I recently discovered the joys of buying refurbished micro-format PCs, specifically a couple of HP EliteDesk 800 G3s. They’re basically the size of a Mac mini, easily able to run server versions of Windows (I’m using Server 2019 on both) and are extremely easy on the electric bill.

Technically, they can stack on top of each other… But I’d like a little more airflow, and the ability to take one server out of the middle of a stack without shuffling the entire stack.

Enter my latest woodworking project, made from about five bucks of dowels and a hunk of MDF I had lying in the scrap bin in the garage.

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not all that impressive. I just cut the MDF down to two 8″ by 9″ panels and made a 4×4 grid of dowels. I’m deliberately not showing you the sides.

HOWEVER.

It fits the EliteDesks, a Mac mini and a NUC very well, and I didn’t spend any money on Amazon. Plus I feel super manly for actually getting to use power tools.

If I made a second one, I’d probably cut the dowels a little shorter. These were trimmed to 10.5″ because I didn’t want things to be too snug, but I think I could trim an extra half inch and make things look just a little neater.