I Made The World's Smallest Server Rack - With UPS and SSD Storage

Having your own home server rack or homelab is really useful, but you have to have a relatively large space to set it up, it generates a lot of heat and can be pretty noisy. So that's why I built this, the world's smallest server rack that fits right in on my desk alongside a drink or cup of coffee. In this video, I'll show you how I made it.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
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PURCHASE LINKS
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Tool & Equipment Used:
Use my discount code MK200 on checkout to get $200 off

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CHAPTERS
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0:00 Intro
1:10 Designing The Mini Server
1:48 Making the Case Components
4:59 Assembling the Racks
8:28 Adding The Fan
10:33 Booting It Up
11:57 Final Thoughts

If you've got any ideas for Raspberry Pi, Arduino, or other Electronics projects or tutorials you'd like to see, let me know in the comments section.

[MarkLapasa]

man, this is screaming quality workmanship. Bravo.

[tuchme]

Significantly more visually appealing than a scuffed stack of RPi starter kits, I love it.

[MadeInJack]

Awesome build ! I'd love to see a full mini-NAS with this design style, using 2 drives for RAID1 and a UPS for a full rpi-based solution. Great work!

[aaronmartin]

That looks so good!! I was looking for some ideas on how to make a minimalistic design for my server (which uses a rpi4). Keep up the great content! 👌

[arturwelp]

I am planing on building a UPS using 26650 or 18650 cells

[liamhoffen]

You have wonderful packaging ideas for the Pi and accessories. I love your designs, and have one. I've taken to adding a pushbutton to them and cycling the OLED display on for 30 seconds every 10 minutes, or for 30 seconds on demand via the pushbutton. In that way, the OLED doesn't start burning out display areas on the screen.

[SuchByte]

This is so well done! What I'd really love to see would be a option to add two SSDs and use them in a RAID setup for redundancy.

[lloydrmc]

Impeccable form and function, per usual.

[kawasutanku]

this would make an awesome pi media center with something like Plex or OSMC running on it, well done

[HEINLUMBY]

As always, I love the cases, and enclosures you design. For this version 2 you could use some power banks that output up to 20w per port, and have a few "blades" (RPIs mounted sideways) then for the third teir you could add a RPI with a few ssds to act as a SAN/NAS. Additionally you could add a small managed switch and a RPI running PiHole and you have a full blown data center in a tiny enclosure

[AlistairBrugsch]

Fantastic design! One thing I'd change though is not making the uprights print as part of the base. As they are, the layer lines going across them makes them much weaker. As separate pieces they can be printed flat with better layer strength, then it makes it easier to make the height modular too. That would be an instant buy for me.

[rbnjr]

excellent build quality, i say add more shelves to populate with all the ideas i see listed here in the comments.

[BattlingNebula]

This looks amazing! Can't wait for you to upload files and make this myself

[DavidJones-pirl]

I am currently running an Argon 40 Argon One case for my Raspberry Pi Server and had been thinking of buying the Argon 40 Eon Raspberry Pi 4b NAS case. But this design is so much better and will enable me to use either use a spare SSD I already have or alternatively use a couple of my portable Samsung T1 or T3 SSD! The things I wouldlike to see added are a powereed USB 3.0 hub and the angled network cable you mentioned in the video .

[massimommm]

i just discovered your channel, it's simply amazing

[kavod]

This is super cool. Thanks for sharing!

[tarrynweigand]

"I used an acrylic bending tool, other wise known as my wifes hair straightener"

[markowens]

ANOTHER NICE BUILD KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK

[TheAnoniemo]

Nice idea, but this kinda removes all the advantages of a real rack by integrating all components into one and not having room for expansion. If I could make suggestions for a future revision?
Obtain a generic 5V USB UPS, this way you can keep it separate from the Pi in a rack slot. You could integrate a power distribution board (USB hub) to power multiple devices from the one UPS.
Connect the SSD with a USB Type A to Type A cable, this way the SSD is wired through the front and can be removed without also removing the pi.
Leave space for upgrades, maybe a 2.5 inch HDD or a small ethernet switch could be added later for more functionality?

[MrBlakBunny]

certainly a design i'll adapt, i run a couple of printers so having all the pi's in one case could be useful