Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/14/lack-rack-ikeas-cheapest-ta.html
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Interesting. I’ve been trying to find the 4-foot wide table version recently, I have two from a few years ago but can’t find new ones to match… seems that model isn’t made any longer.
It used solid wood legs, can’t recall if they would mount the same way… but if so, that solves the purchase for the rack screws.
Should also note - you might want a support the racks in the back, I could see the weight in the back causing the legs to kick out from the bottom.
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Lack tables are pretty popular in the 3D printing community too. They make a great frame to build an enclosure for your printer to keep airflow down. Just slap some plexiglass doors and walls on, and bingo.
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Wait. You missed the opportunity to say Lack Rack Hack in the headline?
Disappointed.
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Now here is some serious old-school Boing-Boing stuff.
Lack tables: $9.99. Had to look up what a “cavity screw” was (aka “anchor bolt”). Nice!
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Perfect for an 84hp EuroLack modular synth!
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Keep in mind the tabletop is made of cardboard honeycomb with the thinnest sliver of melamine laminate on top. I wouldn’t entrust heavy equipment to a Lack.
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The Lack table is also perfectly sized for making 3D printer enclosures.
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surely you’d modify the legs with these
https://www.pennelcomonline.com/en/Penn-Elcom-12U-Full-Hole-Rack-Strip-with-Square-Holes-2mm008-R08632MM-12/m-6519.aspx
Of course, with just the standard Lack, you’re also missing out on a key aspect of a rack - the rack mounting which allows you to take systems out easily.
I do wish many of the homelab people would put their switches round the back of their racks to avoid the horrible cable management problems of bringing them from the back to the front.
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I would find your Lack of faith disturbing; but I happen to share it.
It’s especially a concern with PoE being such a big thing. Unless you are going to 10GbE or higher a switch is actually a pretty low-power piece of gear; but if you are thinking of putting anywhere near the maximum standard power on all the PoE ports you’ll end up with something that is pretty much a dense mass of PSU and surprisingly hefty even in 1U sizes.
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These tables are definitely cheap (in price and construction) but are great for hacking. If secured properly, the 19 inch rack equipment might actually even give the table more strength,at least until it collapses from the extra weight. I made this out of one a while back:
(And in case anyone is wondering, the picture was taken at LA Comic-Con and the guy playing was wearing a full PacMan suit)
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That last one in the article? with the dell rack mount in it? I sure as hell hope there’s some decent airflow for it; those puppies tend to run pretty warm.
Me, I have an actual half-cabinet that I salvaged from work a number of years ago. (It was being thrown out, and the boss gave me permission to ‘throw it out’- into the back of my truck.)
I have an Ender CR-6 SE coming to me in the next couple months; I’ll look into that.
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Normal screws won’t work because a lot of Ikea furniture is basically cardboard inside. The desktops I adapted are like that.
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And the last link of the article points to a Lack Rack Hack Stack
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A few years ago my team needed a couple of non-magnetic tables (we do stuff for MRI). The rest of the team were talking to a carpenter about making something custom. I sent them to IKEA for some Lacks, and had a student swap the bolts for epoxy. Lacks are almost all air, so perfect. Job done!
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At home I have a Lack table that’s falling apart, and at work we have just been stripping out a couple of data centres, so hopefully I can do the opposite and use rack mount gear to fix the legs on my table.
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Ikea Rast bedside tables made better 19" racks. I’m not sure if they still make them though.
I can understand for business, but what would a household need with several rack mounted machines? Do any of you have any?
It depends on the household. Maybe Mom is rendering 3d animation for a music video for her procedurally generated music, Dad is hosting his own minecraft server and little Reggie is mining Doge Coins.
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