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My Home Made audio rack

rossm

rossm

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Hi everyone,
I recently closed my computer business and had some computer and equipment racks headed for the dump. After removing the servers I had an idea of converting the racks into a audio display for my increasing collection of vintage Hi-fi gear. The racks I used are known as "relay" or "open frame" racks, made of aluminum type alloy. The rack and shelves are quite expensive new about $150 for just 2 shelves, used or (free in my case) is the only way to go. My main goal was to build a modular system that can be expanded, or separated as needed. It seemed pretty simple to build, but it's been a lot of work !!!
Ok how about some pics
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And now with equipment

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I am currently about 1/2 way finished with the 2nd rack and have materials for about 2 more
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I am pretty happy so far. The rack is rock solid with no racking back and forth. The base has adjustable feet for leveling and sliders for moving around. The base is made from 1 1/2 oak, the top shelf is 1" oak. No worries about the reel to reel falling off as it has been screwed to the top via the threads in the bottom for the feet that always seem to be broken off the RT-909

If there is any interest I can post construction pics
 
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Very nice. I have some racks I got from work also and have rigged up some useable stuff, but yours looks better.

More pics encouraged!
 
Looks really well done, great job. The silver faced gear looks really great too !
 
Nice. I especially like the wooden additions. I have one of those that racks, with two shelves, but I don't have the room to set it up so it sits in storage.
 
I use telco racks for my basement rig. At the time I was using SAE power amps so I mated 2 of the racks into a single rig. Your looks really nice. I am using 42u versions.
 
Thanks for all the kind words, I am posting a short description of the construction in case anyone else wants to build this. I have learned a lot on this site and hope someone might learn a little from my project.

When designing this rack I knew that in normal use they need to be bolted to the floor, unlike other racks they are not self supporting. I set out to build a beefy base that would support the rack and the 200 lbs of equipment it would house. Also the base needed to be deep enough to support the cantilevered shelves. I cut the base out of 1.5" oak and made it as deep as the shelves. Here's a pic of cutting out the base, I used a jigsaw to rough it out and a bandsaw to cut it to shape

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After cutting both out I used double sided carpet tape to keep them together while I cleaned them up with a oscillating belt sander
To increase stability I routed a channel in the legs about 1/2" deep and just wide enough to fit the uprights. A trial fit showed it needed more stability, so I added 2 3/4" tresseles to brace the base, in this pic you can see the mortise cuts for the tenons on the brace
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This pic shows the braces with the tenons. This is the first time I have ever made this joint so it was trial and error, mainly errors.
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Once the glue dried I sanded and stained watco dark stain
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Now it's just a matter of bolting the uprights to the base and making the top.
For the top I made a smaller version of the base and turned it upside down. 1.5" stock routed to accept the uprights, also drilled countersink holes to bolt the top down

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Here's a pic of the top 1" thick oak I used my router to put a "wife approved" design on it
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One of the features of this rack is that the channels in the uprights can be used as a handy cable tray. I can run cables between the shelves and they are mostly hidden from view, power cables on the left and audio cables on the right.

This is a 19" rack, I am currently working on a 22" rack for the wider equipment, check back in a couple weeks and I will have pics posted
 
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