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This has been my project for the last couple of months. There isn't a whole lot of modding in it yet, mostly small, unnoticeable details (well, except the monitor mount, its kinda noticeable ). I have quite a few other things in mind having to do with cooling, security, and (the fun bit) lighting. Obviously, something will have to be done about those Dell logos too. Anyway, progress here shows about two months of on/off work. A lot of the build was done last weekend when my modem kicked the bucket. Its the usual thumbnail link with a description underneath format.
The starting point. The doors used combination locks (way too annoying) so I never really bothered putting them on. Worked, built well, but was running out of rackable space. The craigslist hunting began.
And the hunt pays off! Two matching Dell racks loaded with rails, shelves, and a bonus powervault 51F fibre switch (for sale if anyone needs a SAN switch...has GBICs!).
Doors. I really like the clean look. Lots of potential here.
Ripping out the old gear. Lots of universal server shelves and rapidrail kits for dell servers. That's the fibre switch off to the side there.
All clear. Took awhile. There were a few "troublesome" screws here and there.
It begins....small. The first rail kit goes in.
And the server follows. Honestly, rail kits are awesome.
Kitty overlord comes to inspect progress. Warns that things are not moving fast enough.
This bugger was annoying to find. My search for a simple drawer for my existing keyboard was looking to cost over a $100. Some rackmount crap is just ridiculous. Eventually scored this on ebay for about $40. The touch pad is a huge improvement over the craptastic trackball I used before.
Progress continues under watch of the kitty overlord.
It rolls out! Spiffy. Above the keyboard is the KVM, server, and power conditioner. The power conditioner has some handy pull out lights.
Work on both racks. Mounting the first few chassis.
Initial cable management. Most of those are KVM cables. I decided to uses as few tye wraps as possible. I used tye wraps for everything in the CPI rack and it made adding and removing stuff a giant PITA.
The monitor mount arrives.
The front. Fits perfectly inside 8U. About the same about of rack space used by someone'smini-atx case.
Work on the patch panel begins. This, by far, took long than anything else. I made custom lengths for everything. The Fluke made things a lot easier though. Should come in handy for LANs in the future too.
The last of the stuff from the other rack is moved. My gaming box, router, headphone amp, and the speaker amp. The router (the gold one) sagged a bit before. In this rack, the rear shelf is just about perfectly spaced to catch the bar that comes off the back of the router chassis. The shelf itself is handy for the non rack mountable gear that I can't or don't want to mod.
Cable management in this area is gonna suck. The trays there are banana plugs for the speaker connections. Twist blocks are annoying.
The multicolored patch cables kinda break up the nifty mix of brushed aluminum and black. Gonna have to do something about that. Not happy with the cable management either but its temporary.
Lower shot. That 4U space is being left open for another ARK style case.
On of my favorite pics. Some testing to make sure all the KVM and network connections are good.
Another whore shot. This time with the network cables too.
Wide shot before disconnecting the racks from each other and moving them into position. There was some last minute cable work before the side panels went back on.
This Tripplite handles power and surge protection for both racks. Its rated for 15amps.
The CPI now empty. Kinda sad looking.... BTW, anyone interested in a great split rack? Great condition.
The lower section. Another reason I'm trying to skip on the tye wraps, they make a big mess. You can tell a vacuum hasn't seen that patch of carpet in a long while.
Dark shot whoring...
More dark shot whoring...
The first and probably only time all three racks will be together.
The CPI is massive compared to the Dells which themselves are by no means small. I nearly snagged a matching CPI from craigslist but someone else beat me too it.
Finally moved into place. Three of the side panels are now mounted. The Dell mount is done but I didn't snap any pics.
Cables to the desk and speakers done. Booted for the first time in a couple of days. New modem went in at the same time. How I missed the interwebs. BTW, 10 pts to anyone that can identify the tv show.
Meaningless pic.
As suspected, the cable management in this section sucked. Still more to be done though. Err, yeah, that is a 2x4 there. The LCD arm the dell is on is meant to go into a stud. This a temporary solution but a practically very good one.
And finally.... The final side panel is still not attached to the second rack. It makes it much easier to finish some more cable work. The network and KVM cables have connections at the bottom of the racks so I can split them up without much trouble. The rear doors won't be attached for now. One was damaged in a bit of a funny story*. The other can't be mounted because a part was damaged moving the racks to my house.
*Funny story... right. So, Red and I drove over to a storage unit to meet the owners and pick up the racks. When the racks were put in storage, they were still fully loaded. One had 4 UPS, five or six powervault servers, and some other goodies. In other words, it probably was weighing in around 700-900 lbs. The door to the storage unit was tool low and the racks had to my leaned over and then rolled in. When moving the rack in, it fell on the guy holding it. It left quite an impression in the one of the rear doors. If you've ever seen one of these doors, you know how sturdy they are. Anyway, we were told the guy lived and had no major injuries (lucky bastard). Had to feel like getting slammed by a semi. _________________ I AM rackmountable.
Last edited by Lockman on Tue Apr 21 @ 11:39 pm; edited 1 time in total
Very nice new setup. Looks much better than before. I dont know, just partial to the dark rack color now. Good work... Nice AMP you got there by the way! _________________ I just love Steam sometimes, dont you???
Very nice new setup. Looks much better than before. I dont know, just partial to the dark rack color now. Good work... Nice AMP you got there by the way!
Yeah, that yamaha fits perfectly on the rack shelf. The remote works just fine through the door. Although, thanks to those speakers, my desk has been a bit cramped.
Now I've had to go and do this....
And a crap panorama...
Not so fun story behind getting that but I'm very happy with the result. Its actually suppose to be a conference room table but is doing just fine as a big a** desk. There is only one small problem. The dimensions in the craigslist ad were wrong. When I put it into my model of the room, there was still a space along the wall to get behind everything. Right now, I have to crawl underneath the desk to get to my little 15" gap behind everything. Its a square room so I can't change walls either. On the other hand, I don't need to go back there very often. _________________ I AM rackmountable.
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). I have quite a few other things in mind having to do with cooling, security, and (the fun bit) lighting. Obviously, something will have to be done about those Dell logos too. Anyway, progress here shows about two months of on/off work. A lot of the build was done last weekend when my modem kicked the bucket. Its the usual thumbnail link with a description underneath format.
