DIY A/V rack? - Page 6

What did you use for the "cable organizers/hooks" on the back of the rack?

What did you use for the "cable organizers/hooks" on the back of the rack?

I used Intellinet Rack Mounting Cable Management Rings

Hey guys, my rack is in no way "original" just a mish mash of other ideas shown here. Thank you to all who posted here before me, there were some great ideas. The Rack is on a pull out slide, and on a lazy susan, so it pulls out and rotates to access the back. The shelves on the side of the rack just lift out and that frees the rack to rotate. The drawer in the bottom houses the iPod dock, and Harmony remote charger and rf extender. Just got a PS3 for Christmas, so that will be replacing my old dvd player. That will still leave a blank shelf for future expansion. Thanks again everyone!

The beauty boards to trim out the equipment aren't yet done, but the rack is up and running... 1"x1" steel frame welded, with adjustable feet, and rails tapped at 1" increments. Shelves are 3/4"MDF bolted to aluminum "L" extrusion, and then mounted to the rack. Quite sturdy, and surprisingly light (before the MDF was installed ).

Nice set ups guys! i am currently trying to find a rack that does not cost over $300 but need to fit in 9-12 items!

the biggest being 5 spaces and 20.5 deep (onkyo nr3007)

i am also looking to get another rack for my computer stuff, my computer along will take up 12 spaces! i guess maybe a custom drawer beside it for all the software cd's and such, as well

but any suggestions on where to get a few of these that dont cost over $300 and have both sides and a lockable front?

I have tried fleebay but no one will deal something like that,

so maybe a custom on, might have to be the ticket?

If i do a custom one, can i just buy the sides of the rack in order to fit my shelves into?

PS3's are like mini space heaters. They vent from the from and sides to the back. Do you have any additional fans in your rack?

The reason I ask is I've bought a 28u rack and plan on modding it up to make it look nice and be functional. It came with a noisy 3U AC fan unit, but I think I'll ditch it and go with 3 or 4 120mm fans mounted on the back door and one on the top. www.coolerguys.com have a good selection. I might make, buy or cobble together a thermostat controlled unit.

I plan on cutting up aluminum (or buffed black plexiglass) for the front as some of the nicer racks have here for blanking panels. How tight is the fit between the faceplate and the components. I know it's probably not air tight. How are you guys controlling the air flow?

The rack itself is cheap. It's all of the accessories that make it expensive, like shelves, sides, doors and drawers.

I found an old rack on www.kijiji.com in my area. It's a bit rough, but for $60 it was a steal. I need to paint the side panels and door because they were grey and rusted/flaking in places. It needs shelves too.

A good place I found for shelving is www.proaudiostash.com. There are lots of others around too.

cool, thanks for the help!

what did you search as a title? server rack or something to that extent?

also are any body's racks front heavy and do any pose a tipping hazard? If so how do you combat that?

thanks!

Clever idea on being able to pull the rack far enough to swivel.

Similar to my experience... it's definitely the accessories that run the bill up.

I got my rails for free by doing some dumpster diving at work prior to a building move (we tossed a few full sized racks). Pulled one out of the dumpster, unbolted the rails and tossed them into my car.

I've probably spent about $500 on shelves, plates, screws, and drawers for the rack, though.

Here is the rack I made using a couple of rackrails, some aluminum, and a bit of patience.





This link takes you to the details in my build thread.

my diy rack:

I didn't go as far as custom face plates, but I did incorporate some wire management into my design. Materials (MDF, trim, adjustable shelf track, shelf tabs, hinges, handle, clasp) cost aronud $100. I sealed the joints and nail-heads and painted the trim after the pictures were taken. Walls have also been painted since then. The inside is painted the same color as the walls (creme brule), though it looks an awful lot like raw MDF or cardboard in the pictures. Some equipment has changes since then as well (WDTV => Acer HTPC, UP5000 => BDP-83, SR805 => NR1007).

I am enjoying this thread. I am trying to mimic YW84U post on the first page. he used aluminum to cover his components. I am having a hard time finding a sheet that is around 16 gauge so trying to find alternatives to get the same look. Do you think plexiglass painted might work?

I have 120MM Computer Fans cooling my rack. There is one on each shelf plus two above the door drawing the warm air out. All but one of the fans is wired to the same power source, which is plugged into the switched outlet on the back of the Denon amp. When the amp comes on, all but one of the fans powers up. The other fan, the one that rests on the shelf with the Tivo is wired to it own power source, and is plugged in and is on constantly. I was worried that the Tivo never powers down, and would alway be producing some heat. This set up seems to be working great. The PS3 gets only slightly warm to the touch, even after playing for hours. The Denon receiver is the major heat maker, and there is no top to the shelf, so with a fan blowing across that and the top fans exhausting the air out of the closet, there is very little temperature rise in the closet even with the door closed. There is a little air gap at the bottom of the closet door to help draw in cool air from the tile floor. If I had to do over again, I would spend a little bit more on fans that were a bit quieter, I got a great deal on fans from Frys, but the do hum a bit. Although from my living room, even with the volume muted, you can just barely hear the fans blowing.

It would be worth a shot and you might be able to backlight the plexi from inside the cabinet and give it nice glow?

Nice looking rack Stephen, do you mind sharing the dimensions of your shelf and also the H x W of the opening? This is similar to what I was planning and any help is appreciated. BTW I'm really liking the DIY cable management.

Thanks
JB

If I remember correctly, the ID is 20w x 36h x 22d. I ended up adding 2 more entrance/exit holes at the bottom... one directly to the right of what is pictured, and one on the right side wall. The side-wall hole is for speaker & HDMI, and the two bottom holes are just for power cables. I also now have my cable modem, wireless router, and powerline network router on the top shelf pointed backwards (behind the BluRays and Wii games).

Better late than never. It's simple but serves my needs.





Ceiling comes next.

Yes yes, I know I'm resurrecting a year old thread, but it is indeed a great thread. After I went through all 6 pages, I got some inspiration. I've finally finished the basement/media-room and the new AV equipment is on order on the way! I was going to just place all equipment, hidden, inside of the under the stairs closet as you can see in the picture. That is where I ran all A/V cabling to and will serve as the equipment 'room.'

Then, I stumbled across this DIY thread and my eyes widened at the DIY media racks built in to the wall. I am deciding if I want to emulate this and attempt a DIY rack similar to those in this thread. The first problem is the stud-spacing in the closet itself. I believe the wall is a supporting wall as you can see the 3-coupled 2x4s together. I had the electrician put a 20A 4-outlet box on the 2nd stud (its really the 3rd..but ehh...reference pic), and that is probably the stud I would need to 'cut' around 36" from the ground to do the in-wall DIY rack. However Im here to see the help of you more advanced DIYers. Would I need to redistribute the support weight of that single stud? If so, what is the best way. Unfortunately the studs are 16 on-center, and not wide enough for me to NOT have to cut that 2nd stud if I wanted to attempt the in-wall rack.

Also, should I double up on the studs (assuming I cut that current single 2nd stud (well its really a 3rd...since the 1st one is the door edge).

Would love to hear some thoughts from you guys....or ideas....I consider myself fairly handy - when provided some additional direction

Let me know if you need any additional details.

-Omesh

Some feedback from someone with just enough experience to be dangerous: I wouldn't fret it too much. Like the wall where I built my rack, that is not a load bearing wall so you can cut one of those studs without much problem. Here is a link to my build thread where I did a similar thing. And here is a follow up link showing some more work.I'm happy to say, my house is still standing.

Briefly, here are a few photos lifted from those links to give you a quick idea of how I did a similar thing, although my main obstacle was a stud behind the wall, but still right in the middle of where the rack opening had to be. You can see there isn't a lot of reinforcements needed in such a situation. Follow the links to my thread for much more detail if you're interested.












And I highly recommend doing this in your situation - it's great to be able to bury all that messy wiring back there but still easily get at your equipment without having to actually go into the under stairs closet area.

Thanks for the reply. It supports the doorway entry to the closet, and a doorway entry to the bathroom 3 feet to the right. Is there a way I can positively confirm if it's load bearing? Uh, without waiting for my ceiling to collapse.

It supports the stairs from the side, too It runs perpendicular to the ceiling trusses. Would any pictures from certain angles help?

I attempted to take a few more pics.

I took a picture of the 'full wall' from the outside so you can see the two doors.

Also the second picture is inside of the under-the-stairs closet looking up to the left of the door, as you can see the door is strangely framed, no king or jack stud, HEH.

The 3rd pic is looking even further up (to the left) of the vent, you can see the top of the studs is cut to allow the vent to run through it (if I were to reach left, with this view, i would touch the drywall for the bathroom). also there is a plumbing pipe running through the top-plate. I cant imagine a supporting-wall being cut, and having a pipe run through it. ehhh?

Here's my DIY rack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fR04...e_gdata_player

omesh,

Doesn't look like a bearing wall to me, but in any event you really should take this specific question into your own new thread to get feedback, rather than hijack this one. Just put a link to your new thread so anyone who sees this discussion here will be able to jump to your thread to help out.

Good luck!

Here is my rack - just finished painting today. I had hoped I would be able to friction fit all the pieces easily but it appears a couple of pieces have warped a bit and will need to be secured to the rack (The one around the Monster Power unit, top of the blueray player and the corner of the computer covers)



Very simple and cheap. I spent less than $40 on it. I used a sheet of MDF I had laying around and cut shelves for the components. I picked up some brackets at a local re-use center. They don't all perfectly match in color but I don't think anyone is really going to care





I used some cheap laminated plywood ($5 a sheet and I needed 2 sheets) and cut openings for my equipment



After making sure they all fit I painted them black with a $3 can of spray paint to get the look in the first picture

I recessed the equipment and the covers in case I ever wanted to add a tinted glass cover to the entire rack. I placed quarter-round backwards (so the flat side was out) to cover the indent in the wall and make a flush seem with the trim - well, almost flush. I recessed one side about 1/8" so I could bend and fit the cover pieces in and not have them fall out. Would have worked well if I hadn't taken so long to cut the pieces and have one of the sheets warp in the garage. I'll just tack the corners down on those two sheets so its still easy to remove if I change equipment

Love this simple approach - thanks! I think I might do something similar.

For the guys who mad your own face plates for your rack. What did you do for your gaps or did you cut the cut outs perfect? I would like to get it down the first cut, so I was planning on cutting a 1/16 or 1/8 bigger, if I do there will be a gap around the components. Not sure what to do about that.

Thanks, Joe

Great thread here, will use the ideas in here to build my rack. What is the typical size I need to have the rough opening to incorporate my a/v equipment. Receiver, Cable Box, Blu Ray right now but want to have enough space for when I add equipment. If you can post your Height and Width of the opening would be great. I'm thinking 48"H x 22"W and making shelves 20-22" deep.

Im debating on putting my gear in one of my side walls. How far are some of you guys runs on sub, speaker, and RCAs? My room is in my sig. I have about 3-4 foot crawl space on each side of the walls.