19" Rack for home lab? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: lukego
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2020, 06:24:37 pm
content: Is a 42U 19" rack a practical piece of storage equipment for a space-constrained home lab? I'm trying to decide whether to buy something like this onehttps://www.startech.com/en-se/server-management/4postrack42I'm going to setup in a new room and I'll have space for one desk for electronics, one desk for computers, shelves above for test equipment, then I'll have about a square meter left. I'm wondering if a 19" rack with open sides would be a reasonable option for consolidating a bunch of random gear: a few servers, a 3D printer, a tm220a pick'n'place machine that might be able to stick out of the sides, some per-project storage bins, maybe some rack-mount TE and networking gear in the future, etc.My main concern is that the 19" width might be impractical and that I'd be better off looking for a sturdy shelf that's closer to twice the width although that would need to be very sturdy for applications like pick-and-place. Or maybe I could put two racks side-by-side but then I'd only be able to poke stuff out on one side of one of them...

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2020, 07:37:22 pm
content: Only you can decide (how much equipment / how many machines) and how much space you got. I will however share with you some actual experience.Some time ago (>5 years), when we had a useless one (about 1 meter high, not full height) freed and one of our staff wanted it, I gave him an OK to take it home as his. He was going to use it for his 1U which was a server we sunset earlier.He too gave it away after a while, to his church or something like that.Issues:1. Since he had limited space, rolling out to service the back was difficult to impossible.2. He didn't want to spend the money to buy the empty selves. While a machine can bescrew on directly, to use the extra space for storage, you need to get a shelve. Thebase is the only place you can "store" things. Anyhow, storage is for light things.Putting in or removing heavier items may vibrate your machine(s) which you may not want.So, he ended up (as I did) putting his 1U vertical.That was 1U server which doesn't need much front facing display. EE equipment with a lot of displays, vertical is of course not appropriate, but space limitation and shelving still apply.

author: bob91343
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2020, 08:37:25 pm
content: The real problem is convenience. You may end up with a maze of long cables to use the gear and in the process taint the signals. There are ways to attach a work place shelf to such a beast and make it useful for specific tests. Say an impedance bridge or a counter or spectrum analyzer that doesn't need regular access for most of what you do. Save bench space for power supplies, signal generators, voltmeters, and oscilloscopes.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2020, 10:09:51 pm
content: LackrackAs versatile as you want it6.99 per shelf in your nearest IKEA.

author: tkamiya
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2020, 04:37:58 am
content: I have 7 racks in my lab.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076VRDD5H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1Once more than 50% loaded, these racks are pretty sturdy.When going this way, you'll have to leave some room behind to walk in and take care of cabling. Also, utilities are somewhat limited, so one has to be careful how he places his equipment. Going from far right rack to far left rack, for example is quite a bit of distance.Also, secondary problem is powering equipment. With rack, you can get quite a concentration of equipment and with that, high current demand. I have a giant 3KVA on one and that feeds the rest. On wall, I have two 120V 30A dedicated outlets. With everything turned on, it reaches 60% of full capacity.I ended up with a hybrid setup. Frequently used test equipment are in front of my workstation. Rest are in rack. In my case, they are mostly used for long term testing. I pull over a mobile table, setup DUT on it, and hook it up to racked test equipment.

author: mansaxel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2020, 05:38:38 am
content: I've built a small (6HE) rack into my bench space, on one of the shelves. I'm using it for terminating cables, mains outlet strips, et c. I have one RJ45 panel, two switched and one unswitched mains strips, one of which is fused C13 sockets pointing backwards, the other is front end schukos (CEE 7/4). I also have a XLR D-style 16-hole panel where I'm going to fit arriving and departing balanced lines from my central matrix and some BNC's like the 10MHz from my GPS. I've got a 42HE rack at the other end of my combined computing machine room/electronics shop, where the GPS sits, and besides servers and networking gear also holds some other devices like SIP ATA boxes, Raspberry Pi for monitoring and GPIO, etc. That's also where fiber comes from the rest of the house, as well as RJ45 patch panel for the workshops.If I started getting more than a few 19" devices I'd look into another rack, but probably would build it into the shelving above my bench again. Rear panel connections would then be brought forward to 19" panels or if truly generic, hard wired. (a 10MHz standard input on a frequency counter might qualify as "generic". Another candidate would be GPIB bussing)

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2020, 07:40:01 am
content: its necessary for RF work as far as I am concerned because every equipment is a beast and has useful hookups on the back etc, so you need a mobile rack you can get behind. if its stuck or in a cramped area its useless

author: KrudyZ
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2020, 08:54:14 pm
content: I also have several 19" racks for test equipment.Mine have fat casters, so I can roll them around even fully loaded up.The ones without shelves are useless for test equipment in my opinion.I roll the racks up to the workbench from behind and divide the space into two categories.Below desk height is storage or equipment that I don't need to be able to control manually.Above it is regular test equipment. My work bench is only 20" deep, since I never have to put equipment on the actual bench.This makes it easy to reach the controls of the equipment in the racks.The bench is almost 10' wide, giving me parking spaces for 5 racks behind it.

author: DaJMasta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 17, 2020, 10:02:13 pm
content: Rather than a rack, I went with 18" deep metal shelving. The trick is that you leave a little space in front of the wall and you leave access to the side, that way with 48" wide shelves or so you can still reach behind. Most equipment will not stick out and has some room to work behind it, but the really deep stuff will overhang a couple inches on the front side (usually that's my preference, at least). For my bench setup I even took a single 6 shelf tall kit and broke it into two 3 shelf sections to put behind the bench, so I have a bench-level shelf, about 6U worth of height, and then a second level, all within fairly easy reach while seated. Since it's separate shelving, none of it is really on the 24" deep bench, so it feels much deeper than previous configurations.The racks don't move, but the space around them makes things not too bad to access in the rear, then you just need lots of power strip outlets. That also means you don't need rack ears, which I find are only on like a third of full sized used gear and are considerably less common on the half width stuff.