Custom Rig Frames

[siforek]

I've always been about customizing whatever it was I was building. It would be one thing if there was an abundance of quality frames/racks at a decent price but as many others have I decided it was best to design & build my own frames.
That being said it's nkt easy to produce a quality product that both functions well but also looks sleek/professional. After quite a bit of design work, numerous 3D parts & finding a good deal on materials I'm wondering if it might make sense build & sell a few frames here & there. I've seem prices for 14 GPU frames around  $300+ but could easily offer a higher quality, better looking frame for $100 less than that.

So I'm wondering if it's a good idea & if I were to offer a few different kits with various customizable options would you buy one?

Also I have some very cool addons like clamp & sliding riser card mounts, 3d printed cable clips etc. & I figured I did all this work to make my rigs, maybe others could benefit for them as well.

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

[maleemk]

Not a bad idea. Share with us some good ideas and they will sure be appropriated by forum members.
I my self can buy some .

[siforek]

Will do. I'm printing clamps right now I could at least share this & other mount STLs. Might put up some tutorials & parts lists.

[siforek]

I know some people have done rigs with t slots but never have I seen anyone use them to allow their components to slide as needed. My initial goal with the Riser clamp was so that I could evenly space my GPUs on my rig no matter how many cards it had. While the clamps work great for this I still had to drill multiple hole for the thumb screws.

This is where T slots come in. Not only do I no longer need to use the clamps(will still work for non T slotted frames) but I also no longer even need the 3D parts at all. See: I simply use 2 T-Nuts like this: https://8020.net/shop/13082.html on the backside of the riser card & 1 more to secure a thumbscrew at the top bar. Tightening them keep the cards secure & loosening them allows for easily sliding the card(s) to any desired position.

I'm not sure why no one else has done this before.. Anyway 80/20 is a bit slow on shipping but as soon as the T-Nuts arrive I'll post pics/a video. If anyone else has any ideas or suggestions please let me know.

[siforek]

I wanted to post an update. I ended up ordering 2 less T joints than I needed(will have them tomorrow) so I was unable to complete the top portion of my rig, which is fine as it only acts as a support for the next level of GPUs which I need more $ for anyway

The design:


Here's a pic of my rig as it is now:



You'll notice I've got a few zip ties in the pic. I still plan to use thumbscrews but I wanted to take more time on a scratch piece to better determine the size to drill. I'm working on cable management too, probably secure them around the top bar(seen in design) Also in the design I had a T slot https://8020.net/shop/20-2020-black-fb.html which I was going to use in combination with 2 of these https://8020.net/shop/13082.html on the bottom of each riser to easily slide & tighten them wherever needed but it's been nearly 2 weeks & 80/20 still hasn't even shipped my order. So for now like others my risers are just sitting there. I did line up the holes as you can see so I could simply screw them into the bar(& might still) but for now while I was easily able to pickup the whole thing & take it upstairs, I'm far from my goal of every part being 100% secure even upside down.

Lastly I sent a friend list of all the parts I ordered pre cut to exact lengths, aside from the bottom board from Home Depot & standoffs used to mount the motherboard it all came to $67 That's far from the $250 a similar frame goes for. So assuming all goes well & he's able to simply push all the parts together, then drill a few holes. I'll soon be posting a how to guide/build manual & possibly see about getting a bulk price on parts so I can sell a few of these for even less.

$100 for the whole thing, including base board, thumbscrews, riser mounts, MB standoffs & gummies. Not bad for a 7 GPU rack right? & to add 7 more cards(13 total is my goal) only takes 4 more parts at around $15.

For now if anyone is interested in this design & parts PM me. 80/20 does have some of the parts but at 2x the price & I'll never order from them again. I have to jump through some hoops to get these parts at that price but wouldn't mind placing a few orders with them & just telling them to ship to somewhere else. Cheers!

[siforek]

Not that anyone cares lol but I got my T slots today Turned out way better than I thought!
If I can do another T slot on the top where the PCIe tab screws in this would really work out well