able to fit a full height PCIe card. Adapting that printed tray to 3U/full height should be perfect for me!
I just got off Instagram reels and the wording in that intro was INSANE
Hey Im a 16 year old boy from Germany who looks every video and loves your videos, please make more videos about home networking and good luck for your next projects 🎉
I’m having too a little server behind my pc which is running crafty and Plex on a pi4b 4gb for me and my friends to play Minecraft.
In my experience that overture PETG is some of the easiest PETG to print with(save going with a $40+ spool). Their clear PETG was also the clearest out of three I bought.
The patch panel is upside down, not your keystones next to the mini PC. Look at your switches, are those upside down?
Very nice job I enjoyed it
Have you considered running a 5, (9 if you need it) and 12v bus rail powered by a power for cable management? This way you just make short 2.5mm jack leads and eliminate all the wall warts. This does involve soldering, but it would look so clean. And modular
we have 4 USB channel power supply and 1U power switch module~
The ups is drawing more than it shows because it also has to charge the internal battery. I noticed that the battery indicator on the UPS shows that it wasn't fully charged yet.
Nice work!