iRack

I got this from Paramount Browns in Adelaide in the late 90s or something. It was $50 and a complete mess. It came with a bunch of what it previously housed – PLCs and other control stuff, but something had caught on fire and someone had belted it with a fire extinguisher!

Over the years I painted it black (it was 90s computer off white), added the tinted perspex, LED light strips, cooling fans, Raspberry Pi based climate monitoring and fan control, shelves, monitor mounts, and of course all the hardware inside.

The disappointing part was that the PLCs were all fine, but they were Honeywell and that company have a policy of only giving out manuals to initial purchasers, so I could never use them

Anyway, this is what I use at home to test out hybrid cloud stuff before I use it at work. Means I can make as many mistakes as I want without ever breaking anything professionally. It’s my secret weapon.