U.C.D. DIY IKEA Lack RACK Build

Energen · August 31, 2020

So this one is a little more off topic of an Unraid build, rather it was a custom rack build for transferring my Unraid tower into a 4U chassis. I had shopped around for an actual server rack but didn't really find much that suited my desires.

I had lots of inspiration from other Lack Rack builds around the internet, and this was my creation. I guess I didn't keep any of the in-progress pictures, but there really wasn't much to see. This was my first attempt and am actually quite pleased with it. The costs in the end probably came close to actually buying some type of rack, but it was fun to make just the same.

I didn't keep an exact supplies list.. so this will sound kind of rough..

I started with 5 IKEA Lack end tables for $15 each. https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/lack-side-table-high-gloss-white-60193736/

I had to first get an inside length of the legs, so I unplugged the bottom of a leg -- it was about a half inch of particle board to drill out and the rest of the leg is hollow. Measured the inside length of the leg and then got........

Some 1.75" x 1.75" x 36" wood dowels from Home Depot, that fit perfectly (with some light sanding for smoothness) into the legs of the Lack racks for reinforcement. I believe it was that each dowel got me 2 legs plus some extra left over lengths (the top level was the remaining length of the dowel, so it's a shorter level). So I probably got 6 dowels at $10 each. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Kelleher-1-3-4-in-x-1-3-4-in-x-36-in-Wood-Square-Dowel-IM8322U-6/308668091

Each one had to be cut to size (thanks Home Depot saw guy), put into place, and then had some amount of final sanding to make it flush with the ends of the legs.. for whatever reason they weren't all perfect.

Then I started the assembly. I thought for support, and alignment, that it would be good to use a dowel in each leg to connect it to the table top. That required some precise placement of the drill bit in the legs and the table top so the holes would line up with the dowel in them. So each leg has a dowel with some glue in them, and some glue on the table where the leg sits. Just to keep everything together a little bit more. Dowel drill kit $10.

Then I used those lovely black corner braces on each leg to attach it to the table top for more support. They do work to some extent but the table top is mostly hollow where I screwed them in so most of them aren't really grabbing into any structure.. some of them seemed to hit something, and some didn't. So a few sets of brackets for $3 or so each.

For front to rear weight distribution and support where I thought it would be good to have, I used aluminum angle channels as a shelf. These are screwed into the wood dowels in the legs so nice and strong. $11 each, got a few of them and cut to size, and filed down the sharp edges of the cuts. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-1-4-in-x-48-in-Aluminum-Angle-with-1-16-in-Thick-800037/204373304

For the 2 pull out shelves near the top I used wood corner moulding. These would never hold much weight so didn't feel I needed to use anything stronger there. $12 each, got a few. https://www.homedepot.com/p/1-in-x-1-in-x-8-ft-Wood-Primed-Outside-Corner-Moulding-W9568PFJ/203579452

The entire thing is on a set of casters. They were a set from IKEA, $10 or so. I forget how I attached the wheels... remember that the table top (which was used as the first base platform) is mostly hollow. I think the corners had some material in them. So I forget if I just screwed into them, or if I followed the advice of a youtuber and used plastic wall anchors in the table top, and attached the wheels that way. Actually, I think I might have done that.......

The actual pull out shelves are some pieces that were perfectly sized to use from my old computer station I had customized a few years ago. Worked out perfectly. Added some handles to them to pull out the shelves. Beautiful!

After I did that and put some stuff on the shelf and pulled it out.. I said doh! I have to hold the shelf up so it doesn't just fall down!
I added another strip of the wood channel to keep the shelf in place when I pull it out. It's its own support bracket.

The XBOX and PS4 game shelf ---- might not work for the PS5 and/or new Xbox... LOL! Those things are huge! But the black shelf is something I already had, and I customized it with some metal corner brackets to keep the PS4 in place., the shelf is also secured to the shelf with some hose clamps. Front and back corners have corner brackets on them so the PS4 sits there and won't fall out. The Xbox has little L brackets around it to keep it in place. So does the cable modem on the side. The HDMI matrix is secured to the shelf as well.

I think that pretty much sums up the rack. It was a fun little project. In the end I might of been up to around $250 or so in supplies.. but totally worth it.

Rack bottom to top:

SilverStone RM400 4U Chassis -- Unraid

CyberPower OR1500LCDRM1U UPS

Netgear 24 port switch

24 port patch panel

SilverStone RM41-506 4U Chassis - Main PC

Pull out printer shelf -- it was meticulously measured and hoped to hell that it would fit. It's actually upside down so that the printer sits inside the shelf and has another inch or so of clearance. I really boxed myself in on this one as I can only ever get a printer that is exactly the size that I have now... but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

3U cabinet drawer

Blackbird 4K Pro 4X4 HDMI Matrix

XBOX, PS4

CyberPower PDU15M2F12R Metered PDU. I actually had 2 of these but one was defective and returned it, then decided for now I didn't need a second one.

So there you have it. A very custom, compulsively designed, IKEA Lack Rack.. for Unraid.

Edited August 31, 2020 by Energen