42 ms·

LackRack: IKEA's cheapest table is perfectly sized to rackmount computers (2020)

347 points by bluehatbrit 4y ago

OedipusRex 4y ago
These are also commonly used for 3D printer enclosures. Get two and flip one upside down and stack them, add some walls and a door and you’ve got an enclosure.
redhal 4y ago
Also works great as a 3D printer enclosure https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2864118 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2864118
- tssva 4y ago
  My Biqu B1 is in a lack enclosure.
- bmitc 4y ago
  Lack is made out of super cheap particle board. Is it stable enough to sit the 3D printer on? I would assume it would add some errors to the printing process.
  - actually_a_dog 4y ago
    I'm not even sure I'd trust it to hold more than a single 1U server as depicted in the article, for that matter.
    - _jal 4y ago
      Adding more kit increases rigidity. A "full rack" would be a stack of servers on the floor, with the table keeping them stacked. The least-stable arrangement would be a very heavy 1u device at the top.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
    - weberer 4y ago
      I think you're severely underestimating the strength of particle board.
  - dinkledunk 4y ago
    It works fine and lots of people do it, I have been using mine without issue for a few years now. It helps to put a concrete slab in it, but it's not necessary. The lack table does have a tendency to amplify the noise though. Here is a guide by Prusa to build one for their printers: https://blog.prusa3d.com/mmu2s-printer-enclosure_30215/ https://blog.prusa3d.com/mmu2s-printer-enclosure_30215/
    - nibbleshifter 4y ago
      Unsurprisingly, the same issues arise with precision scales/balances as do with printers. Having a big heavy base is useful! I know of a few places that just procured literal blank marble gravestones as a "base" for their analytical scales at a cost far less than the usual mass-damper bases sold to labs.
  - buffet_overflow 4y ago
    It’s perfectly adequate for stability. People have suspended printers in midair with elastic cables, or printed upside down, and prints have come out fine. The printer frame is providing most of the rigidity in this case. Don’t get me wrong, people that place their printers on spring like things tend to get lower quality prints so there is a limit there. The downside about the IKEA particleboard over hollow cardboard core is more about sound and resonance imo. It can act as a speaker for printer vibrations and amplify that sound in the same room or to the floor below it. A popular “mod” is to place a concrete paver block on top of some isolation pad, typically made of rubber or sorbothane to increase the functional mass of the printer and lower the resonant frequencies created during printing. I personally have two of those enclosures stacked, with a printer in each one.
    - Teever 4y ago
      Oh boy is this thread relevant to me. I just bought a concrete paver and neoprene mat to put on top of my lack and I'm printing pieces for my lack enclosure on my ender 3 as I type this message. One thing I'm not sure about is whether or not I should attach the printer directly to the concrete paver, and/or if I should take the rubber feet off of the printer as well. If so how do I best attach it?
      - rustyminnow 4y ago
        I have a 3-lack-stack for my printer, but no paver. It sways a bit when I print, but I haven't run into any major issues without it. I should get one. A foam mat was mandatory though; the hollow core lack turns the motor noise into a scream! I'd just try the easy thing first and set the printer on the paver without attaching. See if that works before you go through the effort of attaching it
        Teever 4y ago
        The motor noise can be totally eliminated with an upgrade main board from bigtreetech. https://biqu.equipment/search?filter.p.product_type=3D+Printer+Control+Board&options%5Bprefix%5D=last&options%5Bunavailable_products%5D=show&q=ender+3 https://biqu.equipment/search?filter.p.product_type=3D+Print... They are drop in replacements for the existing board and are very affordable. I highly recommend them.
  - some_random 4y ago
    Not at all in my experience but apparently it's fine for everyone else
    - bmitc 4y ago
      Yea, I'm a bit surprised by the responses. In the case of using it for a Prusa, I'm not sure I understand the idea of buying a $1,000 3D printer and then putting it on a $15 particle board stand.
  - ezconnect 4y ago
    I stacked 3 of them with a 3D printer. It can handle all of them running at the same time.
trollied 4y ago
Needs a (2020). See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25978013 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25978013 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1067283 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1067283
- bluehatbrit 4y ago
  Thanks I forgot about that, added the (2020) marker now.
DonHopkins 4y ago
That looks a lot sturdier than Apple's iRack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw2nkoGLhrE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw2nkoGLhrE
shagie 4y ago
The less advert laden site: https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack
- bluehatbrit 4y ago
  Apologies, I run an adblocker so didn't see the ads on this page. Perhaps @dang could update it to point at that page instead?
- dang 4y ago
  Ok, we've changed to that from https://boingboing.net/2020/08/14/lack-rack-ikeas-cheapest-ta.html https://boingboing.net/2020/08/14/lack-rack-ikeas-cheapest-t.... Thanks!
daneel_w 4y ago
The melamine pads under the feet of the Lack tables become brittle with time and eventually crack under only 30-ish kg of weight, causing the table to slant. My own experience.
- bborud 4y ago
  I wonder if it would help to fill them with some high density expanding foam? (Using some form of resin would probably be prohibitively expensive).
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - daneel_w 4y ago
    Maybe snap/chisel the melamine off and replace with felt pads or something.
    - bborud 4y ago
      You're thinking about the ends? I made some end caps for Lack tables that you can 3D print. For when you shorten the legs. https://github.com/borud/ikea-lack-leg-end-cap https://github.com/borud/ikea-lack-leg-end-cap
  - ErneX 4y ago
    What I did was get wood sticks cut to the exact size that fits inside the legs, then you can drill stuff safely to it.
zhdc1 4y ago
Had a LackRack(ish) running in my closet for a year or so. It's a good and dirty way to free up space on top of your server(s) for a monitor and keyboard.
crispyambulance 4y ago
It seems like a sketchy idea to directly screw in the server to the table legs. Much better to install rack sliders that are supported from both front and back. Just don't pull out the server if there's no one holding down the table. Or better, keep servers where they belong: in a freaking data center, NOT your house ! :-)
jiggywiggy 4y ago
The ads on this site are bonkers, is this the original article? edit: appeareantly it's a legit site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boing_Boing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boing_Boing. Buzzword seems legit compared to this.
- lastofthemojito 4y ago
  Boing Boing used to be one of the coolest sites on the internet! I think a lot of people still have it bookmarked/RSSed/whatever, so they still keep publishing, but it doesn't feel like a work of love anymore (IMHO). It feels more like someone said "hey, we've got this site that gets a bunch of traffic, it'd be a shame not to monetize it".
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
amelius 4y ago
The problem: extreme noise.
michaelhoffman 4y ago
Given how many Lack tables I've seen fall apart without any sort of load, I would be very reluctant to try this, no matter how many people report it works for them. It's IKEA's cheapest table for a reason.
- silicon2401 4y ago
  In my experience, even cheap IKEA stuff is pretty solid and well worth the cost as long as you treat it with care. Some stuff is garbage even if you're careful but I've never personally seen something from IKEA that isn't great if handled gently.
  - jpalomaki 4y ago
    On trick is to add some glue when you are assembling the furniture.
    - serf 4y ago
      the lack I used for my prusa was , over time, covered in printed gusset features and additional L-brackets to get rid of sway and movement within the table itself. it looked god-awful but it was sturdy for years and years of production-quantity printing. It was only disassembled when the print lab got rebuilt. so, in other words, I support your idea of modifying the construction of the lack wholeheartedly. The joint lines are one of the only 'strong-ish' elements on the entire table, and I think they'd take glue nicely.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    The IVAR system is, in my book, absolute complete junk. I couldn't get it to even attempt to work correctly, it wobbled when it wasn't collapsing, and to make insult even worse, it was more expensive than actual industrial wire shelving.
    - layer8 4y ago
      Did you forget to add cross-braces [0]? Ivar has always been rock-solid for me. [0] https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/observatoer-cross-brace-galvanized-87749600/ https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/observatoer-cross-brace-galvani...
sircastor 4y ago
I naively put an old LaCie 1U server under a Lack table 13 years ago, thinking it would be a great media server in my living room. I had no idea how loud rackmount fans were. It was obviously unusable for watching any kind of media.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- rayiner 4y ago
  2U is a lot quieter than 1U. Those little fans spin louder and put out higher frequency noise. Though probably still not quiet enough for a media room. I’ve got a ruckus 10g switch and a 2U server in my utility room and you can sleep nearby and can’t hear anything with the door closed. What drives me nuts is power supply noise actually. I finally bit the bullet and got a Mac mini for my home office.
- bombcar 4y ago
  Modern rack servers at least spin down the fans when the system isn't heavily loaded, but it's still way too loud for a media room. For those playing at home, buying a 2U or even 4U rack will on average be quieter (still sounds like a jet engine just after reboot until the SMC comes online).
  - justsomehnguy 4y ago
    > even 4U rack Supermicro builds some workstations[0] which were quite quiet back in Xeon 5xxx days. [0] https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/x11/systems/workstation https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/x11/systems/workstati... be sure to check for the 'quiet fans', not the 'heavy duty' ones!
    - justinlloyd 4y ago
      Interestingly Supermicro has a line of, in their words, super-quiet fans they produced for their workstations. Not quite noctua, but better than most. You can take those same Sanyo fans in their plastic quick connect green cowlings and put them in an 847 rackmount chassis. They are a drop in replacement. And if you get the 1250 platinum PSU, those fans run far quieter than their silver & gold line. I've got a water cooled 847 4U server with a small rack of 847 4U 45 drive disc expanders and it is a constant background hum, rather than a small jet aircraft taxiing around the room when using the stock fans.
blamazon 4y ago
Is this just a random coincidence? Is there some explainable reason why the dimension is perfect? Surely IKEA did not have this use in mind when originally designing this?
- themoonisachees 4y ago
  It's a round number of inches that happens to be right, possibly because "this size is good for a table" is what probably went through the engineer who decided what size a rackmount should be at the beggining of time
  - sschueller 4y ago
    I don't think it's inches. This is a Swedish product. The tables I have from Ikea measure 55cm from what I recall. The legs are 5cm wide.
- BeefWellington 4y ago
  I've kind of hoped some manufacturer would clue into this as a possible side benefit to their design of furniture. But the 0.0000001% of humans who want a rack at home are probably not a substantial market, so my guess is this must have been happy coincidence.
- okamiueru 4y ago
  Numbers game. Lots of tables exist with a lot of dimensions. Only the ones that have the perfect dimensions are mentioned.
silicon2401 4y ago
can somebody with more server/home server experience explain to me the benefit of going with a rackmount setup vs let's say, just building a second PC to use as a home server? I recently bought a house and am excited to get into home networking/home server work, but don't know anything about rack mount. Is rackmount equipment cheaper than regular consumer PC hardware?
- derekerdmann 4y ago
  > Is rackmount equipment cheaper than regular consumer PC hardware? Never
  - jakeinspace 4y ago
    You can find incredibly cheap (nearly free) used servers for pickup if you’re patient. If you have cheap electricity (or better yet, provided with your lease), a 2013-era dual Xeon server is pretty compelling at $50.
    - ska 4y ago
      That part about power is key. Some of the commercial gear is thirsty enough you'll notice it right away on your bill.
      - jakeinspace 4y ago
        Thankfully I live in Quebec. My salary may suck compared to the US but at least I get that sweet sweet cheap hydro power.
    - haunter 4y ago
      Wish I can find an Xserve for that much!
      - mbreese 4y ago
        Apple didn’t make that many, so they would be tough to find. And they were a really pain to actually use. I didn’t find them very friendly at all to work with physically. Very polished, but had a feel of being over engineered.
whalesalad 4y ago
I have been really happy with the HEJNE shelf as a rack. Here are some 2U's here at home: https://s3.whalesalad.com/lab/rack.jpg https://s3.whalesalad.com/lab/rack.jpg The shelf: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/hejne-shelf-unit-softwood-s79031414/#content https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/hejne-shelf-unit-softwood-s7903... I keep seeing full height Dell racks for sale on FB marketplace in the $200 range but haven't encountered the right manic episode to actually go for it.
- bombcar 4y ago
  HEJNE is "ok" but really REALLY add the cross bracing, and perhaps even add plywood to one side. I have a HEJNE that is just holding LEGO with cross bracing and it is visibly leaning. I don't expect it to fall down but I'm also not loading thousands of pounds into it.
  - troebr 4y ago
    I was wondering about this, I had a bunch of these screwed in together as a cheap kitchen cabinet when I was younger. They can be get pretty wobbly even with the braces.
    - Moto7451 4y ago
      I have a dozen of these tied together, with the cross bracing, into an L in my basement. The whole unit has a few ties to the cinderblock wall behind it. That arrangement adds a good bit of stability. I agree that a on their own or in small numbers they’re not very stable.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  It's not the rack that's the problem, it's the fans. Most industrial gear requires a ton of airflow and the noise is something like having a model jet engine sitting in your closet. This from someone who actually did go for it and later recanted.
  - Handytinge 4y ago
ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
I'd be a bit careful. Rack problems usually involve physical damage to kit. It would suck to have your $20,000 server go kablooey, because you saved $120 on the rack.
- GlacierFox 4y ago
  I think this is aimed at cheapo home-labbers like myself. I doubt enterprises would consider putting a £20,000 rendering machine inside one of these.
  - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
    Another option might be stereo rack mount equipment. Probably cheaper than enterprise, and usually designed to be attractive.
    - bombcar 4y ago
      Stereo (like telecom) racks may not have sufficient airflow, especially when "closed" - have to check. The best racks are the surplus ones left laying around; if you know someone who deals with buildings after companies have moved out you'll have an endless supply of racks.
      - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
        Good point. Make friends with people “in the trades.”
neilv 4y ago
IKEA CORRAS Bedside Table FTW! Photo of my newest CORRAS rack setup: https://www.neilvandyke.org/kubernetes/ https://www.neilvandyke.org/kubernetes/ Sadly, IKEA no longer makes the CORRAS. I used to have 6 of them, foolishly sold some when going minimal.
mywittyname 4y ago
I have like 10 of these tables in my shop. They are incredibly robust for as light and cheap as they are.
CommieBobDole 4y ago
As someone who bought a used 42U cabinet and somehow got it into my basement where it will remain forever unless someone cuts it into pieces to remove it, I can see the appeal of this.
- tiku 4y ago
  Bought a rack for my garage, but I forgot to measure it upright and diagonally because the entrance is way smaller, so it had to be tilted in.. cleared the ceiling with 2 centimetres haha.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    The 4-post "telecom" racks are often disassembleable and can be made to work, but you probably want to floor-mount them.
- 83 4y ago
  What most people should be using at home is a "knock down" or "open frame" rack. The posts can be separated from the top and bottom for transport. I use a couple of these in my basement, fairly sturdy and I can move them when I need to: https://avproducts.mccannsystems.com/avcat/ctl11226/index.cfm?manufacturer=chief&product=ns1fxx23 https://avproducts.mccannsystems.com/avcat/ctl11226/index.cf...
  - muttled 4y ago
    Another option, if all your equipment can fit in the depth of what's basically a switch rack, is to use a wall rack: https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Bracket-Equipment-Mounting-WALLMOUNT6/dp/B000VDPBXM/ https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Bracket-Equipment-Mounti... Most audio and networking equipment can fit in there, as well as some servers. Check on the servers to make sure they fit, though.
- AdamJacobMuller 4y ago
  I had to use a 4-post rack and a chop saw and take ~4 inches off the top of the rack and then I had to assemble it in the basement vertically since it's so close to the ceiling, it's too tall to tilt! Figured that out the hard way. https://share.icloud.com/photos/0cdcI0nzE1jyUF8mGNwdrnCTQ https://share.icloud.com/photos/0cdcI0nzE1jyUF8mGNwdrnCTQ
toxik 4y ago
LACK is not a sturdy piece of furniture. I broke a leg off of one when I snubbed my foot on it; it came apart /at the table/, the whole corner section just came off.
- thinkling 4y ago
  Clearly it should be reinforced with a few 1U cross braces!
  - toxik 4y ago
    Not a bad idea, and I suspect it’s the MDF material coming undone over time due to moisture or something. I really did not hit the table hard at all!
pdntspa 4y ago
> and you can put your bottle of Club-Mate Damn it, now you're really making me pine! Why must this stuff be so hard to get in the US? Last I checked there were two different companies handling distribution in the US and NEITHER of them seem to stock it anywhere! Except for one shop in LA that half the time carries expired bottles! The caffeine high from Club-Mate is such a pleasantly sublime feeling. And you used to be able to order it from the 2600 store. I still have the yellow case!
- corndoge 4y ago
  The site I used to buy it from in quantity for US import is defunct as of this year :( Would love to hear from anyone who can get it in the US
  - pdntspa 4y ago
    I haven't checked the situation in a while but it appears there are some online retailers that seem to be new venues for distribution https://club-mate.com/ https://club-mate.com/, click 'buy online'
- Jtsummers 4y ago
  Try other maté-based drinks, variations of yerba mate beverages can be found in most US grocery stores (with increasing availability over the past several years). I can't stand any of the carbonated ones I've tried in the US, but they are out there.
  - pdntspa 4y ago
    Indeed, I like to buy mate in bulk at the latin-american markets, you can usually get a pound of it for cheap I've even had some progress making my own carbonated mate drink, but it can be hard to get the flavor right
- wheels 4y ago
  Amusingly, even thought I live in Berlin and have it readily available, I tried to make it myself by making mate concentrate, sugar, and a tiny bit of lemon. I got the taste just about right, but more mate-y with the really grassy, earthy taste of mate. But it had so much caffeine that I couldn't think straight and felt jumpy. I came to the conclusion that Club Mate doesn't actually contain much mate. But if you love the stuff and can't get it, it's not hard to experiment. Those are basically the only ingredients.
some_random 4y ago
I feel like everyone else is using a different Lack than I've seen at IKEA, they're made of flimsy fiberboard that feels like it's going to fall apart at any moment. I tried making a printer enclosure and gave up because it felt like it would collapse from a strong breeze. If you're going to put in all this work, you should probably use better materials from the beginning.
- agloeregrets 4y ago
  They are stronger than they look. keep in mind that all joints in a lack have no cross brace so the leg-surface joint is actually pretty strong. The big thing is that a tight install of the legs and adding tension and mounting the hardware helps cross re-enforce them. The examples where people use a second lack top as the bottom are WAY more reenforced than one would expect, you probably could use it as a chair.
- ezconnect 4y ago
  I had 3 of them stack on top of each other, all with 3D printer and power supply and filaments for more than 2 years. It is very strong and sturdy. It didn't shake or sag.
- notatoad 4y ago
  they're made from flimsy fiberboard, but if you actually crack one open you'll see that all the joints are reinforced with wooden blocking, and the flat surfaces are filled with corrugated material. they're light, and if you get any water past the exterior finishing they disintigrate. but they're deceptively strong as long as all the joints are screwed together tightly.
q-big 4y ago
In the article linked at the end > https://spuder.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/lack-rack/ https://spuder.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/lack-rack/ you can read (emphasis by me): "If you decide to make your own, pay attention to which size lack rack you get. IKEA strangely offers 2 slightly different sizes 22 inch and 21 5/8 inch." In my opinion the explanation for this is clear: 22 is a round number in inches and 21 5/8 inch is nearly a round number in centimeters (21,625 inch = 54,9275 cm ≈ 55 cm).
- zandor 4y ago
  This reminds of the many recipes that convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius (and vice versa for that matter) and don't round off the numbers properly. I'm not setting my oven to 176 degrees Celsius even if I could.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    This non-rounded numbers make people think that there's something terribly important at being X degrees and not X+1, not realizing that the internal temps vary widely even when set specific. I feel recipes have caused more people to avoid cooking than anything invented in the last 1000 years, heh.
    - strbean 4y ago
      With regard to recipes, I sometimes wonder if "round numbers" are causing us to miss out on more optimal recipes. Maybe that dish really would turn out better cooked at 176F, or with 1 and 7/16 cups of flour instead of 1.5.
      - skrtskrt 4y ago
        I think you're only going to see that benefit if, as mentioned you have a super precise oven, or you're getting super precise ingredient quality every time. Otherwise there's too many variables fluctuating every time to really attribute much to those tiny variations in the recipe.
      - 4y ago
leg0m4n 4y ago
It's also perfectly sized as housing for Prusa i3 3d printer, and people have been doing it a lot: > https://www.google.com/search?q=ikea+table+prusa+i3&client=firefox-b-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj939mSl9P5AhVaADQIHcd0AvoQ_AUoAnoECAIQBA&biw=1370&bih=792&dpr=2#imgrc=Rpx0f_g1XlCVhM https://www.google.com/search?q=ikea+table+prusa+i3&client=f... Truly magical piece of furniture.
dylan604 4y ago
>Pictured above is Paul Curry's £5 example, replete with vinyl wood texture. I don't think "pictured above" means what they think it means as the image above is an outline drawing showing no wood texture whatsoever. Has the editorial process really fallen to this level? (Hint: Yes it has)
- nyanpasu64 4y ago
  Between the outline drawing and the description is a tweet containing a vinyl wood texture, but the image failed to be embedded.
- romanhn 4y ago
  The image above is a tweet showing just that (after the outline drawing). Perhaps your browser didn't load it properly?
- sharkjacobs 4y ago
  I think you have some kind of adblock service blocking embedded twitter posts because when i look at that website there is a tweet by Paul Curry of exactly what is described
- klausa 4y ago
  There's a tweet embedded there with a photo attached to it; perhaps your content blocker is removing it.
computronus 4y ago
Let's also not forget the Lack's crucial role in forming the Standesk 2200, a classic standing desk hack: https://alphacolin.com/ikea-standing-desk-for-22-dollars/ https://alphacolin.com/ikea-standing-desk-for-22-dollars/
Steve0 4y ago
Just to add some more context, these were used back in the day at chill areas of hacker conferences. Back then wifi (if available) was not very reliable, and battery tech less advanced. People carried network cables and extension cords in their backpack.
jacooper 4y ago
You know you are in HN when people use S3 to upload photos, and not imgur.
- londons_explore 4y ago
  S3... Harder to use... Gotta pay egress.... It seems worse all round.
  - skimo8 4y ago
    Throw it behind cloudfront. You now get a terabyte of egress free.
  - LaputanMachine 4y ago
    On top of that, Imgur automatically deletes EXIF data, which would've prevented GGP from leaking their home address.
    - westmeal 4y ago
      I am not a machine.
      - metadaemon 4y ago
        I'm not a cat.
    - whalesalad 4y ago
      oh ya rookie move - stripped that and wiped my CF cache
    - graftak 4y ago
      This touches a semi-related nerve. When you share a photo on iOS there’s an option to remove exif data—or at least the photo’s location—but there’s no way to always have it removed by default. Really annoying and easy to forget. /rant
ajb 4y ago
Racks are made of metal, not least because the server is only supported at one end (its a cantilever) which applies a lot of force to the support - there is a lot of leverage.
dawnerd 4y ago
Sad they stopped selling the lack that had a bottom shelf and was on castors. I had a 45 drives server in it for years before moving.
ErneX 4y ago
I built one with two tables. The legs are now empty so in order to drill things to the legs you need to insert a piece of wood that fits inside the legs and cut to the height accordingly.
duxup 4y ago
I have those tables as cheap quick tables (that can stack) for kids activities. Very nice for a quick surface / desk for the little kids.
bityard 4y ago
Headline says 2020, but I'm fairly certain this has been a thing for at least a decade or two.
madduci 4y ago
Watch out: newer Lack Tables from Ikea are less sturdy than their older predecessors. IKEA has made them even lighter than before, particularly the legs are almost cave inside, so beware that server racks might be too heavy for it
- serf 4y ago
  wow -- how can that even be? I have a five or six year old lack I just disassembled due to wobbly joints. The entire thing was made of cardboard + a few small particle-wood reinforced areas near the joints, and a hard thick veneer. the veneer shell is doing 85% of the workload already. I can hardly fathom how a weaker version would even work as a table.
  - tasuki 4y ago
    Would you say that it... lacks?
  - kn0where 4y ago
    I think the “newer” LACK is the one you disassembled. Time flies, they cost-reduced it quite a number of years ago.
  - LukeShu 4y ago
    At garage sales sometimes you find older Lacks that have solid wood legs. With the newer hollow-leg ones, I find that if you punch out the bottom of the legs, you can snugly fit 1.75" square dowel inside. (Though I've heard that the thickness of the material varies by color; I can only confirm that 1.75" is the correct size for black tables.)
durpleDrank 4y ago
Interesting interview with Shane Smith claiming Ikea furniture is from North Korean slave labor camps in Siberia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ0Kk8W1UJA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ0Kk8W1UJA
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
tristor 4y ago
I used a LackRack for about 8 years, worked great. All you need a is a couple of L-brackets from the home store and 2+ Lack tables. Ikea Hacks is a site that has a lot of other things like this. A lot of the stuff in my office and home lab is from Ikea being utilized in a way it wasn't intended.
- nfhshy68 4y ago
  For a few extra bucks, IKEA sells a 4 pack of casters that perfectly fit the base of these legs. Only takes a few screws and your rack is on wheels. https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/alex-caster-black-10480607/ https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/alex-caster-black-10480607/ https://ikeahackers.net/category/hacks/media-storage/tech-servers https://ikeahackers.net/category/hacks/media-storage/tech-se...
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
inopinatus 4y ago
The LACK has also been a staple of thrifty musicians for decades. As a student in the early 90s supporting myself playing clubs and bars, I had a quadraverb, mixer, compressor, and foldback amp bolted into a single, reasonably portable unit I could also rest a beer (or myself) on.
stacktrust 4y ago
There has been a construction industry effort to standardize "structured wiring" panels for low-voltage (alarms, A/V, ethernet, wifi) wiring connections in homes, but it has not quite kept up with the rapid expansion of devices for home networking, including mixtures of consumer and repurposed enterprise equipment. Tripp Lite has an elegant vertical, low-profile, 3U wall-mounted enclosure that fits over existing structured wiring panels, which can accommodate both rack-mountable gear and odd-sized items like modems and access points. Price is ~$500, comparable to 12U wall-mountable racks that ship fully assembled. SRWF6UMOD specs, https://www.tripplite.com/smartrack-3u-low-profile-vertical-mount-switch-depth-wall-mount-structured-wiring-enclosure-adjustable-equipment-brackets~srwf6umod https://www.tripplite.com/smartrack-3u-low-profile-vertical-... video review (2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XcYbr0L4WY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XcYbr0L4WY It might be possible to build a low-cost DIY clone, with 1/4" pegboard for the odd-sized items and a StarTech vertical frame for the rack gear. Hammond perforated metal panels (1/8" holes for self-tapping screws) could also be repurposed, https://www.hammfg.com/electrical/products/accessories/appp https://www.hammfg.com/electrical/products/accessories/appp For comparison, there are structured wiring product lines from Leviton, https://www.leviton.com/en/products/residential/networking/structured-media-centers https://www.leviton.com/en/products/residential/networking/s... and Legrand, https://www.legrand.us/solutions/structured-wiring https://www.legrand.us/solutions/structured-wiring, but they don't typically support a mixture of home and rack kit.
ComputerGuru 4y ago
I prefer the minimalism of a "vertical rack" which, for some reason, I tend to never see. If you don't have more than 6U or so of equipment, it's really the way to go because of its minimal profile and amazing load-bearing ability: it is load-bearing parallel to the direction of gravitational pull (vs regular rack cabinets where the load is perpendicular to the posts), and then that weight is all redirected towards the wall, so even the heaviest servers or whatnot that would normally sag unless it comes with rear-mountable rails for 4-post racks (which, for some reason, very few do) work amazingly well. I've bought a few of this StarTech one [0] over the years, but I've also seen people weld together a couple of metal struts to accomplish the same. [0]: https://amzn.to/3QTmVee https://amzn.to/3QTmVee
- jjeaff 4y ago
  I didn't know this was an official thing. Seems like it would work great in a lot of cases. But one of the main reasons I like racks is the ability to pull a server out on tracks and open it up to do maintenance, add hard drives, etc. I suppose you still could do that on this vertical setup, but only with one server with the top facing away from the wall.
  - ComputerGuru 4y ago
    Yup. I have my 1U switches, patch panels, and PDUs in the back, and my one 2U server in the front so it’s fairly easy to take down on the rare occasion I need to. The front drive bays minimize the need to do that very often, though.
- tzartz 4y ago
  Switches and routers sure- I've used it for things like that quite a bit- but I'd never put a server (even a 1U) in one. Ease of getting in and swapping parts is a huge factor.
  - stacktrust 4y ago
    Is there a good source for short-depth sliding rack rails, or is the DIY route (drawer slides) recommended?
paxys 4y ago
If you are really desperate, sure, but please don't trust thousands of dollars of hardware on a $10 cardboard table. Ikea furniture quality has been going downhill extremely fast.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  Ikea oscillates in quality. Originally it was super good, then they had a cardboard period (1990's) and then when they started to be associated with 'painted cardboard' they upped their game and started to make quality stuff again (easily distinguished from the painted cardboard by the price). The last couple of years it has indeed been downhill and very rapidly so. I've found that a sharp tap on a part will tell you all you need to know, the cardboard will give and flex whereas the solid parts will hold up nicely. The honeycombed structures are quite strong for their weight but not strong in absolute terms and you definitely don't want a book case made of that stuff.
joemi 4y ago
Somewhat relatedly, IKEA used to sell a RAST nightstand that made for a good cheap modular synth case. https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2015/07/06/how-to-make-a-ikea-eurorack-case/ https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2015/07/06/how-to-make-a-... Sadly they stopped selling these a few years ago.
justinlloyd 4y ago
Old arcade cabinets with rackmount stiles screwed to the inside. Just be aware that fibreboard doesn't compress like plywood or real wood, so screws can tear out if not seated properly. You can also put foam inside to abate the noise of rackmount fans. I have since moved on to a custom built arcade cabinet for my rackmount workstation and UPS.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
jerrysievert 4y ago
I bought a couple of used lack's as I was planning on mixing eurorack with other equipment. I ended up keeping the lack's, but instead putting 16u free-standing racks on the top of each one - ended up working perfectly: 1u power supply, with 5 3u enclosures for eurorack on each. ended up working out much better than my plan.

347 points by bluehatbrit 4y ago

These are also commonly used for 3D printer enclosures. Get two and flip one upside down and stack them, add some walls and a door and you’ve got an enclosure.

redhal 4y ago

Also works great as a 3D printer enclosure https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2864118 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2864118

tssva 4y ago
My Biqu B1 is in a lack enclosure.
bmitc 4y ago
Lack is made out of super cheap particle board. Is it stable enough to sit the 3D printer on? I would assume it would add some errors to the printing process.
- actually_a_dog 4y ago
  I'm not even sure I'd trust it to hold more than a single 1U server as depicted in the article, for that matter.
  - _jal 4y ago
    Adding more kit increases rigidity. A "full rack" would be a stack of servers on the floor, with the table keeping them stacked. The least-stable arrangement would be a very heavy 1u device at the top.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - weberer 4y ago
    I think you're severely underestimating the strength of particle board.
- dinkledunk 4y ago
  It works fine and lots of people do it, I have been using mine without issue for a few years now. It helps to put a concrete slab in it, but it's not necessary. The lack table does have a tendency to amplify the noise though. Here is a guide by Prusa to build one for their printers: https://blog.prusa3d.com/mmu2s-printer-enclosure_30215/ https://blog.prusa3d.com/mmu2s-printer-enclosure_30215/
  - nibbleshifter 4y ago
    Unsurprisingly, the same issues arise with precision scales/balances as do with printers. Having a big heavy base is useful! I know of a few places that just procured literal blank marble gravestones as a "base" for their analytical scales at a cost far less than the usual mass-damper bases sold to labs.
- buffet_overflow 4y ago
  It’s perfectly adequate for stability. People have suspended printers in midair with elastic cables, or printed upside down, and prints have come out fine. The printer frame is providing most of the rigidity in this case. Don’t get me wrong, people that place their printers on spring like things tend to get lower quality prints so there is a limit there. The downside about the IKEA particleboard over hollow cardboard core is more about sound and resonance imo. It can act as a speaker for printer vibrations and amplify that sound in the same room or to the floor below it. A popular “mod” is to place a concrete paver block on top of some isolation pad, typically made of rubber or sorbothane to increase the functional mass of the printer and lower the resonant frequencies created during printing. I personally have two of those enclosures stacked, with a printer in each one.
  - Teever 4y ago
    Oh boy is this thread relevant to me. I just bought a concrete paver and neoprene mat to put on top of my lack and I'm printing pieces for my lack enclosure on my ender 3 as I type this message. One thing I'm not sure about is whether or not I should attach the printer directly to the concrete paver, and/or if I should take the rubber feet off of the printer as well. If so how do I best attach it?
    - rustyminnow 4y ago
      I have a 3-lack-stack for my printer, but no paver. It sways a bit when I print, but I haven't run into any major issues without it. I should get one. A foam mat was mandatory though; the hollow core lack turns the motor noise into a scream! I'd just try the easy thing first and set the printer on the paver without attaching. See if that works before you go through the effort of attaching it
      - Teever 4y ago
        The motor noise can be totally eliminated with an upgrade main board from bigtreetech. https://biqu.equipment/search?filter.p.product_type=3D+Printer+Control+Board&options%5Bprefix%5D=last&options%5Bunavailable_products%5D=show&q=ender+3 https://biqu.equipment/search?filter.p.product_type=3D+Print... They are drop in replacements for the existing board and are very affordable. I highly recommend them.
- some_random 4y ago
  Not at all in my experience but apparently it's fine for everyone else
  - bmitc 4y ago
    Yea, I'm a bit surprised by the responses. In the case of using it for a Prusa, I'm not sure I understand the idea of buying a $1,000 3D printer and then putting it on a $15 particle board stand.
- ezconnect 4y ago
  I stacked 3 of them with a 3D printer. It can handle all of them running at the same time.

trollied 4y ago

Needs a (2020). See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25978013 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25978013 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1067283 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1067283

bluehatbrit 4y ago
Thanks I forgot about that, added the (2020) marker now.

DonHopkins 4y ago

That looks a lot sturdier than Apple's iRack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw2nkoGLhrE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw2nkoGLhrE

shagie 4y ago

The less advert laden site: https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack

bluehatbrit 4y ago
Apologies, I run an adblocker so didn't see the ads on this page. Perhaps @dang could update it to point at that page instead?
dang 4y ago
Ok, we've changed to that from https://boingboing.net/2020/08/14/lack-rack-ikeas-cheapest-ta.html https://boingboing.net/2020/08/14/lack-rack-ikeas-cheapest-t.... Thanks!

daneel_w 4y ago

The melamine pads under the feet of the Lack tables become brittle with time and eventually crack under only 30-ish kg of weight, causing the table to slant. My own experience.

bborud 4y ago
I wonder if it would help to fill them with some high density expanding foam? (Using some form of resin would probably be prohibitively expensive).
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- daneel_w 4y ago
  Maybe snap/chisel the melamine off and replace with felt pads or something.
  - bborud 4y ago
    You're thinking about the ends? I made some end caps for Lack tables that you can 3D print. For when you shorten the legs. https://github.com/borud/ikea-lack-leg-end-cap https://github.com/borud/ikea-lack-leg-end-cap
- ErneX 4y ago
  What I did was get wood sticks cut to the exact size that fits inside the legs, then you can drill stuff safely to it.

zhdc1 4y ago

Had a LackRack(ish) running in my closet for a year or so. It's a good and dirty way to free up space on top of your server(s) for a monitor and keyboard.

crispyambulance 4y ago

It seems like a sketchy idea to directly screw in the server to the table legs. Much better to install rack sliders that are supported from both front and back. Just don't pull out the server if there's no one holding down the table. Or better, keep servers where they belong: in a freaking data center, NOT your house ! :-)

jiggywiggy 4y ago

The ads on this site are bonkers, is this the original article? edit: appeareantly it's a legit site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boing_Boing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boing_Boing. Buzzword seems legit compared to this.

lastofthemojito 4y ago
Boing Boing used to be one of the coolest sites on the internet! I think a lot of people still have it bookmarked/RSSed/whatever, so they still keep publishing, but it doesn't feel like a work of love anymore (IMHO). It feels more like someone said "hey, we've got this site that gets a bunch of traffic, it'd be a shame not to monetize it".
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

amelius 4y ago

The problem: extreme noise.

michaelhoffman 4y ago

Given how many Lack tables I've seen fall apart without any sort of load, I would be very reluctant to try this, no matter how many people report it works for them. It's IKEA's cheapest table for a reason.

silicon2401 4y ago
In my experience, even cheap IKEA stuff is pretty solid and well worth the cost as long as you treat it with care. Some stuff is garbage even if you're careful but I've never personally seen something from IKEA that isn't great if handled gently.
- jpalomaki 4y ago
  On trick is to add some glue when you are assembling the furniture.
  - serf 4y ago
    the lack I used for my prusa was , over time, covered in printed gusset features and additional L-brackets to get rid of sway and movement within the table itself. it looked god-awful but it was sturdy for years and years of production-quantity printing. It was only disassembled when the print lab got rebuilt. so, in other words, I support your idea of modifying the construction of the lack wholeheartedly. The joint lines are one of the only 'strong-ish' elements on the entire table, and I think they'd take glue nicely.
- bombcar 4y ago
  The IVAR system is, in my book, absolute complete junk. I couldn't get it to even attempt to work correctly, it wobbled when it wasn't collapsing, and to make insult even worse, it was more expensive than actual industrial wire shelving.
  - layer8 4y ago
    Did you forget to add cross-braces [0]? Ivar has always been rock-solid for me. [0] https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/observatoer-cross-brace-galvanized-87749600/ https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/observatoer-cross-brace-galvani...

sircastor 4y ago

I naively put an old LaCie 1U server under a Lack table 13 years ago, thinking it would be a great media server in my living room. I had no idea how loud rackmount fans were. It was obviously unusable for watching any kind of media.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
rayiner 4y ago
2U is a lot quieter than 1U. Those little fans spin louder and put out higher frequency noise. Though probably still not quiet enough for a media room. I’ve got a ruckus 10g switch and a 2U server in my utility room and you can sleep nearby and can’t hear anything with the door closed. What drives me nuts is power supply noise actually. I finally bit the bullet and got a Mac mini for my home office.
bombcar 4y ago
Modern rack servers at least spin down the fans when the system isn't heavily loaded, but it's still way too loud for a media room. For those playing at home, buying a 2U or even 4U rack will on average be quieter (still sounds like a jet engine just after reboot until the SMC comes online).
- justsomehnguy 4y ago
  > even 4U rack Supermicro builds some workstations[0] which were quite quiet back in Xeon 5xxx days. [0] https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/x11/systems/workstation https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/x11/systems/workstati... be sure to check for the 'quiet fans', not the 'heavy duty' ones!
  - justinlloyd 4y ago
    Interestingly Supermicro has a line of, in their words, super-quiet fans they produced for their workstations. Not quite noctua, but better than most. You can take those same Sanyo fans in their plastic quick connect green cowlings and put them in an 847 rackmount chassis. They are a drop in replacement. And if you get the 1250 platinum PSU, those fans run far quieter than their silver & gold line. I've got a water cooled 847 4U server with a small rack of 847 4U 45 drive disc expanders and it is a constant background hum, rather than a small jet aircraft taxiing around the room when using the stock fans.

blamazon 4y ago

Is this just a random coincidence? Is there some explainable reason why the dimension is perfect? Surely IKEA did not have this use in mind when originally designing this?

themoonisachees 4y ago
It's a round number of inches that happens to be right, possibly because "this size is good for a table" is what probably went through the engineer who decided what size a rackmount should be at the beggining of time
- sschueller 4y ago
  I don't think it's inches. This is a Swedish product. The tables I have from Ikea measure 55cm from what I recall. The legs are 5cm wide.
BeefWellington 4y ago
I've kind of hoped some manufacturer would clue into this as a possible side benefit to their design of furniture. But the 0.0000001% of humans who want a rack at home are probably not a substantial market, so my guess is this must have been happy coincidence.
okamiueru 4y ago
Numbers game. Lots of tables exist with a lot of dimensions. Only the ones that have the perfect dimensions are mentioned.

silicon2401 4y ago

can somebody with more server/home server experience explain to me the benefit of going with a rackmount setup vs let's say, just building a second PC to use as a home server? I recently bought a house and am excited to get into home networking/home server work, but don't know anything about rack mount. Is rackmount equipment cheaper than regular consumer PC hardware?

derekerdmann 4y ago
> Is rackmount equipment cheaper than regular consumer PC hardware? Never
- jakeinspace 4y ago
  You can find incredibly cheap (nearly free) used servers for pickup if you’re patient. If you have cheap electricity (or better yet, provided with your lease), a 2013-era dual Xeon server is pretty compelling at $50.
  - ska 4y ago
    That part about power is key. Some of the commercial gear is thirsty enough you'll notice it right away on your bill.
    - jakeinspace 4y ago
      Thankfully I live in Quebec. My salary may suck compared to the US but at least I get that sweet sweet cheap hydro power.
  - haunter 4y ago
    Wish I can find an Xserve for that much!
    - mbreese 4y ago
      Apple didn’t make that many, so they would be tough to find. And they were a really pain to actually use. I didn’t find them very friendly at all to work with physically. Very polished, but had a feel of being over engineered.

whalesalad 4y ago

I have been really happy with the HEJNE shelf as a rack. Here are some 2U's here at home: https://s3.whalesalad.com/lab/rack.jpg https://s3.whalesalad.com/lab/rack.jpg The shelf: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/hejne-shelf-unit-softwood-s79031414/#content https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/hejne-shelf-unit-softwood-s7903... I keep seeing full height Dell racks for sale on FB marketplace in the $200 range but haven't encountered the right manic episode to actually go for it.

bombcar 4y ago
HEJNE is "ok" but really REALLY add the cross bracing, and perhaps even add plywood to one side. I have a HEJNE that is just holding LEGO with cross bracing and it is visibly leaning. I don't expect it to fall down but I'm also not loading thousands of pounds into it.
- troebr 4y ago
  I was wondering about this, I had a bunch of these screwed in together as a cheap kitchen cabinet when I was younger. They can be get pretty wobbly even with the braces.
  - Moto7451 4y ago
    I have a dozen of these tied together, with the cross bracing, into an L in my basement. The whole unit has a few ties to the cinderblock wall behind it. That arrangement adds a good bit of stability. I agree that a on their own or in small numbers they’re not very stable.
jacquesm 4y ago
It's not the rack that's the problem, it's the fans. Most industrial gear requires a ton of airflow and the noise is something like having a model jet engine sitting in your closet. This from someone who actually did go for it and later recanted.
- Handytinge 4y ago

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago

I'd be a bit careful. Rack problems usually involve physical damage to kit. It would suck to have your $20,000 server go kablooey, because you saved $120 on the rack.

GlacierFox 4y ago
I think this is aimed at cheapo home-labbers like myself. I doubt enterprises would consider putting a £20,000 rendering machine inside one of these.
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
  Another option might be stereo rack mount equipment. Probably cheaper than enterprise, and usually designed to be attractive.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    Stereo (like telecom) racks may not have sufficient airflow, especially when "closed" - have to check. The best racks are the surplus ones left laying around; if you know someone who deals with buildings after companies have moved out you'll have an endless supply of racks.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
      Good point. Make friends with people “in the trades.”

neilv 4y ago

IKEA CORRAS Bedside Table FTW! Photo of my newest CORRAS rack setup: https://www.neilvandyke.org/kubernetes/ https://www.neilvandyke.org/kubernetes/ Sadly, IKEA no longer makes the CORRAS. I used to have 6 of them, foolishly sold some when going minimal.

mywittyname 4y ago

I have like 10 of these tables in my shop. They are incredibly robust for as light and cheap as they are.

CommieBobDole 4y ago

As someone who bought a used 42U cabinet and somehow got it into my basement where it will remain forever unless someone cuts it into pieces to remove it, I can see the appeal of this.

tiku 4y ago
Bought a rack for my garage, but I forgot to measure it upright and diagonally because the entrance is way smaller, so it had to be tilted in.. cleared the ceiling with 2 centimetres haha.
- bombcar 4y ago
  The 4-post "telecom" racks are often disassembleable and can be made to work, but you probably want to floor-mount them.
83 4y ago
What most people should be using at home is a "knock down" or "open frame" rack. The posts can be separated from the top and bottom for transport. I use a couple of these in my basement, fairly sturdy and I can move them when I need to: https://avproducts.mccannsystems.com/avcat/ctl11226/index.cfm?manufacturer=chief&product=ns1fxx23 https://avproducts.mccannsystems.com/avcat/ctl11226/index.cf...
- muttled 4y ago
  Another option, if all your equipment can fit in the depth of what's basically a switch rack, is to use a wall rack: https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Bracket-Equipment-Mounting-WALLMOUNT6/dp/B000VDPBXM/ https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Bracket-Equipment-Mounti... Most audio and networking equipment can fit in there, as well as some servers. Check on the servers to make sure they fit, though.
AdamJacobMuller 4y ago
I had to use a 4-post rack and a chop saw and take ~4 inches off the top of the rack and then I had to assemble it in the basement vertically since it's so close to the ceiling, it's too tall to tilt! Figured that out the hard way. https://share.icloud.com/photos/0cdcI0nzE1jyUF8mGNwdrnCTQ https://share.icloud.com/photos/0cdcI0nzE1jyUF8mGNwdrnCTQ

toxik 4y ago

LACK is not a sturdy piece of furniture. I broke a leg off of one when I snubbed my foot on it; it came apart /at the table/, the whole corner section just came off.

thinkling 4y ago
Clearly it should be reinforced with a few 1U cross braces!
- toxik 4y ago
  Not a bad idea, and I suspect it’s the MDF material coming undone over time due to moisture or something. I really did not hit the table hard at all!

pdntspa 4y ago

> and you can put your bottle of Club-Mate Damn it, now you're really making me pine! Why must this stuff be so hard to get in the US? Last I checked there were two different companies handling distribution in the US and NEITHER of them seem to stock it anywhere! Except for one shop in LA that half the time carries expired bottles! The caffeine high from Club-Mate is such a pleasantly sublime feeling. And you used to be able to order it from the 2600 store. I still have the yellow case!

corndoge 4y ago
The site I used to buy it from in quantity for US import is defunct as of this year :( Would love to hear from anyone who can get it in the US
- pdntspa 4y ago
  I haven't checked the situation in a while but it appears there are some online retailers that seem to be new venues for distribution https://club-mate.com/ https://club-mate.com/, click 'buy online'
Jtsummers 4y ago
Try other maté-based drinks, variations of yerba mate beverages can be found in most US grocery stores (with increasing availability over the past several years). I can't stand any of the carbonated ones I've tried in the US, but they are out there.
- pdntspa 4y ago
  Indeed, I like to buy mate in bulk at the latin-american markets, you can usually get a pound of it for cheap I've even had some progress making my own carbonated mate drink, but it can be hard to get the flavor right
wheels 4y ago
Amusingly, even thought I live in Berlin and have it readily available, I tried to make it myself by making mate concentrate, sugar, and a tiny bit of lemon. I got the taste just about right, but more mate-y with the really grassy, earthy taste of mate. But it had so much caffeine that I couldn't think straight and felt jumpy. I came to the conclusion that Club Mate doesn't actually contain much mate. But if you love the stuff and can't get it, it's not hard to experiment. Those are basically the only ingredients.

some_random 4y ago

I feel like everyone else is using a different Lack than I've seen at IKEA, they're made of flimsy fiberboard that feels like it's going to fall apart at any moment. I tried making a printer enclosure and gave up because it felt like it would collapse from a strong breeze. If you're going to put in all this work, you should probably use better materials from the beginning.

agloeregrets 4y ago
They are stronger than they look. keep in mind that all joints in a lack have no cross brace so the leg-surface joint is actually pretty strong. The big thing is that a tight install of the legs and adding tension and mounting the hardware helps cross re-enforce them. The examples where people use a second lack top as the bottom are WAY more reenforced than one would expect, you probably could use it as a chair.
ezconnect 4y ago
I had 3 of them stack on top of each other, all with 3D printer and power supply and filaments for more than 2 years. It is very strong and sturdy. It didn't shake or sag.
notatoad 4y ago
they're made from flimsy fiberboard, but if you actually crack one open you'll see that all the joints are reinforced with wooden blocking, and the flat surfaces are filled with corrugated material. they're light, and if you get any water past the exterior finishing they disintigrate. but they're deceptively strong as long as all the joints are screwed together tightly.

q-big 4y ago

In the article linked at the end > https://spuder.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/lack-rack/ https://spuder.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/lack-rack/ you can read (emphasis by me): "If you decide to make your own, pay attention to which size lack rack you get. IKEA strangely offers 2 slightly different sizes 22 inch and 21 5/8 inch." In my opinion the explanation for this is clear: 22 is a round number in inches and 21 5/8 inch is nearly a round number in centimeters (21,625 inch = 54,9275 cm ≈ 55 cm).

zandor 4y ago
This reminds of the many recipes that convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius (and vice versa for that matter) and don't round off the numbers properly. I'm not setting my oven to 176 degrees Celsius even if I could.
- bombcar 4y ago
  This non-rounded numbers make people think that there's something terribly important at being X degrees and not X+1, not realizing that the internal temps vary widely even when set specific. I feel recipes have caused more people to avoid cooking than anything invented in the last 1000 years, heh.
  - strbean 4y ago
    With regard to recipes, I sometimes wonder if "round numbers" are causing us to miss out on more optimal recipes. Maybe that dish really would turn out better cooked at 176F, or with 1 and 7/16 cups of flour instead of 1.5.
    - skrtskrt 4y ago
      I think you're only going to see that benefit if, as mentioned you have a super precise oven, or you're getting super precise ingredient quality every time. Otherwise there's too many variables fluctuating every time to really attribute much to those tiny variations in the recipe.
    - 4y ago

leg0m4n 4y ago

It's also perfectly sized as housing for Prusa i3 3d printer, and people have been doing it a lot: > https://www.google.com/search?q=ikea+table+prusa+i3&client=firefox-b-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj939mSl9P5AhVaADQIHcd0AvoQ_AUoAnoECAIQBA&biw=1370&bih=792&dpr=2#imgrc=Rpx0f_g1XlCVhM https://www.google.com/search?q=ikea+table+prusa+i3&client=f... Truly magical piece of furniture.

dylan604 4y ago

>Pictured above is Paul Curry's £5 example, replete with vinyl wood texture. I don't think "pictured above" means what they think it means as the image above is an outline drawing showing no wood texture whatsoever. Has the editorial process really fallen to this level? (Hint: Yes it has)

nyanpasu64 4y ago
Between the outline drawing and the description is a tweet containing a vinyl wood texture, but the image failed to be embedded.
romanhn 4y ago
The image above is a tweet showing just that (after the outline drawing). Perhaps your browser didn't load it properly?
sharkjacobs 4y ago
I think you have some kind of adblock service blocking embedded twitter posts because when i look at that website there is a tweet by Paul Curry of exactly what is described
klausa 4y ago
There's a tweet embedded there with a photo attached to it; perhaps your content blocker is removing it.

computronus 4y ago

Let's also not forget the Lack's crucial role in forming the Standesk 2200, a classic standing desk hack: https://alphacolin.com/ikea-standing-desk-for-22-dollars/ https://alphacolin.com/ikea-standing-desk-for-22-dollars/

Steve0 4y ago

Just to add some more context, these were used back in the day at chill areas of hacker conferences. Back then wifi (if available) was not very reliable, and battery tech less advanced. People carried network cables and extension cords in their backpack.

jacooper 4y ago

You know you are in HN when people use S3 to upload photos, and not imgur.

londons_explore 4y ago
S3... Harder to use... Gotta pay egress.... It seems worse all round.
- skimo8 4y ago
  Throw it behind cloudfront. You now get a terabyte of egress free.
- LaputanMachine 4y ago
  On top of that, Imgur automatically deletes EXIF data, which would've prevented GGP from leaking their home address.
  - westmeal 4y ago
    I am not a machine.
    - metadaemon 4y ago
      I'm not a cat.
  - whalesalad 4y ago
    oh ya rookie move - stripped that and wiped my CF cache
  - graftak 4y ago
    This touches a semi-related nerve. When you share a photo on iOS there’s an option to remove exif data—or at least the photo’s location—but there’s no way to always have it removed by default. Really annoying and easy to forget. /rant

ajb 4y ago

Racks are made of metal, not least because the server is only supported at one end (its a cantilever) which applies a lot of force to the support - there is a lot of leverage.

dawnerd 4y ago

Sad they stopped selling the lack that had a bottom shelf and was on castors. I had a 45 drives server in it for years before moving.

ErneX 4y ago

I built one with two tables. The legs are now empty so in order to drill things to the legs you need to insert a piece of wood that fits inside the legs and cut to the height accordingly.

duxup 4y ago

I have those tables as cheap quick tables (that can stack) for kids activities. Very nice for a quick surface / desk for the little kids.

bityard 4y ago

Headline says 2020, but I'm fairly certain this has been a thing for at least a decade or two.

madduci 4y ago

Watch out: newer Lack Tables from Ikea are less sturdy than their older predecessors. IKEA has made them even lighter than before, particularly the legs are almost cave inside, so beware that server racks might be too heavy for it

serf 4y ago
wow -- how can that even be? I have a five or six year old lack I just disassembled due to wobbly joints. The entire thing was made of cardboard + a few small particle-wood reinforced areas near the joints, and a hard thick veneer. the veneer shell is doing 85% of the workload already. I can hardly fathom how a weaker version would even work as a table.
- tasuki 4y ago
  Would you say that it... lacks?
- kn0where 4y ago
  I think the “newer” LACK is the one you disassembled. Time flies, they cost-reduced it quite a number of years ago.
- LukeShu 4y ago
  At garage sales sometimes you find older Lacks that have solid wood legs. With the newer hollow-leg ones, I find that if you punch out the bottom of the legs, you can snugly fit 1.75" square dowel inside. (Though I've heard that the thickness of the material varies by color; I can only confirm that 1.75" is the correct size for black tables.)

durpleDrank 4y ago

Interesting interview with Shane Smith claiming Ikea furniture is from North Korean slave labor camps in Siberia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ0Kk8W1UJA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ0Kk8W1UJA

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

tristor 4y ago

I used a LackRack for about 8 years, worked great. All you need a is a couple of L-brackets from the home store and 2+ Lack tables. Ikea Hacks is a site that has a lot of other things like this. A lot of the stuff in my office and home lab is from Ikea being utilized in a way it wasn't intended.

nfhshy68 4y ago
For a few extra bucks, IKEA sells a 4 pack of casters that perfectly fit the base of these legs. Only takes a few screws and your rack is on wheels. https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/alex-caster-black-10480607/ https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/alex-caster-black-10480607/ https://ikeahackers.net/category/hacks/media-storage/tech-servers https://ikeahackers.net/category/hacks/media-storage/tech-se...

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

inopinatus 4y ago

The LACK has also been a staple of thrifty musicians for decades. As a student in the early 90s supporting myself playing clubs and bars, I had a quadraverb, mixer, compressor, and foldback amp bolted into a single, reasonably portable unit I could also rest a beer (or myself) on.

stacktrust 4y ago

There has been a construction industry effort to standardize "structured wiring" panels for low-voltage (alarms, A/V, ethernet, wifi) wiring connections in homes, but it has not quite kept up with the rapid expansion of devices for home networking, including mixtures of consumer and repurposed enterprise equipment. Tripp Lite has an elegant vertical, low-profile, 3U wall-mounted enclosure that fits over existing structured wiring panels, which can accommodate both rack-mountable gear and odd-sized items like modems and access points. Price is ~$500, comparable to 12U wall-mountable racks that ship fully assembled. SRWF6UMOD specs, https://www.tripplite.com/smartrack-3u-low-profile-vertical-mount-switch-depth-wall-mount-structured-wiring-enclosure-adjustable-equipment-brackets~srwf6umod https://www.tripplite.com/smartrack-3u-low-profile-vertical-... video review (2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XcYbr0L4WY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XcYbr0L4WY It might be possible to build a low-cost DIY clone, with 1/4" pegboard for the odd-sized items and a StarTech vertical frame for the rack gear. Hammond perforated metal panels (1/8" holes for self-tapping screws) could also be repurposed, https://www.hammfg.com/electrical/products/accessories/appp https://www.hammfg.com/electrical/products/accessories/appp For comparison, there are structured wiring product lines from Leviton, https://www.leviton.com/en/products/residential/networking/structured-media-centers https://www.leviton.com/en/products/residential/networking/s... and Legrand, https://www.legrand.us/solutions/structured-wiring https://www.legrand.us/solutions/structured-wiring, but they don't typically support a mixture of home and rack kit.

ComputerGuru 4y ago

I prefer the minimalism of a "vertical rack" which, for some reason, I tend to never see. If you don't have more than 6U or so of equipment, it's really the way to go because of its minimal profile and amazing load-bearing ability: it is load-bearing parallel to the direction of gravitational pull (vs regular rack cabinets where the load is perpendicular to the posts), and then that weight is all redirected towards the wall, so even the heaviest servers or whatnot that would normally sag unless it comes with rear-mountable rails for 4-post racks (which, for some reason, very few do) work amazingly well. I've bought a few of this StarTech one [0] over the years, but I've also seen people weld together a couple of metal struts to accomplish the same. [0]: https://amzn.to/3QTmVee https://amzn.to/3QTmVee

jjeaff 4y ago
I didn't know this was an official thing. Seems like it would work great in a lot of cases. But one of the main reasons I like racks is the ability to pull a server out on tracks and open it up to do maintenance, add hard drives, etc. I suppose you still could do that on this vertical setup, but only with one server with the top facing away from the wall.
- ComputerGuru 4y ago
  Yup. I have my 1U switches, patch panels, and PDUs in the back, and my one 2U server in the front so it’s fairly easy to take down on the rare occasion I need to. The front drive bays minimize the need to do that very often, though.
tzartz 4y ago
Switches and routers sure- I've used it for things like that quite a bit- but I'd never put a server (even a 1U) in one. Ease of getting in and swapping parts is a huge factor.
- stacktrust 4y ago
  Is there a good source for short-depth sliding rack rails, or is the DIY route (drawer slides) recommended?

paxys 4y ago

If you are really desperate, sure, but please don't trust thousands of dollars of hardware on a $10 cardboard table. Ikea furniture quality has been going downhill extremely fast.

jacquesm 4y ago
Ikea oscillates in quality. Originally it was super good, then they had a cardboard period (1990's) and then when they started to be associated with 'painted cardboard' they upped their game and started to make quality stuff again (easily distinguished from the painted cardboard by the price). The last couple of years it has indeed been downhill and very rapidly so. I've found that a sharp tap on a part will tell you all you need to know, the cardboard will give and flex whereas the solid parts will hold up nicely. The honeycombed structures are quite strong for their weight but not strong in absolute terms and you definitely don't want a book case made of that stuff.

joemi 4y ago

Somewhat relatedly, IKEA used to sell a RAST nightstand that made for a good cheap modular synth case. https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2015/07/06/how-to-make-a-ikea-eurorack-case/ https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2015/07/06/how-to-make-a-... Sadly they stopped selling these a few years ago.

justinlloyd 4y ago

Old arcade cabinets with rackmount stiles screwed to the inside. Just be aware that fibreboard doesn't compress like plywood or real wood, so screws can tear out if not seated properly. You can also put foam inside to abate the noise of rackmount fans. I have since moved on to a custom built arcade cabinet for my rackmount workstation and UPS.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

jerrysievert 4y ago

I bought a couple of used lack's as I was planning on mixing eurorack with other equipment. I ended up keeping the lack's, but instead putting 16u free-standing racks on the top of each one - ended up working perfectly: 1u power supply, with 5 3u enclosures for eurorack on each. ended up working out much better than my plan.