rackstack

A modular 3d-printable mini rack system

• Mount Anything: Perfect for organizing SBCs, mini PCs, small switches, power hubs, etc.
• Fully customizable: Fully written in OpenSCAD. Everything, from the dimensions of the rack, to the roundness of the corners, can be modified with a simple code change.
• Printable from home: Designed to be printed with conventional FDM printers. Requires minimal supports when printing, and final assembly needs only a few easy-to-source parts.
• No cage nuts: Sliding hex nut design for the front rails allows one to easily mount items, without dealing with cage nuts.
• Stackable: Individual racks can be easily stacked and fastened together. Mix and match different color and design combinations!

Assembly

Pre-generated STLs for roughly 200mm^3 (mini), 180mm^3 (micro), and 100mm^3 (nano) rack frames can be found in the stl dir. These STLs are generated from the files in rack/print - further information about printing these parts (supports, orientation) can be found in these files.

Assembly Instructions

Please see the assembly guide.

BOM - Required Tools:

• 3d FDM Printer - build size requirements depend on configured rack profile
• M3 Allen Key (for constructing the rack)
• M4 Allen Key (for mounting rack-mount items)

BOM - Single Rack:

| Item | Name | Quantity | Comment | |---------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------|----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | <img src="media/bom/fhcs_medium.gif" height="60" width="72"> | M3x12 FHCS | 12 | Extras are useful and inexpensive. If you plan on eventually stacking multiple racks together, don't hesitate to get a lot more. | | <img src="media/bom/fhcs_long.gif" height="60" width="72"> | M3x16 FHCS | 16 | ☝️ | | <img src="media/bom/hex_nut.gif" height="60" width="72"> | M3 hex nut | 28 | ☝️ | | <img src="media/bom/dowel.gif" height="60" width="72"> | 3x10 steel dowel pin | 4 | 3mm diameter, 10mm height | | <img src="media/bom/magnet.gif" height="60" width="72"> | 6x2 neodymium disc magnet | 8 | 6mm diameter, 2mm height | | <img src="media/bom/glue.gif" height="60" width="72"> | super glue | >= 2ml | Used to glue magnets to plastic |

Printing - Single Rack:

| Part | Quantity | |------------------------------------------------------|----------| | Left Y-Bar | 2 | | Right Y-Bar | 2 | | X-Bar | 4 | | Main Rail | 4 | | Left Side Wall | 1 | | Right Side Wall | 1 | | XY-Plate | 2 | | Feet (optional) | 2 |

Notes:

• ⚠️ Before printing the actual parts. It's recommended to print this evaluation part: eval_P.scad to test tolerances. If you find the fits too tight/loose, you can adjust them here. Please make sure also adjust the layer height in that file, too.
• Omitted actual plastic for printing. Any conventional 3d printing plastic should do (PLA, PETG, ABS), but beware of PLA's thermal limits. Higher infill is recommended for all parts.
• For joining two racks, you will need to print 4 rackJoiners, as well as 8 M3 hex nuts, and 8 M3x12 FHCS.
• Main front rails use M4 hex nuts and screws.
• Side rails are mounted using M3 hex nuts and screws.

Configuring + Generating STLs

A python script: rbuild.py is provided to generate different project stls. Before running the script, please configure the path to the OpenSCAD binary in rbuild.py.

Requirements:

• openscad CLI binary
• python3

Examples:

Generate all project files for the micro profile:

python3 rbuild.py -b all -c micro

This will build all the parts defined in rack/print, and put the STLs in stl/micro. You can also provide a -dz {n} parameter to adjust the height of the generated rack. Configuring other rack variables can be done in config/rackframe.scad.

For generating a specific part, and putting it into a new stl/custom target directory:

python3 rbuild.py -b yBar -c micro -t custom

rbuild.py also support an optional --nightly flag, which will run a nightly build of OpenSCAD. Please make sure the path to the nightly build is also configured in rbuild.py.

⚠️ Important:

Before committing to a full print, please try printing an evaluation print: eval_P.scad to test tolerances. It is very likely you will need to edit the default tolerances in print.scad for a nice fit.

Trays, Boxes, etc

Some parametric rack mount systems can be found in rack-mount. The following rack-mount systems are currently supported:

• Enclosed Box: For mounting box-shaped objects, without the need for any mounting holes on the box.
• Tray: Simple tray mounted using only the front rails. Can be configured to have screw mounts at the bottom of the tray.
• Patch Panel: Linear patch panel array. Number of keystone slots can be configured.
• Angle Brackets: Simple Angle Bracket mounting system. Derived from the Enclosed Box system.

Rack Mount Catalog

There is a small catalog of various pre-configured rack-mountable parts in the catalog directory. Please feel free to add anything even remotely useful!

Designing rack-mount items

Some useful variables for designing your own rack-mount items can be found in rack-mount/dimensionHelper.scad.