Dell Latitude rack cluster

thingiverse

# Why Imagine a company that constantly upgrades and replaces laptops, leaving behind fully functional ones with decent performance (i5 4th gen, 8 Gb RAM, SSD). There's no legal process to give them away or sell to employees, so you're left with the option of scrapping them or finding a use for their computational power. Thus, an idea was born. Why not dedicate an empty networking rack and turn it into a computational cluster using these laptops? # Design The general concept had to meet several constraints: - Thermal design: hot air must flow correctly within the cabinet. - Fit on a standard 19'' rack shelf - no additional construction, mounts, or assembly required. - Hot swap: blade design allowing for easy laptop removal without disassembling the entire unit. - Half-depth rack: only one block per shelf to avoid thermal/hot air distribution issues. # The Models The overall shelf is divided into three parts: Front, Back, and Top. Back and Front components hold the laptops upright; Back has a slight bump to prevent laptops from being pushed too far forward, while Front has a slot for ID tags. Top component ensures laptops are parallel to each other and has a UTP cable routing slot, designed to fit between the power connector and laptop with an extended battery (if present). Each component was divided into 3 sections due to printer bed constraints and later connected via dovetail joints. One model is provided. Import it into Slic3r, "Split into objects," then pick the parts you want to print and delete the rest. The original plan included a stand for power supplies, but this idea was scrapped due to their various form factors. More photos from the process can be found here: https://imgur.com/a/bqFW5K9 **Models for the labels/tags** This text is based on OCR-A font. `rackCluster_insertable_tag` - single tag `rack_labels_text` - the text on the tags `rack_labels_tabs` - tabs with embossed holes for the text You can print these on an MMU printer, use two colors within one layer (this approach), or just use the ColorChanger 2 layers (front facing) black, 2 layers in color, and two in black. When printing MMU, make sure to print the front side of the label facing the print bed. The colors will blend into a solid layer. # Slicing / Print setting Top layers: 4 Infill: cubic, 10% 8mm high slab infill modifier: 15% The slab modifier improves rigidity in the bottom 8mm of the model. # Result **Print times** Commonly printed in groups of three - 1 top, 1 front, and 1 back. Printers were set to print around 120% speed, and the average time to print one set was around 12-13 hours. **Material consumption** Approximately 1 kg PETG per shelf (including some trials and failed models)