Build guide
6U in 2 sections.
7 files, 24 pieces to print, and 3 things to buy. Every count here is this rack’s own, and every picture is drawn from the parts you will print.
What to print
One file per distinct solid. A part you need four of is one file printed four times, not four files.
| Qty | Part | File |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Post | post.stl |
| 4 | Splice strap, front | outer-strap.stl |
| 4 | Splice strap, side | inner-strap.stl |
| 2 | Bottom bar | front-bottom.stl |
| 2 | Top bar | front-top.stl |
| 2 | Side rail | side-bottom.stl |
| 2 | Top rail, handle | top-handle.stl |
What to buy
None of this is printed. The sizes are here so you can match what you already have; the places to buy it are on the parts page, because a listing that dies can be replaced there and not here.
/build/parts?h=6
| 72 | M6 heat-set insert, 8 mm |
| 80 | M6 nyloc nut (DIN 985) |
| 80 | M6 x 16 socket screw |
The 3U base kit
4 steps.
You need
- 5 mm hex key, for the M6 screws
- 4 mm hex key, for the M5 screws
- 10 mm and 8 mm spanners, for the nuts
Step 1: Bolt a bottom bar across each pair of posts
- 2
- Bottom bar
- 4
- Post
- 8
- M6 x 16 socket screw
- 8
- M6 nyloc nut (DIN 985)
Stand two posts up with their mounting faces towards you and their side plates outward, and drop a bottom bar’s ears into the pockets at their feet, spine down: the ears sit in the pockets flush with the faces. Two M6 × 16 through each ear from the front, into a nut behind the post’s mounting plate. Make the second pair the same way; it becomes the back, turned round.
Two U-frames. Ears flush with the faces, nothing standing proud, and the side plates on the outside of each.
Step 2: Join the two with the side rails
- 2
- Side rail
- 12
- M6 x 16 socket screw
- 12
- M6 nyloc nut (DIN 985)
A side rail runs between a front post and a back post: its flange turned outward under the posts’ feet, and the bolt plate at each of its ends standing inside the post’s side plate. Drop a nut into each of the three traps in the plate from inside the rack, then three M6 × 16 through the side plate from outside, into them. The other rail the same on the other side.
The rack stands square on its bars and rails. Each rail’s plate is inside the post’s side plate, not outside it, and three bolt heads show on the outside of every post’s foot.
Step 3: Close the top with a bar at each end
- 2
- Top bar
- 8
- M6 x 16 socket screw
- 8
- M6 nyloc nut (DIN 985)
A top bar goes on the way a bottom bar did, the other way up: its spine lies across the posts’ tops and its ears hang down the faces into the top pockets, flush. Two M6 × 16 through each ear from the front, into a nut behind the mounting plate. One across the front, one across the back.
Both spines down flat on the post tops, both pairs of ears flush with the faces. Three units: a post stands 133 mm from foot to top.
Step 4: Hang the two handle rails
- 2
- Top rail, handle
- 12
- M6 x 16 socket screw
- 12
- M6 nyloc nut (DIN 985)
One rail each side, hung from the top posts the way a side rail hangs at the bottom, upside down: the web inside the post’s side plate with its bores opening into the rack, the lid on the posts’ tops, the notch at each end over the top bar. Drop a nut into each of the three traps per end, then three M6 × 16 from outside through the side plate. The left rail is the right rail turned half round. A flat rail, if you asked for one instead, goes on exactly the same way; a rack ordered with nothing on top has no rails and is finished at the step before.
The two rails’ arms meet at the centre line, front and back, and the top bars sit in their notches. Lift the rack by the handles and nothing shifts.
Extension 1 of 1 — 3U to 6U
3 steps.
You need
- 5 mm hex key, for the M6 screws
- 10 mm spanner, for the nuts
Step 1: Take the top bars off and stand a post on each post
- 4
- Post
The top bars come off first — eight bolts, kept with the bars — because a bar’s ears and a splice strap use the same pocket in a post’s end. Then stand a new post on each post below, end to end, mounting face the same way. Nothing fixes the two yet: the joint is the straps.
Four posts standing on four, the hole columns running straight through the joint and the mounting faces flush.
Step 2: Strap every corner, front and side
- 4
- Splice strap, front
- 4
- Splice strap, side
- 40
- M6 x 16 socket screw
- 40
- M6 nyloc nut (DIN 985)
The front strap sits in the two pockets that meet at the joint, flush with the face, its bores to the front: two M6 × 16 into each post, nuts behind the mounting plate. The side strap goes inside the side plates across the joint with its bores opening into the rack: drop a nut into each of its six, then three M6 × 16 into each post from outside.
Every strap bears half on each post. Ten bolts per corner, forty in all, and the joint adds nothing to the height.
Step 3: Put the top bars back, on the new top
The same eight bolts and the same pockets, one section up: spine across the posts’ tops, ears down the faces, flush. A flat top or handles moves up with them, its rails onto the new top posts’ side plates.
The rack is 6U from foot to top, and nothing is left over but the box.