Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
107 lines (77 loc) · 6.99 KB

README.md

File metadata and controls

107 lines (77 loc) · 6.99 KB
Raw

rackstack

display

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
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.
M3x16 FHCS 16 ☝️
M3 hex nut 28 ☝️
3x10 steel dowel pin 4 3mm diameter, 10mm height
6x2 neodymium disc magnet 8 6mm diameter, 2mm height
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.