I've seen so many 10" servers that look amazing from the front and very polished, but then having a rats nest of cables and a mess at the back.

After 62 iterations and many 3D prints, blood, sweat, profanity and tears. I my design and implementation is finally done.

I used Hexagons where possible, because as you know, Hexagons are the bestagons

This is Before:

And the After:

The ducky adds 200MHz

The front of my mini-rack is actually still somewhat of a mess, I thought I'd focus on the back first.

I've published it in excruciating detail on my GitHub
Leave a Star if you like what you see.

I self host a bunch of stuff on here to get away from Big-Tech, and because I find it fun.
For a lot more details see https://erasmus.works

It always bothered me the the fronts of racs are modular, but not the backs, this solves that
If you have any questions feel free to ask, hopefully this helps other clear up their rats nests.

Preemptively responding to this, because I just know there's going to be a comment about this.

Yes Yes I know, GitHub, screw GitHub, Screw Microslop.
I am trying to move away from Big Tech as much as possible, but it's a marathon not a sprint, and every win should be celebrated.

Perfection is the enemy of good.
.

mega ducky 200 is amazing

super clean build

Cool build. Please be aware there is a reason that Sockets are made from a plastic that does not melt nor burn. Everything near power connections is a potential fire hazard.

FYI, Codeberg/Forgejo can automatically migrate repositories including metadata: https://docs.codeberg.org/advanced/migrating-repos/#migrating-from-services

How is the power wired exactly? It looks like youve piggy backed off each cable before it, meaning the first cable is carrying the load from all after it which it usually isnt designed to do, should be fine if appropriately rated to the equipment.

Looks mint!

Thanks yea I made sure to add this Safety section to my write-up on how to build this yourself, and I reference back to it a lot, so it's painfully clear.

I printed this in PETG which can take the heat easily, but ideally you use UL 94 V-0 which is also flame retardant.

I did make sure everything is very well insulated, and pulled hard on every connection to make sure it's held down properly.

**Safety**  

This part carries live mains. Mains wiring kills people who get it wrong, and a fault in a printed enclosure can start a fire.  

Do not build it unless you are competent to wire mains and permitted to do so where you live. Sleeve or shroud all live terminals. PLA softens around 60 °C, PETG around 80 °C. Neither is flame retardant. Only a UL 94 V-0 filament is.  

Wire the protective earth if anything you plug in needs it.  

Build it at your own risk. I take no responsibility for injury, death, fire, or damage resulting from anything in this repository.  

Thanks for the photos and web site, it shows a bit what is happening inside and it's great.

Yea each one runs through the previous module, so all the power goes through the first module.

IEC 13/14 connectors are rated for 10A (2300 W at 230 V) which isn't much lower than what you can run through your wall outlet. And in reality they can probably handle 15A(What your wall can handle) as they are commonly refereed to as "Kettle cords" and used by kettles which draw ~13 Amps.

That's very high, to give you an idea the 6 things I have plugged in draws ~240w, so I could chain up ~60 mini PC's and only then would I be over the ~2300w limit.

I do now mention this in the Safety section of my "How to build this" write up

Sure thing, there's lots more details on my GitHub Write-Up including how to wire it up etc.

Thanks yea I've used Codeberg before, but the main reason I use GitHub, is I try to create a good looking profile to point potential new Clients to when I'm looking for a new job, explaining Codeberg to them I feel is a step too much, and my income is Priority Nr1.

I'll fight the Open-Source, anti-Big-Tech fight elsewhere.

Looks like youve done your research!

Depending on the kettle model, most draw just under 10A these days. General household outlets (at least in australia) are only rated for 10A anyway.

Ive used hundreds of kettle leads in my time and never seen one used for an actual kettle funnily enough

Way to head them off at the pass. Rock on with yo bad self.

Nice work OP. Clean and sharp. These mini servers are awesome.

uk can go to 13A peak load on the standard 230v socket, but drawing that for a prolonged period will nuke the socket. 10a prolonged is perfectly safe in the uk.

I totally get that

Quick heads up - codeberg has an option to auto push changes to github, or the other way around with a github action (I prefer codeberg first)

May want to give it a try, from a client perspective you can also use that to note that a distributed approach provides resiliency (and now it becomes a selling point too)

I’ve thought about this exact problem and I find this very pleasing to look at. Nice work

Nice thanks, that sounds good. I'd definitely only want to push to one place, if it then syncs to GitHub that's fine.

Looking good.

I'm with you, I don't like having to do the same thing more than once

I set up an "about my repos" repo, which has a readme detailing the process, and explanations of what is where and what they are all for, which is what I point clients to. That also has a link to my personal forgejo to demo local git as well (which can also sync, btw) along with a note that it may be down for various reasons like updates or changes I'm making, which is why I also sync elsewhere.

Depending on what services you're selling to clients, it makes for a neat and simple addition to the list of skills to demo!

And you're kind of making me want to use a mini rack as an excuse to my wife for a 3d printer, but she already knows I'm not getting rid of my 12-15RU racks under my desks, so I'm going to have to wait until we find the property we want so I can build my workshop....

Ya. I don't run more than 5A (basically a usb) through 3d printed stuff for that reason. Filament is designed to melt.

It seems that using multiple remotes is also possible. So instead of syncing two repos, push to both at once.

https://git-scm.com/docs/git-remote#Documentation/git-remote.txt-set-url

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/849308/how-can-i-pull-push-from-multiple-remote-locations/12795747#12795747

git remote set-url origin --push --add user1@repo1
git remote set-url origin --push --add user2@repo2
git remote -v

I don't understand the purpose of the exposed daisy chained cables. If it is not meant to be frequently unplugged, then why not wire an internal bus of 14 awg with Wago?

You can, but you can also run into some issues if you have git LFS, if one rejects for whatever reason, or sometimes just branch issues.

Thats why I prefer to go to one repo and push out from there, but it is absolutely doable with git by itself.

Nice thanks!!
You can get a 3D printer for fairly cheap to get started, the one I have is only 280 Euro now with 4 spools of filament

I want it to be modular, so if I add another 2 servers, I can just add the server module in front, and its power module at the back.

You mean 5W?

This is so organized that my eyes hurt. You should see my messy setup :(

I have the same plants; you have good taste, it's undeniable

Is there a reason for naming your website same as EU programme for education, training, youth and sport?

My surname is Erasmus

erasmus is a perfectly cromulent name

I mean, Erasmus is a pretty well-known historical figure (and where, I assume, that programme gets its name)

That's where my mind went first.

Turns out we're both wrong and it's just OP's name like he said in the other comment, but I'm curious how you made that connection? Not passing any judgement on it, just curious since your brain reached a different conclusion than mine and I'm curious how you got there.

I was assuming some kind of 3.3V or 5V logic, like an esp32 or an arduino. I don't mess around with big power circuits at all. If I inject power it's going to be pretty low wattage. Sorry for the confusion.

I rolled into it few months ago and am getting ready for a exchange trip to Spain so it got burned into my brain by now.

I see..

YOU MEAN https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=O-qcXpapsoY FUCKING NAZI!?

xD

Bestagons <3 great build!

Great job it looks fantastic

It is pretty awesome, only real problem is that if you have to replace anything in the middle, you have to shutdown everything above it too.

That being said, it's pretty fucking rad.

You run 5 amps through a USB?

I'm disappointed there's not a duck on each rack.

Serial power for anything with critical data... no thanks

One fails, everything after it fails

USB-PD standard allows for 20V at 5A?

This looks great! Any thought on relay control? I built an 8 outlet box with relays inside so I can direct control power to each server with a Raspberry Pi. It runs PiKVM and is also attached to an 8 port KVM for control.

I don't want to be the "Deputy Downer" here, but I can't stress the important of the v0 (we say v-naught) plastics in keeping you safe when it comes to electrical installations - for those that aren't aware, they are plastics that have to self extinguish once the fault trips the electrical protection, should a fault occur that sets them on fire. (ie: once the electricity isn't making it flame anymore, it has to put itself out)

Here is an example of how even low voltage DC can fault, and had the LED strip diffuser plastic not been v0 rated, we would have had a late night house fire into the roof when kids were asleep...

PETG in this kind of situation just becomes fuel and possible a very, very, very bad day....

I know v0 spools are more expensive, but cheaper than just about any of the disaster situation alternatives, so I always suggest you prototype with PLA/PETG but print v0 for the finals...

Yea I realised that is a limitation, but Eh I'd take that trade-off for the modularity and good looking backside.

It's rare that you add/remove things, and technically you can just plug out the inside and only that server will go offline with the rest keeping power.

There are more duckies, a lil giraffe and a turtle at the front

My setup is as resilient as this would be:

I haven't added any failure-modes

Uggg don't give me ideas, I've already sunk way too much time into designing this 😅️🤣

So you could just put a relay between my power-module and your server, and it's problem solved.

A redesign to incorporate one of these would be great, there are also variants that monitor power draw, so you'd be able to see each servers power usage and switch it on or off remotely.

Why are you doing this to me?

Thanks for this, I founds some self-extinguishing PETG, that's really not much more expensive than PETG.
Definitely worth the money

https://shop.filament-pm.com/petg-frjet-self-extinguishing-white-1-75-mm-0-5-kg/p166