Modular Overkill has a cost breakdown of using IKEA Rast Nightstand as a DIY 6U Eurorack modular synthesizer case:
The IKEA Rast has been the DIY hotness for several years now due to its combination of low cost ($15), perfect size (equivalent of 6U+2U x 19″ rack), and construction (solid wood vs. laminate).
Total bill of materials:
IKEA Rast Nightstand: $14.95
Erthenvar Vector Rails, cut to size, 2 pairs x 94HP (i.e. order 188HP): $38
Erthenvar 84HP threaded strips x 2 pairs: $20 (optional, you can use sliding nuts instead)
Erthenvar M2.5 hex screws x 100: $6 (M2.5 are less common than the M3s)Erthenvar M2.5 square nuts x 100: $6
Erthenvar 3U bracket kits x 2: $40
Power: your choice
This is a fairly common mod, because of the ease of the relative availability of IKEA products. You can find another build example at Cane Creek.
If you’ve got your own examples, share a link in the comments!
If you live in EU you are most likely not going to be able to get Rast as it’s not being available in many Ikea stores anymore. I wanted to buy a second one recently and this is what I found out unfortunately.
It’s still available on US Ikea website though.
Just built one of these for my first eurorack system.
if you live in Europe you don’t need to buy a Rast – you can just get a piece of wood cut to size (4 pieces) at a home improvement store for about the same price (or much less if there is a suitable one in the scraps bin).
same in the US.. but im sure plenty of people will be chiming in about how its so much better to go with the prebuilt ikea shit
Prebuilt IKEA?!?
exactly
well… Home Depot and so on can only do to 1″ to 1/2″ precise… you need a bit more precision here. most European stores can do 1-2mm precision
Some solid wood-plates and a jigsaw, of course with a doepfer psu-kit. This will do it.
What’s with all the overpriced Erthenvar materials?
You can buy the vector rails for much cheaper on digikey, you have to buy them in a large $70 (ish) dollar pack though.Threaded strips are on there as well. No reason to go to Erthenvar for those.
Those Erthenvar brackets are pricey but totally worth it. I think it could be difficult to get the rails perfectly straight and mounted properly otherwise.
Synthrotek also has brackets that would work in an old mixer case, good option if you want something more portable.
For power I found the 4MS bus boards and an industrial Power One dual 12V supply from ebay to be solid.
I found it a significant amount of work to make my case from scratch with wood. The design I used was more a classic curved Goike style and I went big (12Ux150 HP). It came out really nice, but the rast seems like a good, less labor intensive, option.
As was once said in a previous cheap euro case thread. “$50.00 case for a $5000.00 system. Just do it right to begin with and budget it in with everything else.
true, but that being said I feel that most cases / racks out there (be it Eurorack or – even more so – system 500) are a bit of a rip-off. Especially if you compare them with the prices of pc tower cases, for instance.
That’s silly. You can spend and extra 500 or 1000 dollars on your case, but wouldn’t you rather spend that on things that make sound?
If your modular is stationary, and you pick a good power supply, there is no functional difference between a fancy case and a DIY one. I might suggest picking something sturdier than an IKEA piece, but you don’t need much sturdier. The rails mentioned above are the same as you’d get in a pre built one. The soldering and electrical knowledge required is trivial.
For mobile cases you might find some advantage in a monorocket or elite… or you could buy a pelican case or other old mixer case with rails and have something at least as sturdy.
I agree – but I would argue that in this case the IKEA product is actually one of the sturdier designs they have. RAST is solid pine, not MDF or a laminate like the LACK products. The bolts are fairly substantial. Because of the solid wood, it is easy to add additional support brackets if needed and to screw into the wood. I have 2 of these and while I don’t think they would survive a world tour, they are certainly more than sturdy enough to sit in my home studio holding about 20lbs of gear.
Pine is not a “solid wood” for strength or hardness. It’s junk really. There are real hardwoods from oak , ash, to exotics like Purple Heart or Brazilian cherry which look nice and are stronger / denser material that could handle the road if cased….
The soldering and electrical knowledge is NOT trivial!
I build all of my own cases and I would not consider this knowledge/experience as trivial!
Link to my own experience with cases so far.
https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=108420&highlight=
The key thing here is that modular systems are modular, meaning you don’t need to put $5000 down to start with. But in ten years time you may have a system that has $5000 with of kit in it. And you will be wanting that to work in a case at some point. So the suggestion here seems to be if you have $1000 to spent on modular kit that should be spent on a overly priced case, rather than built a functioning rig in any old case that will do. I do not account for any individual but I assume few people are that f*cking stupid. I believe the correct expression for wanting to put basic things in expensive housings is ‘more money than sense’.
I’d nail some Mylar or Masonite to the back to help keep dust out.
…and to keep fingers away from mains electricity…
you can get 168hp (2x3u) +1u 84hp from $20 aluminum briefcase that you can buy at RONA or Homehardware
What is wrong with using e.g. Doepfer’s low cost housings?
http://www.doepfer.de/a100_cases_e.htm
Well, they aren’t all that cheap honestly.
And are rather more expensive in the US than in Europe.
I have built my own cases and have rasts. I started with happy ending kits and needed a place to rack them. The rast with rack rails was super cheap. Also a lot of people may not have access to tools to build their own cases. Sure Home Depot may cut it, but they are not going to build it. So maybe the hassle of borrowing a drill and other tools isn’t worth it when the rast is $15. Also, for home use you can just put wood rails in them for even cheaper. I did and it works great.
AN IKEA..
How To Make “An” IKEA…
nothing wrong, they start at $200+ shipping tho (one row)
this build is ~$60 plus power ($90 tiptop products) two rows
so ~$150 for two rows diy, vs $260 for two rows from doep + shipping and a wait
^^ response to Henry
I have two Rasts full of modualr right now.
Bought the rack mount rails of eBay.
Bought the Tiptop rails and rack ears, just like the Happy Ending ones, so each row can easily be removed and moved around.
Went with Power from Sythrotek.
Its all badass and sturdy.
Hey, that’s actually my old case. I still have them in the basement, if anybody is interested in the Benelux? No joke.
SynthRacks rails are a viable UK /Europe alternative for the rails
Don’t bother trying to order anything from ikea.com. Worst online shopping experience, never got the item, and they’re ignoring me after I requested a refund.