Turns out the R1 is the perfect size for a server rack!

I've thought about picking up a server rack for a while, but this past week I was looking at ways to better organize my stuff and had the idea to put the R1s in a server rack and get a few drawers to put everything in a smaller XY space than the desk I was previously using for the printers. I was thinking I would have to do a good bit more work to get them to rack, but they fit PERFECTLY with about $6 of nuts and bolts (each) from Home Depot, a bit of dremmeling, and some rails that came with the server rack. Right now I have a Delta fan on the bottom of each of the printers, but I am thinking about replacing them with a couple blowers and removing the bottom cover for easier access. They take up about 12U each, and as one of the pictures shows, I can easily tilt them back to access their bottom.

Outside of the printer, I picked up 3 servers from the guy I got the rack from for $100. I offloaded 1 for $60, so I ended up with a Dell R210 and a 2950 for $20 each. Not bad if you ask me. I also bought a 4U case that I swapped my desktop into (not pictured) and a 2U drawer. The drawer works well, but I thought it was going to be deeper for some reason, so I'm thinking I'm going to go get some cheap 19" bins from Walmart and figure out how to mount them in the back for now. For the bottom 10/11U, I'm planning on making/printing something to rack mount my MPCNC that I never got around to finishing. I figure I can make a few boards that I can clamp to the bottom of the rack and swap them depending on what I'm using the MPCNC for.

What did you guys think?

EDIT (23JAN2017): Added picture of new fan layout/RasPi for Octoprint.

 

I appreciate this typo.

Also, this is a very popular thing to do with both the Original and knockoff Prusa i3 variants (though they use a wall-mounted 12U cabinet vs. a tall cabinet like the OP).

 

Still worried about the air flow? Haha. I replaced the stock fan on them with a noctua so they would be quiet, then pulled a 180 when I wound up with a few Delta's and decided why not just go WAY overboard on the cooling.

@mark, I am strongly considering leaving the bottom of and attaching a radial blower that hits them from the side.

 

I got Octoprint set up and working. Next step? Some much needed cable management! Going to do that when I get the buck converter I ordered in. Right now the RasPi power is coming from a USB cable running to my router (it is on 100% of the time, unless it needs to be rebooted, whereas my computer goes to sleep), however, when I get the buck converted in, I'm thinking I should be able to drop the 12V PSU down to 5V.

 

Does the printer print ok inside the rack or do you pull it out on the rails to print. I would think the bed would hit the back otherwise. As long as it works it looks great!

So, I need to figure out which to do first; get a second printer and complain I have no place for it then get the rack OR get the rack and complain I need to fill it up with another printer! LOL. Thanks for sharing, great idea.