10 Inch Mini-rack for Raspberry Pi Upgrade your home lab with this fun 3d printable project 14 February 2025 5 minute read By Kevin McAleer Share this article on Table of Contents What is a Mini-Rack?Why a Mini-Rack?Building a Mini-Rack using a laser-cutter, 3D printer and 20x20mm aluminium extrusionMini-Rack 3D Design CourseStretch GoalsBill of Materials3D Printed PartsLaser-cut partsGallery of PartsBottom CornerTop Corner1U Corner2U CornerHandlePi Tray20x20 Extruded Bar2U DimensionsAssembled DesignAssembly Tags: Raspberry Pi cluster mini-rack Difficulty: beginner Category: raspberrypi Home Projects 10 inch mini rack for raspberry pi 10 Inch Mini-rack for Raspberry Pi Upgrade your home lab with this fun 3d printable project 14 February 2025 | 5 minute read | By Kevin McAleer | Share this article on Page last updated 2 March 2025 Videos For every project I create, I often make a corresponding YouTube video. Sometimes, there might be more than one video for a single project. You can find these videos in this section. Explore more through these this dedicated videos. What is a Mini-Rack? A Mini-Rack is a small, 10” rack that can hold network equipment, computers and other related equipment. A full size rack, one you typially find in a server room or data center are 19” wide. A mini-rack is 10” wide, and designed for smallers spaces, perfect for a home lab or small office. Why a Mini-Rack? A mini-rack is a great way to keep your equipment organized and easily accessible. It keeps cables tidy and everything neat and in its place. It also helps with cooling, as the equipment is mounted in a way that allows for better airflow. 10” racks are standardised, meaning its easy to get parts and accessories for your rack, including: Mountable Switches Power Distribution Units Cable Management Cooling Fans Tray Shelves Mini-Racks can also be extended easily, by adding more shelves or by stacking racks on top of each other. Building a Mini-Rack using a laser-cutter, 3D printer and 20x20mm aluminium extrusion I built a mini-rack using a laser-cutter, 3D printer and 20x20mm aluminium extrusion. The rack is 10” wide, 4U high Racks use a standard unit of height, known as a ‘U’ where 1U = 44.45mm . It has 4 shelves, each 10” wide and 200mm deep. The frame is made from 20x20mm aluminium extrusion, 3D printed parts for stability and finished with a basswood top and front facia. The rack is intended to be a free standing desktop rack. My requirements for this rack project are: 10” Mini-Rack Made from parts I can easily source or make House at least 4 Raspberry Pi 5s House the networking equipment for the Raspberry Pi cluster 4 way power distribution Mini-Rack 3D Design Course Stretch Goals In addition to the requirements above, I would like to add the following features: Networking - preferably with PoE for power Able to restart each pi remotely (usually via the PoE switch) Second row of Raspberry Pi 5s for a total of 8 Pis UPS for power backup LED Lighting inside for added coolness Bill of Materials Item Description Quantity Cost Total 20x20mm Aluminium Extrusion (I used a chop-saw to cut from 1 meter lengths) 4 £2.50 £10.00 Rack mount nuts Black 6M Nuts and bolts (pack of 50) 1 8.39 £8.39 Rack Shelf 10” Rack Shelf 1 £15.99 £15.99 Power Strip 10” Power Strip 2 £28.99 £57.98 8 port PoE Switch 8 port PoE Switch 1 £54.99 £54.99 T-Nuts 6M T-Nuts (pack of 50) 1 £8.99 £8.99 Patch Cables 0.3m Cat6 Patch Cables (pack of 5 ) 2 £6.99 £15.98 Total £172.32 Add as many Raspberry Pi 5s as you need, I’m using 4 in my build (in the first iteration). 3D Printed Parts To make this project expandable and configurable, and also to make it easy to print on most 3D Printers I’ve designed a couple of key parts that you can print yourself: 2U corner 1U corner Top Corner Bottom Corner Handle Pi tray Laser-cut parts The top panel and front panels are made from basswood, and are laser-cut to size. This is a list of laser-cut parts: Top Panel Front Panel Gallery of Parts Bottom Corner Top Corner 1U Corner 2U Corner Handle Pi Tray 20x20 Extruded Bar 2U Dimensions Assembled Design Assembly Its best to print the 3D printed parts with 100% infill, as they will be supporting the weight of the rack and the equipment. The 20x20mm extrusion is cut to size, and the 3D printed parts are bolted to the extrusion using the rack mount nuts and bolts. You may need to tap the ends of the 20x20 extrusion to allow the bolts to screw in easily. I used a 6M tap to do this. The 2U, top and bottom sections slot into each other. The Handle is bolted to the 20x20 extrusion using some T-nuts DXF Files Here are the DXF files for the project: Top Panel Cluster Panel 3D Models Here are the 3D printable STL files: STL List 2U Corner 2U Corner Mirrored 1U Corner 1U Corner Mirrored Top Corner Top Corner Mirrored Bottom Corner Bottom Corner Mirrored Handle Pi Tray 5 Pi Tray 4 2U Corner Download 2u_corner_v2.stl 2U Corner Mirrored Download 2u_corner_v2_mirror.stl 1U Corner Download 1u_corner.stl 1U Corner Mirrored Download 1u_corner_mirror.stl Top Corner Download top_corner_v2.stl Top Corner Mirrored Download top_corner_v2_mirror.stl Bottom Corner Download bottom_corner_v2.stl Bottom Corner Mirrored Download bottom_corner_v2_mirror.stl Handle Download handle.stl Pi Tray 5 Download pi4_tray.stl Pi Tray 4 Download pi5_tray.stl Liked this article? You might like these too. Pi Tray - Mini-rack - Part II In this part of the mini-rack project, we will finish the design with the Pi Tray, Top Panel and Front Cluster Panel Pi 10 Inch Mini-rack A mini-rack is a great way to keep your equipment organized and easily accessible. Installing and Using DeepSeek-R1:1.5 on a Raspberry Pi with Docker We explore its features, pros, cons, and why it's a disruptive innovation challenging ChatGPT and Gemini. Gamepad & BurgerBot Build a Raspberry Pi Pico powered bluetooth remote control for your robot 10 Projects for your Raspberry Pi Pico If you've just got a new Raspberry Pi Pico and you're looking for some inspiration, then you've come to the right place. Here is a collection of projects that you can build with your Raspberry Pi Pico. Raspberry Pi Telegraf Setup with Docker "Learn how to set up Telegraf on your Raspberry Pi with Docker to monitor system metrics and integrate with popular time-series databases like InfluxDB or Prometheus."
10 Inch Mini-rack for Raspberry Pi Upgrade your home lab with this fun 3d printable project 14 February 2025 5 minute read By Kevin McAleer Share this article on Table of Contents What is a Mini-Rack?Why a Mini-Rack?Building a Mini-Rack using a laser-cutter, 3D printer and 20x20mm aluminium extrusionMini-Rack 3D Design CourseStretch GoalsBill of Materials3D Printed PartsLaser-cut partsGallery of PartsBottom CornerTop Corner1U Corner2U CornerHandlePi Tray20x20 Extruded Bar2U DimensionsAssembled DesignAssembly Tags: Raspberry Pi cluster mini-rack Difficulty: beginner Category: raspberrypi
What is a Mini-Rack? A Mini-Rack is a small, 10” rack that can hold network equipment, computers and other related equipment. A full size rack, one you typially find in a server room or data center are 19” wide. A mini-rack is 10” wide, and designed for smallers spaces, perfect for a home lab or small office. Why a Mini-Rack? A mini-rack is a great way to keep your equipment organized and easily accessible. It keeps cables tidy and everything neat and in its place. It also helps with cooling, as the equipment is mounted in a way that allows for better airflow. 10” racks are standardised, meaning its easy to get parts and accessories for your rack, including: Mountable Switches Power Distribution Units Cable Management Cooling Fans Tray Shelves Mini-Racks can also be extended easily, by adding more shelves or by stacking racks on top of each other. Building a Mini-Rack using a laser-cutter, 3D printer and 20x20mm aluminium extrusion I built a mini-rack using a laser-cutter, 3D printer and 20x20mm aluminium extrusion. The rack is 10” wide, 4U high Racks use a standard unit of height, known as a ‘U’ where 1U = 44.45mm . It has 4 shelves, each 10” wide and 200mm deep. The frame is made from 20x20mm aluminium extrusion, 3D printed parts for stability and finished with a basswood top and front facia. The rack is intended to be a free standing desktop rack. My requirements for this rack project are: 10” Mini-Rack Made from parts I can easily source or make House at least 4 Raspberry Pi 5s House the networking equipment for the Raspberry Pi cluster 4 way power distribution Mini-Rack 3D Design Course Stretch Goals In addition to the requirements above, I would like to add the following features: Networking - preferably with PoE for power Able to restart each pi remotely (usually via the PoE switch) Second row of Raspberry Pi 5s for a total of 8 Pis UPS for power backup LED Lighting inside for added coolness Bill of Materials Item Description Quantity Cost Total 20x20mm Aluminium Extrusion (I used a chop-saw to cut from 1 meter lengths) 4 £2.50 £10.00 Rack mount nuts Black 6M Nuts and bolts (pack of 50) 1 8.39 £8.39 Rack Shelf 10” Rack Shelf 1 £15.99 £15.99 Power Strip 10” Power Strip 2 £28.99 £57.98 8 port PoE Switch 8 port PoE Switch 1 £54.99 £54.99 T-Nuts 6M T-Nuts (pack of 50) 1 £8.99 £8.99 Patch Cables 0.3m Cat6 Patch Cables (pack of 5 ) 2 £6.99 £15.98 Total £172.32 Add as many Raspberry Pi 5s as you need, I’m using 4 in my build (in the first iteration). 3D Printed Parts To make this project expandable and configurable, and also to make it easy to print on most 3D Printers I’ve designed a couple of key parts that you can print yourself: 2U corner 1U corner Top Corner Bottom Corner Handle Pi tray Laser-cut parts The top panel and front panels are made from basswood, and are laser-cut to size. This is a list of laser-cut parts: Top Panel Front Panel Gallery of Parts Bottom Corner Top Corner 1U Corner 2U Corner Handle Pi Tray 20x20 Extruded Bar 2U Dimensions Assembled Design Assembly Its best to print the 3D printed parts with 100% infill, as they will be supporting the weight of the rack and the equipment. The 20x20mm extrusion is cut to size, and the 3D printed parts are bolted to the extrusion using the rack mount nuts and bolts. You may need to tap the ends of the 20x20 extrusion to allow the bolts to screw in easily. I used a 6M tap to do this. The 2U, top and bottom sections slot into each other. The Handle is bolted to the 20x20 extrusion using some T-nuts