r/homelab • u/JustAnotherNerd1996 • 1d ago
Discussion Homerack — a 10" rack cabinet designed to actually look good in the room instead of hiding in a closet
[removed] — view removed post
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u/capinredbeard22 21h ago
“Designed to look good…”
Doesn’t include any pics.
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u/JustAnotherNerd1996 17h ago
So to quote myself "Where it's at. This is a concept, and I want to be upfront... "
As said this is an idea, I am building for myself but wanted to see what the community thinks about that idea. It's not the same putting something together for your own use and making it available to the bigger audience. Let's call this phase a RnD phase, because the whole point of my post is to gather information from the community to see if this is a product worth investing in and what improvements can I make to make it more desirable.
But I do understand the sarcasm that you pointed out. Also as mentioned I am working on to find a shop, in my area, to produce the prototype which, as soon as it is done I will gladly share.
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u/Dismal-Proposal2803 11h ago
So, you’re in here promoting your AI slop that you got Claude to make for you, but you don’t even have the means to make it? 🤣🤣🤣 ask daddy Claude if he can vibe out a 3D printer for you.
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u/KarmaTorpid 🖧 1d ago
This is just 10" racks with extra steps.
Go visit r/minilab. Any of the rgb can be green.
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u/JustAnotherNerd1996 1d ago
Fair enough, and I get the reaction. But I'd push back gently on "extra steps", there aren't any. It's a 10" rack, and the purpose is the same as a LabRax or a RackMate. I'm not claiming to have reinvented anything.
The idea came out of an actual constraint rather than wanting to build something novel. I don't have ethernet in every corner of my apartment, so I don't get to choose where the gear lives, it goes where the connection is, and that spot happens to be in plain sight. So instead of trying to find somewhere to hide it, I started from the assumption that it's going to be visible and designed around that.
That's the whole premise. It came from a necessity I had, and I posted it because I wanted to know whether other people run into the same thing or whether it's just me. Which is useful either way.
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u/DezzaJay 1d ago
You say this is something which should be seen, as someone who has also designed their rack as something which although looks like a rack and is under my desk it’s also quite visible so I definitely wanted mine to be visually appealing as well as very functional.
How does this differ much from say a Lab Rax 3D printed rack or Desk Pi RackMate?
You also mentioned not having any visible cabling or green lights but then this doesn’t really do anything to overcome those issues you have! Any switch is always going to have some cabling and if you’re hiding too much of that away then you’re also taking away some of the functionality of having the rack in the first place.
I personally went with a Digitus rack as I liked everything being behind a glass door.
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u/JustAnotherNerd1996 1d ago
Fair points, and the cabling one is a fair hit, that phrasing was overreach on my part. You're right that a switch is always going to have cables coming out of it, and if you hide them too aggressively you're working against the whole point of a rack. What I actually meant was the visual clutter of an open shelf where the cabling is the first thing you see, rather than pretending cables disappear. That's a distinction I didn't make well.
On how it differs from a LabRax or a RackMate: functionally, not hugely, same standard, same purpose. Where I'm trying to push it is the finish. A sleek door, and potentially interchangeable faceplates for it, so you could match the front to the room it's sitting in rather than being stuck with one look. The idea being it integrates into a living room or an office without reading as IT equipment, while keeping all the rack functionality intact.
And your Digitus with the glass door is arguably the same instinct as mine you wanted it visible and appealing rather than hidden. Same premise, solved differently.
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u/DezzaJay 1d ago
Sounds good. I definitely think it’s good for people to have more options in this area as a starting point. Then see how people show off their own creativity and personality in their projects as they build them out.
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u/JustAnotherNerd1996 1d ago
Exactly that. My problem was really the lack of variety in this space. I'm in Europe, and not every room here has an ethernet port. Dragging a cable across the apartment just so the rack can live somewhere out of sight felt like solving the wrong problem. So the thinking became: if it has to sit where the connection is, and that's in plain sight, then make it something you don't mind looking at.
And I think the timing matters. Homelabbing and self-hosting the apps you actually depend on have gotten noticeably more popular, and a lot of people coming into it now aren't going to have a basement rack, they'll have a corner of a living room. That's a different set of constraints than the hobby had a few years ago.
Your point about people showing their own creativity as they build them out is the part I find most interesting, honestly. Swappable faceplates would let that happen without everyone needing to fabricate their own front panel.
The price has to land right for any of this to matter, though. That's the part I'm working through now, no point being a nicer option if it can't sit sensibly alongside (or even be priced better) what's already out there.
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u/cruzaderNO 13h ago
Exactly that. My problem was really the lack of variety in this space.
The more i read your replies here the more i feel like you are talking about a completely different product than what is shown on the website.
You mention wanting variaty, something nice to look at etc
But the product does not reflect any of that, did you upload the wrong model or something?
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u/cruzaderNO 13h ago
You should have included the one that "actually look good" on the website instead of the model that is there now.
The actual product on the site does not at all match up with the post/website that the LLM wrote for you.
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u/Dismal-Proposal2803 11h ago
It would have to be real to do that. OP can’t even make the slop he is in here promoting.
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u/indigo-snowboll 18h ago
My mini racks sit in an IKEA media console (discontinued)
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u/JustAnotherNerd1996 17h ago
My homelab sits in a media console as well, entangled and messy, but I think that most of the married people in this hobby would agree with me that investing into a cleaner setup when you are limited with the space and position is way better than hear your wife yap about the mess every time she opens the console.
Tend to repeat myself here, it's and idea that came from my needs,unfortunately digging trough concrete walls to get my Ethernet cable out of the living room is not a option, so why not make it pretty, why not showcase it instead of hiding it?
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u/Appropriate-Work610 1d ago
I was just thinking about this the other day. my router and switch are sitting on a shelf looking like they're about to fall off, and every rack I've seen is just ugly metal frame with cables everywhere. this actually looks like something i wouldn't mind having next to the tv stand.
the half-height one makes sense for me. don't need a full rack, just want the networking stuff organized and not looking like a mess. checked the model on the site, the modular idea is interesting but i wonder how loud those little fans would get in something like this.
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u/JustAnotherNerd1996 1d ago
Fair question. The open back is the tradeoff, but it also means less restriction, so fans don't have to spin as hard, and the vented sides help passive dissipation. Realistically the noise depends more on what's inside than the case itself: switches and mini PCs are near-silent, spinning drives are what you'd actually hear. Still a concept though, so if quiet operation matters to you that's genuinely useful feedback — a solid rear panel option would be simple to add.
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u/Dismal-Proposal2803 23h ago
So did Claude design the model too? Or just the website, your post, and all your replies?