DIY Equipment Rack

[NateTTU]

Hey Guys,

I'm looking for some ideas on a cheap equipment rack to either buy or DIY. I'm not looking for an actual face mounting rack, but more like a shelf. The shelf would be placed in a closet in the ht room. Here is the equipment I need to place on it:

PS3
Xbox 360
LMC-1 soon to be UMC-1
LPA-1
EP2500
some networking stuff, like a router and such
-in the future probably some eq like a DEQ2496 or something.

So as you can see I need at least 5/6 shelves, but probably would like around 8. Adjustable shelf height would be great and they it must be sturdy enough to hold the 63 lb amp. At least the bottom shelf should be this strong.

And if that's not enough here are a few more items I would like to have:

1.) Something like a power strip along the back of the shelf to plug everything into and just have the strip plug into the wall. I always unplug everything at night so unplugging one is better than 5 or 6.
2.) Some sort of cable management system. I guess something simple as making sure the vertical posts are small enough to put some wire ties around. Maybe something a long the back in the horizontal direction may help as well.
3.) Ventilation is very important. It can't be completely enclosed as the quipment gets very hot and I don't want them to overheat.
4.) Wheels, it would be nice if this could be easy to move just in case I need to get around back.


I looked through the completed furniture thread and it has certainly given me some good ideas. I liked the Flexy Table and may use a variation of that. My favorite, aesthetically, was this:

http://www.htguide.com/forum/attachment.php4?attachmentid=8555

However, I'm not so sure I want to spend that much time on it since it will be in a closet. I'm hoping to knock this out in one day.

Please submit some ideas, suggestions, and pics of your builds.

Thanks,
Nate

[ThomasW]

For my gear that's stored out of sight I use the wire shelving systems sold at Costco or Sam's. $99 gets you 6 shelves that will hold 600lbs/shelf and large roll-around casters. The design is such that wire management is a snap using wire-ties. Ventilation is of course great. And the shelving system snaps together in a matter of minutes...

[---k---]

If it is going to be in a closet, why not use a wire rack closet shelf kit from the likes of Home Depot or Lowes.
Something like this:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100345038&N=10000003+90401+500474+4381

[NateTTU]

Thanks guys, great suggestions. I really like those shelves from Sams/Costco but from looking at their websites they don't seem to come in a size small enough to fit in the closet. (18x36 is too long) I think the container store has something very similiar and closer to my size, but are a little pricey.

http://www.containerstore.com/browse/index.jhtml;jsessionid=4J14RXZFJKDM5QFIAILSM5WAVABBQJVC?CATID=13383&howMany=999&viewAll=true

I'm going to do some web browsing to see what I can find.

Thanks,
Nate

[ThomasW]

Metro is the company that invented this kind of shelving. Their products are the most expensive.

You might check HD/Lowe's, etc., I think they sell a version of this kind of shelf.

I know Sam's has a closet organizer version it's 2- 18"X18"? 'towers' with bars that connect them. We used these without the connecting bars in a friends kitchen.

[Dennis H]

Shelves in a closet, I'd go ghetto. Screw some 1x2 or 1x4 onto the side walls of the closet. Be sure to hit studs with the screws. Cut some plywood or MDF shelves to sit on the cleats. Done. Actually, it's not so ghetto -- I've build plenty of linen closets like than in expensive custom homes.

[Mazeroth]

I have a similar situation to yours and here's what I'm going to do. My closet is 24d x 36w and will have the following in there: Outlaw 990 pre (BIG), HK Sig 2.1 Amp (big), Crown XLS402 pro amp, Behringer DCX2496, HTPC, XBox 360, Wii, Monster 3500 power conditioner, Dish TurboHD DVR. As you can see, a LOT of stuff to fit into that space. My solution? A threaded rod equipment rack on casters so I can wheel it out and work on things when I need to. It will look similar to this one below but will have doubled MDF on the bottom and four 3" casters that will be hidden by MDF "sides" that almost touch the carpet. I'm going to put the heavy stuff on the bottom so it won't tip (plus they're the largest heat makers and the heat will rise away from them) and will have to pull from the bottom when I want to move it out. I think all the supplies ran me about $60 to build it and I'm just waiting for it to warm up a bit so I can cut and paint it. It's been 10-15º colder than normal these past few weeks and it doesn't look to be warming up any time soon. 25º just won't cut it for the enamel I'm going to use.

[Thirsty93]

I have a similar situation to yours and here's what I'm going to do. My closet is 24d x 36w and will have the following in there: Outlaw 990 pre (BIG), HK Sig 2.1 Amp (big), Crown XLS402 pro amp, Behringer DCX2496, HTPC, XBox 360, Wii, Monster 3500 power conditioner, Dish TurboHD DVR. As you can see, a LOT of stuff to fit into that space. My solution? A threaded rod equipment rack on casters so I can wheel it out and work on things when I need to. It will look similar to this one below but will have doubled MDF on the bottom and four 3" casters that will be hidden by MDF "sides" that almost touch the carpet. I'm going to put the heavy stuff on the bottom so it won't tip (plus they're the largest heat makers and the heat will rise away from them) and will have to pull from the bottom when I want to move it out. I think all the supplies ran me about $60 to build it and I'm just waiting for it to warm up a bit so I can cut and paint it. It's been 10-15º colder than normal these past few weeks and it doesn't look to be warming up any time soon. 25º just won't cut it for the enamel I'm going to use.

VERY NICE!!!!! :T

[gmed]

Im really proud of what I accomplished here. I took some ideas from Finite elemente, but I really like my version.
Total cost $200 compared to the FE which costs $6500!!!
Im sure you can make it a little taller or even 2 columns of 3 shelves.


Very Solid

[gmed]

Another thing you can do is get a whole bunch of Baltic Birch plywood from Rockler woodworking, 20x 22x 5/8" are about $5.

You can do something like this, very easy to do.

[Blazin_Jason]

I really like the first one.

[NateTTU]

Hey Guys,

I went to Lowes, Home Depot, and Sams yesterday. Each store had a different variation of those shelves, but no store had exactly what I needed. Lowes was the closest with a chrome 18x24x36 3shelf set for $45. I'm not sure if I can stack them if I bought two but even then I would have to buy 3 just to get the number of shelves I wanted.

I looked online and only found shelving.com to be a decent supplier. They would sell me black 18x24 shelves for $12.50 each. Not a bad price, but for some reason their posts and shipping were very high and pretty much made them equal to the container store prices.

Maxeroth,

That looks pretty good, but right now one of the problems I have is finding a large enough all thread about 5ft in length. The most common is 3ft sections at Lowes and HD. They had some longer ones, but they were all very skinny, the biggest was $12 I think and it was still too small. So even if I went with this thinner rod I think about $50 for just the post is starting to become too much for a diy version. I'm thinking all the other supplies would rack up the price to over $100. I'd rather spend a little more to get the manufactured ones and it would save some time.

Gmed,

Those are some pretty sweet builds. Way too much for my closet, but I'm going to have to build a tv stand after this and those ideas would be great for that. Thanks.

Dennis,

That is definately one effective and cheap way to build some shelves. I may do something like this to hold my movies and other random items on the other side of the closet, but for the equipment rack I really need to be able to move it and have access to all sides. Thanks for the idea.



I'm still going to look around online and in stores, but I'm really leaning towards the Lowes option. I'm just hoping I can somehow splice those posts together.

Nate

[---k---]

An electrical supply house will have threaded rod in 8' and 12' lengths.

I like the wire rack shelving like Thomas linked to, but for a closet I think I would just use the Closetmaid type stuff. Lowes will cut it to length for any width and it can be installed in 1/2 hour.

[Mazeroth]

I purchased the threaded rod from Home Depot in 10' sections and cut them down in the store so they would fit in my car (bring your own hack saw!). I purchased 1/2", which seems to be smaller than most guys use but even at 1/2" the tensile strength is PLENTY. Plus, the furthest the shelves will be apart is 10" so that will keep it rigid.

[NateTTU]

I have a couple more places to look before I give up searching for a cheap commercial option.

Mazeroth,

With as much equipment as you have surely that size rod must work for my modest setup. Have you begun a build thread yet? BTW, whose build was in the picture and do they have a thread about it or anything?

Ryan,

The reason I'm not going with the closet shelf stuff is because I need to be able to have access to all sides, especially the back of the equipment. Having the ability to wheel it out would be extremely helpful and it could solve my temporary space problem until I can finish up my room and then finally move everything into the closet for good. Not to mention I don't think the wife will let me.

Nate

[Mazeroth]

I haven't begun building it and won't until this cold wave is over in the midwest. This weather is really getting old.

I just Googled threaded rod shelves or something to that effect in Google images. There should be plenty of pics and sites if you Google it.

[wettou]

Pictures of Granite racks

Any one built granite racks?

[Bill Schneider]

Don't know about granite racks (anyone?), but there are a bunch of audio tables and racks featured in this forum's "Missions Accomplished" section...

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=24055

[johnvb]

For cheap and easy...google "Ikea Lack Rack"

[TacoD]

For cheap and easy...google "Ikea Lack Rack"

I cannot find pictures of that one. The thread on head-fi only contains some alternatives.

edit: found some extra info

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?htech&1001889380&openflup&11&4#11

[don9146]

http://www.wardsweb.org/audio/rack.html

This guy give some good detail on how he built his threaded rod rack, plus take a look at the link to some of the variations that other people have built.

[eyekode]

Another thing you can do is get a whole bunch of Baltic Birch plywood from Rockler woodworking, 20x 22x 5/8" are about $5.

Please point me to a link for 20x22x5/8 for 5$. I would love this deal. Usually it is minimum 3x this price.

[gmed]

http://www.rockler.com/index.cfm

you have to check them frequently. Sometimes they have great sales and that is when i take advantage of it. You may not find that price at this time though. see if there is one near your house.

[Hdale85]

I think I may have to try and make a rack like yours gmed, it looks sweet!

[gmed]

Thanks, I really love it myself. Im proud of the way it came out.

[johnvb]

I cannot find pictures of that one. The thread on head-fi only contains some alternatives.

edit: found some extra info

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr...enflup&11&4#11

That was the discussion that started it all

Here's a pic from AA:

http://www.audioasylum.com/scripts/t.pl?f=tweaks&m=116875

If you do this, try to get the tables with the solid legs. The hollow ones are doable, but more effort.

[dsgmi]

gmed - very cool rack.

What are the dimensions of the angle stock you used? Did you buy the materials online?

[djn04]

Gmed-

Yes could you please provide more information on your rack. It looks amazing and I would love to make one.
Thanks

[gmed]

If you guys are interested, I can setup a kit, Material already cut and sell them to you guys. Let me know.

Getting all this stuff if you dont have the right stores around, can be difficult.

[evilskillit]

Flexy Table

Have you see Tony Gee's Flexy Table and Flexy Table Plus. They're basically over built versions of the rack somebody showed earlier using the long threaded rods and nuts. Seems like a great way to do things tho. I'll probably build one of these sometime sooner or later.

http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Flexy.html

http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Flexy_Ref.html

[djn04]

If you guys are interested, I can setup a kit, Material already cut and sell them to you guys. Let me know.

Getting all this stuff if you dont have the right stores around, can be difficult.

I could be interested in something like that. What would a ballpark figure be on price and how difficult would the parts be to find in a major metro city? I could imagine shipping would get a little spendy on something like this.
Thanks

[JonP]

Good stuff!

I was waiting for someone to mention the original Flexy thing... I've seen a lot of variants out there. Can be rather cheap, and not bad looking. And for closet use, especially good. Look for "industrial" hardware stores as a source for long rod stock, they'll have tons. Just bought a 12' piece of 5/16", cut for free in the store... so I could have 4 4' lengths, probably about the same price as HD or Lowes would have 1 4' length, except they don't.

Gmed... very cool racks!! And speakers... Can we tell you like to laminate? :B I wonder about the Rockler deal, it might be regional, since my local one gets it occasionally as well. But that's a great price on semi premium BB. I have made a few things out of it instead of MDF.

It's some kind of offcuts from a huge manufacturing plant, depends on when they have certain jobs go thru I guess. Not sure if it's available at all Rocklers', have to check yours. Hmmm... you're in CA as well as I? Southern? Would be wild if we both go to the same one...

I was going to mention the 8020 aluminum "industrial erector set" stuff... always thought a dipole or something open frame could be made with it. We even have a few test jigs and tables made from it at work... The T-slot stuff would be a very cool looking materiel to do the aluminum frame for rack work... but it is a bit pricey. http://www.8020.net/ Very cool stuff, though.

[chrismercurio]

Good stuff!
I was going to mention the 8020 aluminum "industrial erector set" stuff... always thought a dipole or something open frame could be made with it. We even have a few test jigs and tables made from it at work... The T-slot stuff would be a very cool looking materiel to do the aluminum frame for rack work... but it is a bit pricey. http://www.8020.net/ Very cool stuff, though.

Salamander Designs makes good use of this in their products.

[JonP]

Hmmm... looked thru their site, didn't see any. Unless it's inside the furnuture. Saw some threaded rod based stuff.

[gmed]

Hey Jon. I used to go to the one in Pasadena. Always have great deals. Right now I go to the one in San Diego. I havent really looked for deals lately since Im done for some time. Once I finish my 5.1 system, Im taking a long vacation. maybe a month! :lol:

[wettou]

Any one made granite stands?

[JoshK]

I'm not sure I'd want to build a granite stand. I am not much into the tweakery of audiophilia, but what is the P in SPL? That pressure exerts some vibration on equipment. I'd rather have some dampening like properties in my shelf (wood) then essentially rigid shelfs. Its got to do something in terms of helping alleviate vibration.

[JonP]

Hey Jon. I used to go to the one in Pasadena. Always have great deals. Right now I go to the one in San Diego. I havent really looked for deals lately since Im done for some time. Once I finish my 5.1 system, Im taking a long vacation. maybe a month! :lol:

Ah... I'm in Irvine, so the Orange one is closest for me. Heh... enjoy your "vacation". I know you'll probably be eyeing the bedrooms and garage as needing speakers before long...

[gmed]

Just a follow up.

Since last time, I changed the rack slightly. I took out the aluminum cross membranes in the middle, replaced them with BB ply cross membranes in the front and back, with a round recess for Sorbothane half spheres. the shelf just sits on it. you can also use squash balls with varying softness.

[gbegland]

You do nice work.

What Pioneer Elite gear is that?

Greg

[gmed]

PD-D6 and A6 amp and SACD.

thank you