How it works
Six steps from an empty rack to a part you can print, in the order you would actually build it.
- 1
Choose a rack profile
A profile is the set of numbers every part is cut from: panel width, mounting-hole spacing, screw size, shelf width and rear-rail depth. 10RackMaker v2 is the default — a 218 mm shelf, 222 mm of clear width inside the frame, M5 screws into M5 heat-set inserts, and a rear rail 250 mm behind the front plate. The 10-inch standard profile is the same panel geometry with generic shelf and screw numbers. Every value in either one can be edited, and if you do not know your rack's numbers yet, the fit-test coupon in step 5 is how you find out.
- 2
Design the front panel
Set the height in U: 1U is 44.45 mm, and a panel spanning n U is n × 44.45 − 0.794 mm tall — the 0.794 mm being the 1/32-inch gap that keeps stacked panels from binding. Choose the mounting-hole pattern, from two or three holes per U on each side down to four corner holes for a tall panel. Then decide what fills the middle: a solid plate, honeycomb vents, fan apertures, or a window for a device. Holes sit 236.525 mm apart on a 254 mm panel, and the middle 210 mm is the width you can rely on for vents and openings.
- 3
Add fans, boxes, shelves and ducts
Fans are placed as 40, 60 or 80 mm apertures with their real screw spacing, optionally behind a honeycomb guard. Device boxes are given an interior envelope and a wall thickness, and can slide back from the plate so a fan blows into them; two boxes that meet can share a wall. Behind the plate, a shelf can carry honeycomb, rear ears that bolt to the rear rails, front gussets, side rails, and a duct that turns it into an air tunnel. Cable holes and other openings are placed by hand, anywhere on the shelf or a duct wall.
- 4
Check fit and printability
The designer measures as you work: the shelf against the rack's inner clearance, the material left around each mounting slot, and whether a box would print as a separate piece. A problem is named with the number to change rather than quietly dropped. The panel also reports its solid volume, triangle count and an estimated PETG weight. The geometry is built with manifold-3d, which guarantees a watertight solid, so the STL slices without repair.
- 5
Print a fit-test coupon
The coupon is a thin slice of the mounting edge: the two ears with their real mounting slots, joined by a spine, 3 mm thick and spanning the panel's full 254 mm width. It prints in minutes. Bolt it to your rack and check it against the holes you intend to use — if it fits, the long print is worth starting. If it does not, the numbers to change are mounting-hole spacing first, then slot height and slot play.
- 6
Save versions and export the STL and drawing
Saving records a version, and every version is a snapshot you can return to. Exporting needs a signed-in account with export credits: one credit covers the STL files for every part of one saved version and that version's fit-test coupon, and downloading that version again is free. The STL is a binary file, which any slicer opens. For a design you have exported, a true-size 2D drawing — an ISO 5457 sheet with an ISO 7200 title block, first-angle views with hidden lines removed from the mesh — opens in a new tab to print at 100% or save.
Always print the fit-test coupon before a long print. Racks in this class have no single published standard, so a profile is a starting point to verify against your own rack — the coupon is what turns it into an answer.