this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2025
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From the image, it doesn't seem like it has rack mounts, which is kind of an odd choice. There are lots of switches that have a similar form factor, but can be put in 10" or 19" racks depending on which rack ears you put on it
It really grinds my gears how many things could be almost trivially designed to be rackmountable, but aren't for no good reason. I guess in some cases it's for market segmentation so they can charge more for "enterprise" gear, but in a lot of cases they don't make any of that stuff to begin with so it clearly isn't.
I'm actually so fed up with it that I'm seriously considering learning how to do sheet metal fabrication so I can make my own damn rackmount cases for stuff (with blackjack and hookers).
Also, what I really want is a version of this thing that's rackmountable but has no wifi, and then another in the form factor of a ceiling-mounted PoE access point.
(And yes, this is just for my house, not "enterprise." It's not even a very big/fancy house; I just like my tech to be cleanly installed.)
I could whip up rack ears but making threaded holes confounds me. Even got a tap and die set, still can't figure it out.
Rivnuts?
I was literally just researching how to do that yesterday (told you I was serious). It turns out that those threaded holes in sheet metal with the little dimples so there's more thread than the sheet metal thickness are made with "roll taps" or "forming taps," not "cutting taps" (which is what your tap and die set probably is). Instead of creating chips, they push the metal out of the way to form the threads.
By the way, similarly thickened but unthreaded holes are made with something called a "friction drill." It doesn't have any flutes, so it just heats up the metal until it gets soft and gets pushed out of the way. Kinda neat.
Anyway, I just ordered a 6-32 forming tap off AliExpress; I'm gonna see if I can add some more motherboard standoff holes to one of my computer cases because it's big enough for an EATX board but isn't drilled for it.
I also wouldn't use the built-in Wifi on this, but I can understand why they'd want to offer an all-in-one solution
I run an older half depth supermicro server with a sfp+ PCI card for my router. At this point, it feels like dedicated boxes just aren't worth it for routers except for enterprise where I need a support contract.