Here’s a full write-up on the first year of my Home-Lab: https://piefed.social/post/1002037

Since then I’ve now added networking and a self built 10" rack, I was undecided between MikroTik and UniFi but ended up going UniFI and I’m quite happy.

Building the 2020 Aluminum profile 10" server rack was a lot of fun and I learnt a lot of lessons along the way like:

  • Cutting perfectly straight with a hacksaw is a bitch and nearly impossible (or at least for me) would not recommend.
  • Buy a table/mitre saw or have them pre-cut
  • Tapping threads yourself is a lot of fun, and I would recommend doing it yourself, worked perfectly every time.
  • Bolt length and head size matters, even 1mm matters (that’s what she said)

It’s janky I know, but I love it and it’s a lot less Janky than when everything was just on my desk

Next step for me would be to buy a 3D Printer (Sovol S6 Plus Ace) and print custom racks for everything

Shout out to https://www.motedis.com/ for the Aluminum parts, they can cut and tap all the parts to your desired length if you don’t want to bother with that, but that’s half the fun (and frustration)

  • HelloRoot@lemy.lolEnglish
    0·
    24 days ago

    This is so fucking awesome! Congrats on the build!

    It’s jankey I know

    if this is jankey, my 10" rack belongs in the landfill

    Do you have any interesting plans to do something against the future dust buildup?

  • blimp@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    24 days ago

    Nice build. We use a lot of aluminium profiles at work for prototyping. We also have a mitre saw ;)

    You can also have polycarbonate panels made for cheap to have a more finished appearance at the cost of ventilation and ease of access.

    • Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      0·
      24 days ago

      Thanks yea that’s the plan I’ll add those to the side and something on top later on.

      Either that or I’ll 3D print a honeycomb mesh

    • porksnort@slrpnk.netEnglish
      0·
      24 days ago

      Extruded aluminum of that type is insanely stable and easy enough to build for a reasonably handy person.

      You only need a cheap cutoff saw and a drill, or you can order pre-cut and ore-drilled pieces to order.

      There are a number of makers of extruded aluminum building systems, basically tinkertoys for adults. I have personal experience using 80/20 and the Tslots brands. They are functionally identical.

      I have used it to build stands for heavy equipment like ultra-cold freezers for labs. It is more than sufficient for any server racking.

    • TheJesusaurus@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      24 days ago

      My old FDM printer frame and I think most are made of extruded aluminium exactly like this. Extremely sturdy and can be adjusted very finely with machine screws

    • Monument@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      0·
      23 days ago

      I have an FDM printer (Ender 3 clone) that is mostly 2020 aluminum extrusion as the frame. A few years ago I found some 2020 on sale and built a set of shelves for my wife’s plants out of it. (Now - I know. It’s not the most economical use of materials, but it was the middle of winter, and I didn’t want to go work in the garage. Plus the 2020 was on sale.) It’ll support a slew of plants over a 4-foot span (~1.2m) without any sagging or other concerns. It can be wobbly side to side, but that’s a matter of bracing and connectors.

        • Monument@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
          0·
          23 days ago

          I know. I was just seeing if you would notice. awkward laughter

          (But thanks, I was trying to wing the conversion and started off with 3.3ft =1m and then did the numbers meme while my fingers typed gibberish.)

    • Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      0·
      24 days ago

      I’m pretty sure I can stand on it without issues, if I add some corner plates it would be even stronger.

      But when in doubt you can always go for 3030 or 4040 which would be really strong, you can probably park a motorcycle on those

  • Ananace@lemmy.ananace.devEnglish
    0·
    24 days ago

    I absolutely love that zip-tie mounting solution, it’s the kind of thing I wish I saw in more homelab setups.

    • Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      0·
      24 days ago

      Thanks I love the jank, one day it’s going to be all neat and tidy and I’m going to miss the mess that it used to be, it adds character.

  • BananaOnionJuice@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    24 days ago

    Looks much more professional than mine, I just built my case from wood added room for enough disks and placed it into a kitchen cabinet.

    And it’s a nice touch fastening the disks with zip ties.

  • uhmbah@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    24 days ago

    I disagree, not jank.

    I have the same duck.

    Nice job OP. Thanks for posting. I’m going to do the same.

  • Thorry@feddit.orgEnglish
    0·
    24 days ago

    A table saw is for lengthwise cuts, for cutting long things like these you need a cut-off saw.

    Fun fact, you don’t really need to tap soft aluminium like this. You can just drive the bolt straight in with an impact driver. I thought it was sketch at first, having always tapped them beforehand. But my buddy said it’s a waste of time, just drive the bolts in right away. So I tried it and he was right, it works perfectly every time. They form perfect threads so you can easily remove and re-add the bolt just like when it was tapped beforehand.

    • bluGill@fedia.io
      0·
      24 days ago

      I have enough of a machinist background to doubt the threads are anywhere close to perfect. However if you are saying more than good enough I will agree.

      • Fuck u/spez@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        0·
        23 days ago

        I’d think they would at least need to be self-tapping sheet metal screws but that an impact driver could surely strip the holes just as fast as it threads them.