I recently got my first big boy switch, a mikrotik switch with 2.5gb ports and two 10gb SFP+ ports, and it came with rack ears, which got my curious about what homelab appropriate racks are available. After digging around and checking out a few options I wasn't super keen on any of them, and the ones I did like where waaay to big and overkill.

So I decided to design and build one that works for my purposes!

It uses 2020 aluminium extrusion and 3D printed ABS parts, it's specifically designed to be used with rack studs.

It's the equivalent width of a 10inch rack.

The rail mount segments are currently 1U or 2U, so you could potentially make it any size you like.

I designed a 5 port patch panel that fit cat6 keystones, and because my switch for some reason takes power from the front, I added a small power cable hole in the rack ear.

I've only got the lil patch panel and my switch in it so far, but I plan to design mounts for a 1L mini PC that I plan to run Pfsense on, KVM, a Raspberry Pi, a USB C hub, and a small case to take a mITX board that I plan to put a RISC-V board in.

Still early days, and I'm curious how well it will hold up over time, and I still need to do some proper testing on weight capacity and what not.

Anyway, I just think it's kinda neat and meets my needs and I get to make something.

Any (constructive) feedback or questions welcome :)

Also, bonus network cat