IT sideboard: Keep the wifi router out of sight

Keep cable clutter at bay. Hack a slim and narrow, wall mounted phone and IT sideboard to house tech equipment like wifi routers and chargers.

Materials:

IKEA:

• OTTEBOL (40x192cm): 15€

Photo: IKEA.com

Additional:

• Oak-plank (20x200cm): ca. 20€
• Some Wood Pins
• Wood Glue
• Brackets
• Mesh plate (metal)
• L-profile (aluminium), optional

Total: 65€

Steps to hacking an IT sideboard.

1. Making the frame:

Get the OTTEBOL door and cut it into 4 pieces like shown on the graphic:

Be careful with the cut edges. They tend to break after you cut it. This was the hardest part.

2. Making the shelves:

After that, you just take the oak plank and cut 3 pieces of 20 x 36.4cm for the base, and two inner shelves.
Lastly, cut the top with a little overhang (if you want to). I did it at 20 x 42cm.

3. Mesh for IT equipment:

Cut the mesh plate to 41 x 20cm. Smooth the edges after cutting to prevent sharp edges.
Now take both side panels (right & left), be sure that the nice side is facing front.  Mill two slots (5mm deep, 20,5cm high) on the inside. That’s the spot where the mesh plate will sit.

4. Assembling the unit:

Frame:
For the top and bottom planks I used wooden plugs. Drill them in, add some glue and assembly them.

Now add the mesh plate, because it is thin, you can slightly bend it to insert into the slots.

For the two shelves, I used a small L-profile (I’m lazy), but you can also do it with wooden dowels.

Fortunately, OTTEBOL comes with predrilled holes for the hinges. But because of the cutting, you have only one left on each side. But that’s no big deal. Measure the existing hole and copy it to bottom section of your new door.

To cover the existing holes on the inside, I just mounted the hinges over the inner holes.
For the rest of the holes, IKEA did us a favour and added some white plastic covers you can use.

5. Installing the IT sideboard:

Because I wanted it to float, I used three brackets for the wall mount. Why three? At first I also just used two on the top, but because of the weight of the door it got a little bit wonky while using the door. So I just put a third at the bottom and the problem is gone.

That’s pretty much all there is to it. Of course I did some touch ups and sanded down the edges of all shelves, as well as cut small slots at the back of each shelf (even the bottom and top) to allow for some air flow for the IT equipment.

~ by Jogi

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