Been doing some more sorting and clean-up today so I can finally have a bit more space in my (tiny) flat and it got me thinking:
I'm sitting on *a lot* of hardware which is at least partially broken (I would feel bad giving it away as it can possibly die at any moment) but it would be perfectly service'able as buildservers or systems people need temporarily (i.e testing something on older platforms).
However, I don't want to build those systems into cases due to space constrains and cost associated with it... but I could build a dedicated space for it under my electronics workbench.
Regular ATX mainboards are smaller than 19in racks (I guess they're roughly 12 inch long according to wikipedia as I don't speak 'Murican units) and some plywood I can get at a hardware store not only would do the job, it would support the workbench in case I put something heavier on top of it (after all, cheap IKEA benchtops are made pretty much out of cardboard).
Then I could 3D-print sleds for ATX/mATX mainboards (or even laptop mainboards) that would slide in perfectly, the only problem being "how do I cut perfectly straight sled guides without tools or space to do so".
In terms of power: ATX PSUs are super expensive these days... but server PSUs aren't, getting one that spits-out 12V even up to 1kW is pretty cheap (costs roughly 20 - 30EUR) and provides advanced monitoring over PMBus. The only downsides are noise they make (but who says you can't cut the case and attach bigger fans) and (usually) custom connectors that would need some RE-ing to yoink 12V busbar and i2c from them
Mounting them on an open-air side of that box for safety reasons (maybe covered with perforated aluminium cover) sounds like a perfect solution - very efficient PSUs that can provide a lot of power and advanced monitoring for pretty cheap, and ATX boards can get even cheaper PicoPSUs for 5 and 3.3V (basically DC-DC conversion and relay controlled by SuperIO) and be powered on/off on demand by GPIO on MCU.
Kinda curious if anyone built something like it in the past, or if there are any considerations that I missed?
elly
npub17p…ra0st
2026-07-18 21:31:10 UTC
Author Public Key
npub17p5uf3zjj0ycwmeqp2jxxxaveu6afqcfjecqjxggwy93jmvgfq6sura0stSeen on
wss://relay.ditto.pubPublished at
2026-07-18 21:31:10 UTCEvent JSON
{
"id": "d4459cecc5e026822d5cfde97eacafd4b3f86d7d917db41feb2205438c142e34",
"pubkey": "f069c4c45293c9876f200aa4631baccf35d483099670091908710b196d884835",
"created_at": 1784410270,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
[
"proxy",
"https://donotsta.re/objects/067c0855-b46c-4f0a-b390-08f7ef09e01f",
"activitypub"
],
[
"client",
"Mostr",
"31990:6be38f8c63df7dbf84db7ec4a6e6fbbd8d19dca3b980efad18585c46f04b26f9:mostr",
"wss://relay.ditto.pub"
]
],
"content": "Been doing some more sorting and clean-up today so I can finally have a bit more space in my (tiny) flat and it got me thinking:\n\nI'm sitting on *a lot* of hardware which is at least partially broken (I would feel bad giving it away as it can possibly die at any moment) but it would be perfectly service'able as buildservers or systems people need temporarily (i.e testing something on older platforms).\n\nHowever, I don't want to build those systems into cases due to space constrains and cost associated with it... but I could build a dedicated space for it under my electronics workbench.\n\nRegular ATX mainboards are smaller than 19in racks (I guess they're roughly 12 inch long according to wikipedia as I don't speak 'Murican units) and some plywood I can get at a hardware store not only would do the job, it would support the workbench in case I put something heavier on top of it (after all, cheap IKEA benchtops are made pretty much out of cardboard).\n\nThen I could 3D-print sleds for ATX/mATX mainboards (or even laptop mainboards) that would slide in perfectly, the only problem being \"how do I cut perfectly straight sled guides without tools or space to do so\".\n\nIn terms of power: ATX PSUs are super expensive these days... but server PSUs aren't, getting one that spits-out 12V even up to 1kW is pretty cheap (costs roughly 20 - 30EUR) and provides advanced monitoring over PMBus. The only downsides are noise they make (but who says you can't cut the case and attach bigger fans) and (usually) custom connectors that would need some RE-ing to yoink 12V busbar and i2c from them\n\nMounting them on an open-air side of that box for safety reasons (maybe covered with perforated aluminium cover) sounds like a perfect solution - very efficient PSUs that can provide a lot of power and advanced monitoring for pretty cheap, and ATX boards can get even cheaper PicoPSUs for 5 and 3.3V (basically DC-DC conversion and relay controlled by SuperIO) and be powered on/off on demand by GPIO on MCU.\n\nKinda curious if anyone built something like it in the past, or if there are any considerations that I missed?",
"sig": "752dd2d8900a2dcf0382d0eeb8d15b33086c85324261e0e320ad8d235805c28df9be0b0e956bc7808b54e0069bb98d0a7f2fbc2757da0de6a5ee3049d16a1cc9"
}