GoKawiilI built a 10-inch mini rack from aluminium extrusions and I had a lot of fun doing it. I want to share my build in this post.
In January of 2025, Jeff Geerling released a video about 10-inch mini racks. I was absolutely oblivious to this new trend, and I instantly knew that I wanted to build one for myself some day, although I didn't have a real use for one.
That said, I've been working on a virtualization project recently and I've bought six 1L PC's (three for each simulated datacenter).
Because these 1L PCs are small, they have huge external power bricks. As these mini PCs are also connected to two networks, they create a huge mess on my desk. Finally a reason to build a mini rack, to tidy things up!
There are a few different brands of mini rack for sale, but I wanted to make one for myself. Prebuilt racks (kits) are not cheap for what they are so I wanted to try and see if I could build one myself for less money. Turns out you can buy 20mm aluminium extrusions and accompanying components to build your own rack.
(Aluminium extrusions have a standardized 'groove')
Aluminium extrusions are bars with a groove on all four sides. These bars have a standard format and you can slide all kinds of equipment in there and lock it in place with set screws. It seems to be used a lot for home made 3D printers, CNC machines and whatnot. In the picture above a special corner piece is used to connect three bars together, fixed in place with set screws.
The L-brackets can be used to create T-sections within a frame to sturdy the structure and provide additional mounting points. In my rack, the middle post carries the back of the shelves holding the mini PCs.
These sliding cage nuts (M5) can be used to attach anything anywhere. In this example we used four of them to hold the side panels in place. These cage nuts can also be used for their intended purpose: mount 10 inch rack-mount equipment.
In this picture below, some cage nuts are left that hold the side panel in place. Also notice in the upper left that I've used cage nuts to attach some black cable tie holders that in turn keep cables in place.
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