So you have a little coin left over from all of the DIY projects you have built? Now you need somewhere to put all of those new modules! Again you might be able to save some money if you build your own rack. All sorts of information you now have to be aware of. How much current are you going to use? Do you have lots of power hungry digital modules? I do 😀

Space is also a concern. You always want more HP, but at some point the case or rack just becomes too heavy to even move it around! I just finished this rack. It is 150HP wide, 5-3U and 2-1U. I believe this is as large as you can make it where one person can move it. Any bigger than this it will take two people to move it. I have worked this design for a while now. This is the third version of it.

I packed four PSU’s into this sucka’. So power specs are 16 Amps of +12V, 4 Amps of -12V, and 60 Amps of +5V! I have plenty of one off power crazy modules, so I really have need for this kind of current draw. One of the main trade offs for stuffing that kind of power into a smaller space is heat. You have to deal with that heat, so in this case I incorporated 2-120mm fans. Two fans for redundancy so one can fail and I can still operate on the cool. I kicked down the speed of the fans so they are not going full speed to cut down on the noise.

I added a custom CNC’d vented cover that allowed me to keep the streamlined look. I also added custom 1U power boards that have all of the various power connectors and even a specialized connector that I use for my own custom shit. The more custom stuff you make the more you have a tendency to start your own ideas and roll with your own standards. If you can customize your work space the more natural it feels for your specific work flow. Keep building smarter! 😀