This project was borne out of my quest to find a rack that would suit my home studio needs... I had originally planned to construct an ambitious variation of the oh-so-furniture-like "My Dog Rax" custom racks, which are very nice, if you have the coin to let someone else make a rack for you.

Trouble was that both the straight and angled designs were needed to meet my needs. Plus, I currently didn't need such a large rack for gear, nor does space permit such a behemoth in my environs... So, I searched for a smaller "desktop" version and found many, but none that suited exactly what I wanted. What to do?

Build my own rack...

Herein, I will attempt to document and explain the procedures that I followed in designing, planning and completing a rack of my very own. And hopefully, this will help you do the same, with fewer headaches and pitfalls...

Contents:

Introduction

Design and Planning

Construction

Materials List

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Introduction:

What you need in a rack is entirely up to you. Will you need lots of room for upcoming purchases and/or specific storage needs? Or do you just need a modest enclosure to organize a few units for your desktop? Either way, the sky's the limit with regard to design, but the construction methods are pretty simple and there's not a great variety of styles. If you've got some basic tools around you can do it. Its really just a fancy box.

Advantages of having your gear racked up are pretty obvious, but one you might want to also consider is this:

If planned correctly, a rack can prevent your having to get on the floor or behind some piece of gear in the presence of a client to make connection changes. Sometimes its inevitable, but much of that can be squelched by planning and design which always should include my secret weapon (which isn't so secret), a patchbay.

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Design and planning:

After assessing my situation, I decided that I needed only a desktop unit to keep controls within easy reach and in proximity to my computer. So, a small carpet-covered version was good for my needs. The gear wouldn't be leaving the house much, so I didn't need an expensive ATA style case. But I did need a combination of straight and slightly angled rack spaces; more than just a square box! So that would complicate the construction slightly...

I wanted to accomodate a sliding rack shelf in the lower portion of the unit, that would hold some small non-rack gear. I needed to be able to slide it back out of the way, since my audio computer doubles as the home computer and the desk space is at a premium. Obviously, the rack shelf has to be in a straight rack orientation. In addition, an angled face for my other, rackable gear would serve to keep the LCD displays facing upward at an optimal angle and keep the buttons ergonomically oriented for quick access.

Now that we've got the basic shape, next question: How big a rack do you need?

I knew how many rack spaces I needed (1.75" or 1 3/4"per rack space) to accomodate all the gear I currently have. A 10u space rack is about the max one can get on a desktop without the size getting to be too large. And I knew that of that 10 spaces, several at the bottom would be straight, and the rest would be angled. I chose 2u straight and 8u angled.

Let me take you aside to present two considerations that are germane at this point:

1) Sliding shelves and rack drawers are usually the deepest component of a rack. One should consider the depth of the deepest component that will be housed in the enclosure when buying or designing a rack, to assure the rack's depth will accomodate the largest unit, including any cords that will be plugged in to the back.

2) When one uses both straight and angled rack rails in the same rack, its important to consider how the depth of the the gear mounted in the lowest spaces of the angled rails might displace some available space for the items that would perhaps be placed on a sliding shelf or otherwise impede the function of a drawer mounted in straight racks below. MFG's usually account for common depths and use a filler strip. I accounted for this in a different way and made a modification to the upper rails which will be detailed later.

So, that said its a good idea to break out the graph paper and draw it out. I made every block on the graph paper equal to 1/2", so my scale was 50%. I created a side elevation (view) drawn to 1/2 scale. Why the side? The front and back elevations will basically be just a square with a 19 1/16" wide top and bottom, in between the sides.

See another web article on building a rack, to see the actual specs for a front/back elevation. The article also illustrates that the sides should be oriented outside the edges of the top and bottom, which will improve stability when the rails are added.

Based on my needs, the side view for this project would yield a five-sided shape, similar to the outline of the state of Georgia. The top, back and bottom of our shape will resemble basically three legs of a square with the "fourth" side, which will represent the front edge of our side-of-the-rack elevation, being split into two facets; a straight edge going up from the bottom and then transitioning to an angled line that connects the straight rack portion back up to the top. Remember that the depth of the top will be smaller than the depth of the bottom. This difference will create the slant for the upper portion of the rack...

I also wanted to mount the rails back into the enclosure a little bit, to create a "reveal", which is basically an asthetic feature, but can protect the faces of the gear, i.e., knobs and what not, in case the unit ever falls over. Anything can happen when you're rocking out!

I recommend using 1/2" thick MDF for the panels.

Here's how my four panels shook out (All are inside dimensions except as indicated):

Top panel (x 1)- 13" deep x 19-1/16" wide with a slight bevel on the front edge (We'll get to that angle later). It will be the same as the angled portion of the front edge of both the sides.

Bottom panel (x 1)- 16" deep x 19-1/16" wide. Here's why: My rack shelf, the deepest component, is 15" from the back of the rack mounting flange to the back edge of the rear side-mounting adjustable flanges. And I added an inch for the reveal.

Side panels (x 2)- Cut as follows:

Top edge of side panels- 13" deep. No magic number here, just guessed at how angled I wanted it to be based on my bottom depth.

Rear edge of side panels- 17 -1/2" high (ID) at the back to accomodate 10u (1.75" x 10) plus 2x the width of your lumber to accomodate the thickness of the top and bottom panels... Roughly 18-1/2"...

Bottom edge of side panels- 16" deep.

Front edge of side panels- From the bottom, 3-1/2" (2u) plus 1x the width of your lumber to accomodate the thickness of the bottom (roughly 4") and then from the top 14-5/16"* (8u, plus the little extra it'll take to meet the edge at the top and to accomodate the angle), plus 1x the width of your lumber to accomodate the top.

*- The 14"+ dimension might be a little different as you are just connecting the two points. It'll be at least 14" plus the width of your MDF.

Racks of this type are typically constructed as follows:

The panels are boxed up using coarse threaded wood screws and/or "L" brackets. I used both...

Most people paint the inside of the panels with black paint, but I wanted this to look a little more polished, so I bought some adhesive-backed vinyl that is made to look like woodgrain. It's normally used to cover the wood of a speaker enclosure. A couple of my rack spaces will be vacant to accomodate the non-rack gear that will live on the sliding shelf which is a little over 1u, so I wanted the visible interior to look finished. I think that a "fleck-stone" type of paint might also look cool on the inside... MDF looks better when painted than OSB, so that's the lumber to use if you are painting.

The rack rails are going to be mounted an inch back from the front edge to create the reveal.

The rails for this project will be secured with the same 10-32 mounting screws that will hold the equipment. T-nuts will serve as a threaded anchor for the screws. The T-nuts will be hidden when the unit is covered and the screws will make for a uniform look.

The external sides and edges will have that nice grey fabric adhered that is normally used for these kinds of racks.

Don't fear, because I will not only give you the materials list, but also the PN's in case you'd like to order them from Parts Express.

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Construction:

Pre-planning your construction will make things go a lot smoother. After drawing out the scaled down version of the side, I deteremined that the angle of the slope for the front edges ended up being 12.5º. But if you just mark out the other three legs of the side panel, you can easily connect your dots, so to speak.

1) Cut the panels:

First, you'll want to cut and fit the panels; top, bottom, then sides, using the dimensions I detailed. Make sure the side panels are the same size and that the widths of the top and bottom panels are exactly 19-1/16". The front edge of the top panel will need to be beveled to fit the angle of the sloped front edge of the sides; again 12.5º. The bottom face of the top panel should be 13" deep. The top will be slightly less with the bevel.

2) Modifying the rack rails:

Rather than use a filler strip, I made a modification to my upper 8u rails so that the front mounting edges of the upper and lower 2u rails would butt up together. Without cutting the rails there would be a gap at the front edge as the rails were angled back. In order to maintain a smooth front appearance, I had to cut the angled wedge off the back of each or the upper rails, so that they could angle back, yet still butt up smoothly.

There are several different tools that can help you draw out the 12.5º angle. I just used a semicircular plastic template that has all the angles from 0º to 180º. I think you can get 'em anywhere. I drew a line that was 12.5º from the front bottom of the rail, that goes up toward the back. I clamped the rail in a vice and used a cut-off wheel on an air powered rotary tool to cut and smooth my angles. A hacksaw would probably work, if you started gently and slowly, so as not to mar the finish of the rail; just stay in the cut. Easy does it. Once cut, you can use a file to smooth the edges a little. I used some black enamel to paint the cut edges, but they are pretty well hidden, so not completely necessary.

3) Layout and mark your drilling points for the rails on one of the sides, taking into account the 1" reveal:

Place and mark the bottom, small rail first. I placed a scrap piece of the MDF at the bottom edge to simulate the bottom of the box and butted the bottom of the 2u rail to that, then made sure the front edge was 1" from the front edge. Once in place, butt the angled end of the top 8u rail to it, so the front edges are as close to flush as possible. Make sure you don't move your rails except to nudge them back and forth to the 1" mark. Takes a little finesse. Tape 'em down if you need to. Then mark the large holes. Don't worry about whether the top of the 8u rail reaches the top edge of the side panel. It won't.

4) Drill for mounting the rails and install the T-nuts:

Once marked remove the rails. Place one side on top of the other and line up the edges of both sides and clamped them, so you can drill all the rail holes at once. Use a 1/4" bit. If you don't have a drill press, remember to drill as straight as you can. Don't press too hard as you're drilling as the bottom can chip a little. This will assure that the rails are even on both sides.

Separate the two sides and hammer the T-nuts in each of the holes on one side of each, which will now become the outside face of each panel.

5) Mount the rails:

Mount the rails, using the 10-32 screws and a metal washer to keep the screws from poking out through the outside and being visible when the carpet is on it. Once all four rails are mounted on both sides, mark the front and back of the rails and pencil in each of the other rack rail holes. You'll need the marks later to help in trimming the interior vinyl and outer carpet.

6) Make your box.

I next mounted my sliding rack shelf in bottom rack space, so I could mark the rear side supports for the shelf. To get the shelf at the perfect level, place the bottom panel under it and then place each side along the bottom panel's edge. Screwed the shelf in to the rack rails. The bottom shelf holds the sliding shelf up, so you can extend the rear adjustable mounting flanges and mark the holes at the perfect spot. Remove the sides and drill those rear points. Hammer T-nuts in the outer side of the holes. Remount the shelf.

Time to assemble the box. Turn the rack on its back and fit the bottom panel flush, so the front edge and bottom are smooth. The rack shelf will help you... Once you've got it perfect, clamp the side panels with a bar clamp. Drill evenly spaced holes on the oustide panels into the edge of the bottom panel with a #6 counter-sinking bit. This predrills the screw holes so the MFD won't split and cuts out a "dimple" for the head of the screw to mount flush with the outer edge. Try to keep it as straight as you can, there's only 1/2" of material here. The sliding shelf helps keep it steady. Repeat for both sides of the bottom and then fit the top and repeat. You've got a box!

7) Make way for "L" brackets:

Turn the box over onto its top.

The "L" brackets can be used in conjunction with or instead of the #6 screws. I chose both for extra stability. I wanted to use T-nuts and 10-32 screws with washers for mounting the "L" brackets as they will hold very well. Place three brackets evenly spaced in the corner where the top and sides meet. Remember, the front bracket will most likely have to be mounted just to the rear of the rack rails, so space the other two based on that first one and make sure none are placed too close to the #6 screws. You 'll be drilling again for T-nuts and don't want to hit one.

Mark the holes and remove.

Remove the sliding shelf and repeat for the bottom corners, taking care not to place the rearmost bracket too close to the rear mounting flanges of the shelf. Mark those and remove. Disassemble the box and remove the rails. Drill the 1/4" holes for the "L" brackets and mount the T-nuts on the outer face.

8) Finishing the insides:

Set the panels with the inside faces up. Here's where marking the edges of the rails pays off. Without removing the adhesive backing, roll out the vinyl faux woodgrain on each panel and make a rough cut of the vinyl to the shape of each.

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Materials list:

Again, I got all the hardware items I'd need through Parts Express. When the items came I found that I had forgotten to order all 4 rubber feet. I had only ordered one. So, I called them to explain and they were super cool and got the other three out, same day. The PE part numbers are below. The lumber can be bought anywhere...

Anyway, here's the list of stuff to get:

I think all told, out of pocket was around $80-$90...

And here's my custom rack. Sorry that I didn't take pictures along the way, but the items above leave enough to make a standard 10u box version. I just have to buy another set of feet and two 10u rack rails.