openminilab
2025 Update
We are sunsetting this project for now as this repo has taken off with a growing hardware list and great build showcase. See you over there!
📌 Why this repo?
Since we built the nimble (https://github.com/Wakoma/nimble) in 2021 there has been an explosion in interest in minilabs. Some folks are entirely new to minilabs/homelabs/selfhosting, while others are downsizing from 19" labs due to cost, space, or energy constraints.
This repo is completely open source, and intended to bring together resources for anyone interested in or currently building a minilab. We also aim to promote/develop open minilab standards to ensure we can learn and build from eachother.
Our team is working on enabling underconnected communities around the world (2.6 billion+ people) to design, build, and manage their own connectivity infrastructure. We hope this repo is also a contribution to this work.
What is a minilab?
For the purposes of this resource, anything less than 19" racks. However, in you will still find materials related to and hopefully useful for larger setups.
Contributions
Contributions/Issues/Comments/PRs/Insults welcome.
Bonus points to open source projects that use 3d printed parts, wood, and other locally available materials.
Double bonus points for portable builds.
If anyone wants something removed please email [email protected] and we’ll do this asap.
There are no affiliate links that we know of, and we recommend using local shops over Amazon where possible.
CC-BY-SA-4.0
General Links/Resources
Table of Contents
Resources from the Wakoma Team
Links & Guides
6" Labs
Standards
Hardware
3D Designs
Projects/Builds
The nimble. An open source, rapidly deployable, wireless mesh network.
https://github.com/Wakoma/nimble
Hotel setup
cmsj
https://www.reddit.com/r/minilab/comments/1ettveu/hotel_setup/
(not 6" but portable)
10" Labs
Standards
10-inch half rack (10" rack) 254.00mm
While it is common to use one 19" rack unit for two devices side-by-side, dedicated less-wide racks (more or less 10" wide) are finding their way into commercial installations, into SoHo and even military contexts, as stationary racks in airborne or otherwise weight or space constrained scenarios and as rugged shock proofed mobile crates for field deployed IT or radio equipment.
Regarding IT deployments, a rack of exactly 10" is more and more becoming an industry standard for smaller computing and networking equipment in recent years. Although often refered to as being a “half-rack”, a 10" rack is not a “real” half rack, as it is a little narrower. 10-inch rack dimensions are: exactly 10" (254.00mm) from side to side horizontally (front plate), including screwing area. Actual usable width is 8.75" (222.25mm) clear area in-between vertical screwing rails (“rack opening” or “aperture”). 10" and 19" racks use mounting rails of the same width, 0.625" (15.875mm). Analog to the EIA 310 19" rack, the actual depth of racks is undefined, but 10 inch racks are usually less deep in comparison to common 19" server cabinets, following the overall smaller footprint. The 10" rack layout is popular in SoHo, commercial and mobile installations where space is scarce or a less industrial looking furnishing is wanted. While dedicated 10-inch switches, 10-inch hubs and 10" computer enclosures are available, users often install consumer routers or similarly small devices in 10-inch racks in a DIY fashion on 10-inch rack shelfs or by using custom 3D printed brackets. Audio devices like microphone receivers, tone generators and effects processors use a 10"-similar half-width rack format, the 9.5" footprint, for decades. And although 9.5" half-rack devices (which are usually between 8.2" and 8.7" wide, often on the narrower side) can fit a 10" rack just fine, some vendors offer 10.5" racks, with a slightly wider 264mm/266mm to 271mm/275mm front panel width and 249mm or a little more hole to hole distance. Interesting to note is that the 10" rack, to a certain degree, follows the nesting paradigm of computer form factors: the rack opening on a 10" rack is exactly 5U wide (44.45mm x 5 = 222.25mm). Given a rack offers matching horizontal mounting rails, it is possible to mount 5 1U 19" modules vertically in a 12U tall 10" rack.
(Source: https://www.micropolis.com/support/kb/rack-mounting-faq)
10.5-inch half rack (10.5" rack)
A.
The 10.5" rack is the “wider verion” of a “half size” rack, despite the fact that 10.5" isn’t half of 19 inches. The confusion probably stems from the fact that many don’t realize that a 19" device, while having a 19" wide front-plate, including rack-ears, means that the device itself, behind the front-plate, is less wide and actually only at maximum 17.75" wide. So when equipment is labeled as being 19"/2 or 9.5", it means two of these device would fit the 19" rack aperture, side by side, and adding rack ears to such a pair would make them 19" wide. Essentially that means that a half-rack device is at max (17.75" / 2 =) 8.875" wide (450,85 / 2 = 225.42mm). Now, the EIA 310 19" standard even suggests devices should be a little less wide (17.625"), with many being between 15.5" - 17.5" wide (~400mm - 445mm, or 10U vertically). While the actual device footprint should be labeled as 8.8" or rounded to 8.5", the term “9.5 inches” is often used to refer to a half-rack width device. This is expressed decimally, as before, or with a fraction stroke, like 19"/2 or 19/2. However, neither the device alone nor its width with added rack ears is actually 9.5" wide.
In reality, half-rack (half-width) devices or modules are typically only around 220mm wide, sometimes even slightly less. This allows two modules to be comfortly bolted together in the middle while still retaining room to attach rack ears on each side. However, neither half-size racks nor half-sized modules are standardized - which is problematic. Some manufacturers utilize the full 19" rack aperture (450,85 / 2 = 225.42mm), maxing out available space, while others design enclosures to fit custom shelf systems or make modules arbitrarily “a little smaller” to potentially fit side by side in a 19" rack. As a result, when you attach rack ears to just one of these devices instead of two, you end up with varying widths. Adding rack ears with 0.625" each to a maxed out half-aperture device would result in a module 10.125" wide. But, as said, most manufacturers usually offer modules a little less wide, to make room for bolting or a cage/ shelf system. This inconsistency led to confusion when vendors began offering racks designed to mount only a single device, as it was unclear how wide exactly rack flanges should be apart. This uncertainty, along with the minimal need to shave off fractions in an already small footprint, led to the “wider” 10.5" layout becoming popular in military applications and a de-facto standard in A/V contexts. The slightly wider half-rack allows for a bit of room on each side, enabling various half-width devices to fit onto generic third-party shelves in most cases.
(Source: https://www.micropolis.com/support/kb/rack-mounting-faq)
B.
The 10-inch rack (aka “half-rack”) isn’t a standard (that I could find). Instead, it’s more like a general consensus (kind of like how we’ve unofficially settled on two sizes of toilet seat lid). Therefore, all equipment advertised as 10-inches or half-rack might not be compatible. (Source https://loganmarchione.com/2022/09/homelab-10-mini-rack-shelves/)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/19_inch_vs_10_inch_correct_rack_dimensions.svg/1200px-19_inch_vs_10_inch_correct_rack_dimensions.svg.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19-inch_rack
C.
https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/p3oe4a/comment/h8szwtf/
10" Hardware
10" 3D Models
| Project Name |
Source |
Link |
| 10" Server Rack 1U Panel - Tray |
Printables |
Link |
| 10" Rack - Half Rack Panels for Network Devices (incl. Unifi/Ubiquiti) |
Printables |
Link |
| 10-inch Rack Mounts |
MakerWorld (Mauker) |
Link |
| Ubiquiti Unifi USW-Flex-Mini 2.5G 10" Rack Mount |
MakerWorld |
Link |
| Ubiquiti Unifi USW-Flex-Mini 10-inch Rack Mount |
MakerWorld |
Link |
| 10" UniFi Rack Mount UXG-Max UCG-Ultra UCG-Max |
MakerWorld |
Link |
| 10-inch Keystone Patchpanel x10 Ports |
MakerWorld |
Link |
| 10-inch 1/2U Rack Mount Blanks |
MakerWorld |
Link |
| 10" Network Rack (3U+4U+5U), Standard Dimensions |
Printables |
Link |
| Storage Drawers |
Printables |
Link |
| Raspberry Pi 4B 10-Inch Rack Mount |
Printables |
Link |
| 3D Printable Modular 19-inch Rack Mount Collection (+ 10-inch versions!) |
Reddit (u/Mauker_) |
Link |
| Dell Optiplex 3040M/3070 Micro 10" Rack Mount |
Printables |
Link |
| Dell Optiplex 7060 MicroPC 10-inch Rack Mount |
Printables |
Link |
| 10-inch Rack Wall Mount Adapter |
Printables |
Link |
| 10-inch Rack Project |
Thingiverse |
Link |
| 10in Home Server Project |
Printables |
Link |
10"in" Projects/Builds
| Info |
URL |
| I was told to post my 10-inch rack - u/Mauker_ |
Link |
| 8U Mini rack build constructed from Walnut - u/rambim |
Link |
| 8U 10” Rack - Shelves and Monitor - u/Cigar-Bros |
Link |
| 4U 10" rack build not 10k build - by u/Sn00m00 |
Link |
| My 10“ Rack on wheels - Time_Emu_8726 |
Link |
| 10in Mini Rack V1 - by u/cubedd |
Link |
| My first rack - u/Ok_Bumblebee665 |
Link |
| UCG-Max based RPI4 Cluster Minilab - LukeHoersten |
Link |
| Decided join the family with a mini 10in starter lab - carney2134 |
Link |
| it continues - u/discop3t3 |
Link |
| Fun Size Lab 2.0 - u/exdarko |
Link |
| WIP - it’s a start - u/Jazzlike-Ad748 |
Link |
| My little home lab - TheAnonymousMaker |
Link |
| Did not know this sub existed, here you go, my tiny rack - Digital-Ronin |
Link |
| Finally Completed Minilab - colev14 |
Link |
| My new 10" DIY rack - nairol203 |
Link |
| My Homelab! Upgraded from 6U - michaelclaw |
Link |
Other Labs
Standards
Hardware
3D Designs
Modular 19-inch Rack Mounts
https://makerworld.com/en/collections/3016614
Projects/Builds
Can Micro-Labs go here?
CTAlabrat
https://www.reddit.com/r/minilab/comments/1fh9vlt/can_microlabs_go_here/
Wood:
Projects that use wood or other locally available materials:
https://www.reddit.com/r/minilab/comments/1gsdaqi/8u_mini_rack_build_constructed_from_walnut/
https://www.reddit.com/r/minilab/comments/1hrfg6q/my_little_home_lab/
https://www.reddit.com/r/minilab/comments/1fnfgf2/my_10_rack_on_wheels/
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