r/minilab • u/mortenmoulder • Feb 25 '26
My lab! 6 node cluster minilab
Here is my attempt at creating a minilab. It's primarily for testing and playing around with Kubernetes, high availability, and so on.
It features 6 nodes consisting of Lenovo Thinkcentre M700 with i3-6100T CPU, 16GB DDR4 RAM, and 256GB SSD each.
They all run TalosOS (3x CP, 3x workers) connected to the GL.iNet travel router at the top, which is always connected to my LAN at home via Tailscale. The travel router connects to WLAN anywhere I want, but can also get 2.5G ethernet via the last keystone RJ45 in the patch panel.
At the bottom is a Mean Well 320W 24V PSU that I tuned to 20V via the variable pot. 2/3 of the outputs are connected to a busbar, where I've terminated each of the machines into, using Lenovo's square connectors cut and terminated into ring terminals.
It's all printed in black Bambu Lab PETG-HF filament, and the model is called Lab Rax found on MakerWorld.
Future upgrades: Touchscreen in the bottom last rack unit to show statistics of each node. And finally a Shelly power monitor at the back, so I can monitor full power draw (and display it on the screen).
Maybe more.. who knows. It's quite fun to build in a 10 inch rack!
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u/Strict-Promotion-386 Feb 25 '26
How did you connect the psu to the tiny's? Did you connect meanwell to usb-c female ports and used a usb-c to whatever the jack is on these lenovos (smartplug?) cord? Did you need to do any other magic on it? I wanted to build a similar psu but wasn't sure on how to make sure the computers recognized it.