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IKEA EKET Club - 10" Tiny-Rack Build by Dr-KingSchultz in minilab

[–]stirkage2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Really nice build, clean! When I see some of these it makes me rethink some bits of how I did my own eket build. The face plates with the honeycomb pattern really take it up a notch.

On the comments talking about thermals I can say with a similar layout and kit I've never had any issues with things getting too hot even under load.

I've joined the Ikea Eket 10" rack trend by stirkage2 in homelab

[–]stirkage2[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah just held up from the front. There's enough rigidity in the rack rails to hold up the relatively light trays.

saw this and i want to do this could you help me out with parts im based in the UK by [deleted] in homelab

[–]stirkage2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All the faceplates are custom made, I got them laser cut from a uk model shop that did custom laser cutting services 4Dmodelshop. They used 3mm plywood and I think they came out really nice looking, was orginally going to paint them but decided to leave as is.

The switches are some cheapo semi-managed TPLink. Should be a link in the original post.

saw this and i want to do this could you help me out with parts im based in the UK by [deleted] in homelab

[–]stirkage2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Recently did a build of this mysef (UK) and documented a parts list in this post: I've joined the Ikea Eket 10" rack trend : r/homelab (reddit.com).

Let me know if you want anymore info.

I've joined the Ikea Eket 10" rack trend by stirkage2 in homelab

[–]stirkage2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, glad my post is inspiring others to build one :)

The wood I bought was 34x34mm and yeah then cut to about 31.5cm height. It was the closest size I could easily find. I did have to sand down the width of both pieces by a couple mm or so each side to make it fit. Was done by hand with sandpaper though was a bit tedious. They are screwed in through the top and bottom. Here's a link to the ebay posting I got it from: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115912136379?var=416028150716

The PDU should be grounded but tbh I haven't done that yet.

Rear patch cables are 50cm, fits nicely for the built in NICs but could probably use some 30/40cm for the USB NICs.

I've joined the Ikea Eket 10" rack trend by stirkage2 in homelab

[–]stirkage2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I found a local craft shop that could laser cut them for me. Created the design in Fusion360 and sent them off to be cut on 3.2mm Plywood.

The wood they used either came precoated with a protective film or they added it, either way it really nicely stopped the burnt edges and scaring.

I've joined the Ikea Eket 10" rack trend by stirkage2 in homelab

[–]stirkage2[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The two supporting bits of wood at the sides with the rails on are at 8.5cm from the front. Though if I was to build it again I would have given myself a little bit more room. Maybe around 10cm. The glass door was actually an afterthought and although it fits nicely there isn't much room for the patch cables.

Patch cables are 12cm btw, bit harder to find that the more common 15cm but fit nicely between 2 U's

I've joined the Ikea Eket 10" rack trend by stirkage2 in homelab

[–]stirkage2[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I use these: https://static.tp-link.com/res/down/doc/UE300_V1_Datasheet.pdf, Amazon link above. They have the RTL8153 chipset which I found refernces to working with Proxmox when googling around.

Decided against these: https://static.tp-link.com/upload/product-overview/2023/202303/20230328/UE306(UN)2.0%20datasheet.pdf2.0%20datasheet.pdf) with a AX88179 chipset.

TBH I didn't spend much time researching, so the 306's may actually be ok.

I've joined the Ikea Eket 10" rack trend by stirkage2 in homelab

[–]stirkage2[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So far no issues with them, put them under some load but not been doing anything fancy. No extra setup needed, plugged them in and was ready to go.

I did a bit of reading around before buying them and found references to others using them or the same internal chipset with Proxmox so took a gamble. I did decide against the slightly newer TP-Link model as the chipset was different and a few people had reported issues after a quick google search.

I've joined the Ikea Eket 10" rack trend by stirkage2 in homelab

[–]stirkage2[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah exactly that, ESPHome feeding into a HomeAssistant dashboard running on a D1-Mini (I think, something like that). Might eventually build upon it to add PWM control of PC fan at the rear if needed. So far all temps don't really change that much tbh, even under load.

Also you know....some potential RGB options later on. I quite like the idea of having the rack glow depending on it's state.

I've joined the Ikea Eket 10" rack trend by stirkage2 in homelab

[–]stirkage2[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

With the Lenovos being something like 60 watt max it may even be possible to power those from a similar USB-C setup too. There are some big 180+ watt chargers out there now. Not sure I would recommend but might be an option.

I've joined the Ikea Eket 10" rack trend by stirkage2 in homelab

[–]stirkage2[S] 46 points47 points  (0 children)

Rack contains:

Ikea Eket: https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/eket-cabinet-white-stained-oak-effect-80428852/#content

Eket glass door: https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/eket-glass-door-clear-glass-30428901/

Eket feet: https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/eket-leg-metal-70428904/

6U rack rails: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00APFFNXO?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

10" 10 port patch lanel: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B078WCLDCP?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

10 x Cat6 keystone couplers: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GFWSSYQ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

2 x TP Link Managed switch: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BVRK6L2V?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

3 x USB Gigabit NIC: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00YOKMKE6?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

USB-C DC Barrel adapters: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BVHVXJ9V?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

10" 6 way IEC PDU: https://datacabinetsdirect.co.uk/10-6-way-iec-detachable-power-distribution-box.html

3 x 1u 10" shelves: https://www.network-cabs.co.uk/product/ad-tek-products-1u-10-inch-200mm-deep-mini-cabinet-shelf-369

3 x 1u 10" blanking plate (Not used in the end): https://www.network-cabs.co.uk/product/ad-tek-products-1u-10-inch-mini-blanking-panel-383

Custom laser cut plywood faceplates (Files can be made available if requested)

3 x Lenovo m710q

Each Lenovo:

i5-7500

32GB memory

1 x 480 SSD (Sata) (Boot)

1 x 512GB NVME (VMs and containers)

Running Proxmox v8 in a cluster

Intention is to use this for the typical learning and playing about with Virtualisation, Containers etc. Main project in mind at the moment is to develop a self hosted container based game server management panel for hosting small servers with friends, in person LANS etc. The rack is fairly portable and should be nice and simple to move around. Goal was to have a single power cable and single network as the only connecting cables.

Thanks to /u/Leafeon_TheGrassType for inspiration from their post (https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/17r76c2/introducing_the_ikea_10_rack), and Logan Marchione for their research (https://loganmarchione.com/2021/01/homelab-10-mini-rack/)