I built a 10 inch mini rack from aluminium extrusions

Post by blablabla123 » Wed, Jul 01, 2026, 5:03 PM UTC

louwrentius wrote: post #41

blablabla123 wrote: post #37

Have you taken grounding into consideration?

The chassis is not connected to ground, tbh. Not really.

I'm no expert but to my knowledge metal cases always need to be grounded. Which is what I did with my 10" rack. I just bought a socket with a ground connector from an online store, although I'd be curious which exact cable is best practice. I don't have many things connected there anyway and the power supplies are outside of the rack.

FWIW the topic is quite a rabbit hole and for non-mobile metal cases (e.g. screwed on the wall) technically even an electrician seems to be needed.

Post by johnwalkr » Wed, Jul 01, 2026, 5:05 PM UTC

msisk6 wrote: post #15

These aluminum extrusions are called T-Slot, or as McMaster-Carr calls it, "T-Slotted Framing". Very common in industry; we have it everywhere on the Boeing factory floors. Not cheap, but very durable and reusable. Highly recommended. Check it out starting on page 2240 of your McMaster-Carr 132 catalog. They have all kinds of things you can mount up like monitor arms. It's an erector set toy for engineers. ;)

Misumi sells it, and they have an online tool to configure almost anything you want in 3D, including brackets of your choice, fasteners and accessories (like panels, hinges and handles). Then, you can order all of the parts to make your creation with 1 part number.

Makerbeam is also nice, they sell a 5x5mm, 10x10mm and 15x15mm version (normally the smallest cross section of t-slot is 20x20mm). The 5x5mm version is comically small when you hold it in your hand. When you order a set, it comes with tweezers to pick up the screws which are size M1.2.

Re: I built a 10 inch mini rack from aluminium extrusions

Re: I built a 10 inch mini rack from aluminium extrusions