Rack profiles
A profile is the set of numbers every part is cut from. Two ship with 10RackMaker, and every value in either one can be edited.
What a profile is
Nothing about a part is hard-coded. The panel's width and the position of its holes, the size of the mounting slots, the shelf that sits behind the plate and how far back the rear rails are all come from the profile, and the part is rebuilt from it on every edit. That is what makes a rack you have measured expressible at all: racks in this class have no single published standard, so the useful thing is not a fixed specification but a set of numbers you can correct.
The two that ship
10RackMaker v2
10rm-v2 · default
The default. Measured on the deep 10-inch rack this app was developed against.
- Shelf 218 mm wide
- 222 mm clear width inside the frame
- M5 screws into M5 heat-set inserts
- Rear rail 250 mm behind the front plate
- Mounting slots 5.6 mm high, 2.5 mm of play
10-inch standard
std-10in
The generic geometry, for a rack you have not measured.
- Shelf 210 mm wide
- 220 mm maximum clear width
- M6 screws
- Rear rail 180 mm behind the front plate
- Mounting slots 6.6 mm high, 2 mm of play
The panel geometry is the plain 10-inch standard in both: a 254 mm width, 236.525 mm mounting-hole spacing front and rear, 210 mm of usable width, and the same EIA-310 hole centres within each U. A front panel designed on either one therefore fits any rack that follows the standard, with the screw its slots were cut for. What differs otherwise is the shelf, the screw itself, and how far back the rear rails sit.
The numbers
| Number | Ships as | What it means, and when to change it |
|---|---|---|
| Rack unit (1U) | 44.45 mm | The vertical pitch of the rack, the same as a 19-inch rack uses. Panel heights and hole rows are all measured in it. Change it only if you are fitting something that is not 10-inch pitch. |
| Panel width | 254 mm | The front plate, edge to edge. Change it only if your rack is not a 10-inch rack. |
| Mounting-hole spacing | 236.525 mm | Centre to centre between the left and right mounting holes. This is the first number to check against your own rack, and the one the fit-test coupon tests. |
| Hole centres within each U | 6.35 / 22.225 / 38.1 mm | Where the rack's holes sit inside a U, measured from the bottom of that U, following EIA-310. They decide which rows a panel can be screwed to. Leave them alone unless you have measured your own rack and know better. |
| Panel height | n × 44.45 − 0.794 mm | How tall a panel spanning n U comes out. The 0.794 mm is the 1/32-inch inter-panel gap, shared between the two panels either side of it so stacked panels do not bind. |
| Usable width | 210 mm | The middle of the plate that vents, fans and device openings can occupy, clear of the screw ears. |
| Maximum clear width | ≈ 220 mm | The widest anything behind the plate can be before it fouls the frame. On 10RackMaker v2 the measured figure is 222 mm. |
| Shelf width | 218 mm on v2, 210 mm on the standard | The default shelf behind the plate. It can never exceed the rack's clear width. Reduce it if a shelf fouls the frame. |
| Screw | M5 on v2, M6 on the standard | What the mounting slots are cut to take. On v2 that is M5 screws into M5 heat-set inserts. |
| Slot height | 5.6 mm on v2, 6.6 mm on the standard | The clearance the screw shank passes through. Too tight and screws bind; too loose and the panel can shift. |
| Slot play | 2.5 mm on v2, 2 mm on the standard | Extra travel cut each side of the slot, so the panel can shuffle left and right before it is tightened. |
| Rear-rail depth | 250 mm on v2, 180 mm on the standard | How far behind the front plate's rear face the rear rails sit. It decides whether a shelf's rear ears reach the rails. |
Every number is editable
Change any value in step 1 of the designer and every part is rebuilt from the new numbers; save the design and they are saved with it. An edited profile is still a claim about your rack rather than a fact, so print the fit-test coupon and bolt it on before a long print — it uses the same slots as the finished panel, in a few minutes and a few grams of filament.
The shipped numbers are a starting point to verify, not gospel. Racks in this class have no single published standard, and the profile that fits yours is the one you have checked with a coupon.
Where to go next
- Fit-test and print guide — what the coupon is, how to print it, and what to look for.
- How it works — the six steps, from profile to exported STL and drawing.