How to Build an Ikea Lack Server Rack

The table is 21 5/8 inches square on the outside, and each leg is about 2 inches wide, which leaves roughly 19 inches clear between them. That is a metric and imperial accident, not a design decision: the table was never meant to hold rack gear.

It happens to meet the standard anyway. A 19-inch panel is 19 inches wide, the holes sit 17.75 inches apart, and one rack unit is 1.75 inches tall, as the EIA/ECA-310-E standard sets out.

The load path is where the build gets weak. In a steel rack the weight goes into steel posts and then into the floor. In a LACK build the weight hangs from wood screws driven into particleboard legs, working in shear, and the joint between leg and top is a single dowel stud. That is the weakness the rest of this guide works around.

The tabletop is a paper honeycomb core between particleboard skins. It is strong across the span and weak for point loads and for screws, which matters the moment you think about bolting a caster or a bracket to it.

The 21 5/8 inch side table is the one to get. It measures 21 5/8 inches long, 21 5/8 inches wide and 17 3/4 inches high, holds about 8U, and its tabletop is rated for 22 lb. It comes in black-brown, white and white-stained oak effect.

The coffee table measures 35 3/8 inches long, 21 5/8 inches wide and 17 3/4 inches high. It is deeper, it has a lower shelf, and its 8U split into 4U on either side of that shelf. Its tabletop is rated for 44 lb. It suits a build that needs depth and a shelf, and it is less stable than two side tables stacked.

The 13 3/4 inch side table is too small for 19-inch gear. Do not buy it for this.

On the 21 5/8 versus 22 inch confusion: buy the 21 5/8 inch (55 cm) table. The 22 inch figure is a rounding artifact.

Assemble the table following its own instructions, then set gear on the tabletop, and on a lower table if you stack two. Nothing gets drilled, nothing gets voided, and the whole thing comes apart again in minutes.

This is the zero-risk option and the one most people should start with. Its limits are real: nothing is restrained, gear can slide, and there is no front-to-back support at all.

Assemble the table, then mount gear between the left and right legs, working with the table on its side or upside down. Mount the first item tight against the tabletop, and screw every hole that fits, because each screw adds stability.

Use wood screws no longer than 1 inch, so they bite the leg without punching through the skin. Add screws near the leg-to-top joint to stop the legs buckling there under load. For deep units, a Z-bracket or an angle bracket at the rear ties the back of the chassis to the legs.

One alternative layout mounts gear to the rear face of the front legs, so the tabletop overhangs and shields the cabling.

A pair of 16U rack rails fits a two-table stack. Clamp the rails to paired legs, drill the rail holes through the clamped pair, and fix with 14 by 1 inch wood screws.

Number and mark every leg and every hole before you take the stack apart, so it goes back together square. Rotating the tables relative to each other helps cut the wobble.

3D-printed corner brackets let you mount rails without drilling the legs at all, and that has become a mainstream option rather than a curiosity. Rails matter when gear uses square holes or when you want to slide a unit out. A single switch does not need them.

A LACK leg is a particleboard and fiberboard skin about 0.1 in (2.5 mm) thick, a wood-composite plug in roughly the top 2 inches (5 cm), another plug at the bottom, and air in the middle. Drill past the top plug and there is nothing left for a screw to bite, which is how wood screws tear out under a heavy item.

• Keep every fixing inside the top 2 inches, where the plug is.
• Use cavity fixings or molly-type anchors for anything mounted lower down.
• Rip a 2x4 down to 1 3/4 inches square and slide it into the hollow leg, cut to the full leg length or to the mid-block if the leg has one. This is the community's standard fix.
• Use 3D-printed brackets that clamp the leg instead of drilling it.

The tabletop is hollow too, except at the corners and over the honeycomb, so caster and bracket screws only hit solid material at the corners.

The tabletop's rated load is 22 lb on the side table and 44 lb on the coffee table. Real builds run far past those numbers, but the load path is the legs and the screws, not the top, so the rated figure is not the number to design to.

Where these builds fail is side impacts, horizontal shearing, repeated moves, and the plastic foot pads going brittle with age.

Put a UPS on the bottom tabletop, resting directly on it, never hanging from rails. And treat three tables as about the practical maximum anyone should trust with real equipment.

Noise is the biggest regret. 1U servers use small high-RPM fans and are loud, 2U is more manageable, and 4U can take large slow fans. A wooden open rack contains no sound at all, so if it lives in a living space, plan for larger, slower gear or put the server somewhere else.

Grounding is the second. A metal rack bonds to earth easily and wood does not, which matters for shielded cabling and for chassis-leakage paths.

Moisture is the third. Exposed particleboard swells and disintegrates once water gets past the foil wrap, so keep the build out of damp garages and basements.

Airflow needs a thought too. Rack gear moves air front to rear, and gear mounted flush to the front legs under a tabletop can recirculate hot air, so leave a U gap.

And it does not survive being dragged. Take the gear out before you move it.

Casters work, but only one of the four screws per caster lands in solid material, at the corner, and the rest go into hollow board. Choose casters rated for the loaded weight, and check whether they lock, because some common furniture casters do not.

Cutting the upper-tier legs shorter gives a lower stack. Tape the cut line first to stop the board splintering.

A switch, a patch panel or light 1U to 2U gear is a good fit for a LACK build. One or two shallow servers are workable with rails and the hollow-leg fix, but treat that as a solution for one or two servers, not as a substitute for a four-post rack in a setup that will keep growing.

A full-depth server, sliding rails or a rack UPS means skip it. A four-post frame with adjustable depth is the right call there, because the chassis is supported at both ends and the rail kit's required front-to-rear distance, commonly 24 to 36 inches, sets the depth.

Anything that will grow points the same way. A rack that cannot take deeper servers or heavier batteries means building twice. And the build's cost advantage has narrowed as the table's price has risen and rails, casters and braces are added.

A solid-pine shelf unit with a high per-shelf load rating and a cross-brace, anchored to the wall, carries more per level than a LACK table and looks like furniture.

A 10-inch mini-rack suits small gear that does not need 19-inch width. A 12U two-post or four-post open-frame steel rack is the direct like-for-like swap, with a warranty and a stated load rating.

A used full-size cabinet from classifieds or university surplus buys real depth and doors for less than new. A 3D-printed rack frame is the last option, and it suits small gear and a printer already on the bench.