Quickly create a 3D-printable object file for a rack cage for any device of a given size. Simply provide the device's dimensions, and optionally tweak a few settings, then press F6 then F7 to generate and save a STL file.

Quick Links

• CageMaker PRCG Website (which is basically a landing page that points to the following.)
• CageMaker PRCG on OpenSCAD Playground - no need to install OpenSCAD, it runs in a browser!
• CageMaker PRCG Github Repo
• CageMaker PRCG Documentation - the configuration options page breaks down what each setting does.

IMPORTANT NOTE ON CUSTOMIZERS

CageMaker PRCG is not guaranteed to run on every 3D printing website's customizer, but has been extensively tested on the Java-based OpenSCAD-WASM port OpenSCAD Playground. Since the customizer for OpenSCAD scripts on this site may or may not not fully support this script, jump over to the CageMaker PRCG on OpenSCAD Playground site and use it there. The full feature set of CageMaker PRCG is available there, as this is a customized fork of the OpenSCAD Playground source code that is set up with CageMaker PRCG preinstalled and ready to use.

Or, run CageMaker PRCG in its native environment by downloading OpenSCAD, which is far faster and takes maximum advantage of more powerful PCs.

Newly Added Features in v0.5

• Added the capability to replace most of the faceplate with a grid of holes for ventilation. Grid can be one of several different geometries, and both horizontal and vertical offsets are adjustable as is hole diameter, angle, and wall-between-hole thickness. Sides, top/bottom, and faceplate ventilation grids are configured independently.
• Added the capability to replace the open areas of the sides and top/bottom with ventilation grids. Grid can be one of several geometries, and both horizontal and vertical offsets are adjustable as is hole diameter,angle, and wall-between-hole thickness. Sides, top/bottom, and faceplate ventilation grids are configured independently. (The "make bottom a shelf" and "make sides solid" options override these as required.)
• Added VESA-C/D/E/F mount patterns as faceplate modifications, with sizes up to 200mm, Neutrik D-Series connector mount patterns, 24mm hole for buttons/lights/etc. DIN cutouts in 1/32- to 1/4-DIN sizes, IEC C13/C14/C19/C20 receptacle cutouts, and 16A/32A power inlet cutouts as faceplate modifications.
• Replaced faceplate modifications that were groups of a single mod with the ability to create a grid of one mod. Up to 12 columns by 4 rows of any one mod can be placed in one operation if there's enough room to do so on the faceplate. This will make creating custom patch panels and breakout panels substantially easier.
• Added a centered modification option for faceplate blanks without cages. The modifications include the same new choices and options.
• Added three custom cutout modifications, which can be round or rectangular and of a user-defined size.
• Restructured faceplate modification code to make it easier to add new mods without having to repeat code, and reduced six sets of relevant code to two and cut the entire subsystem's size and complexity down substantially.
• Reorganized faceplate modifications in the Customizer to make them easier to select.
• Added the ability to generate a rear support sub-cage to match the front rack cage and help support it on racks that include a rear rail set. This helps support the rear ends of longer/heavier devices.
• Added support for 5-inch micro-racks, and added a 50%-scaled EIA-310 layout option to support scaled-down 10" rack systems such as the Mini LabRax.
• Added a lightweight device option to the "heavy device" setting for small devices like SBCs - this reduces panel thicknesses to 3.175mm or 1/8" instead of the default of 4mm.
• Improved the cooling fan modification's generator code to improve its functionality and make it work properly within OpenSCAD Playground.
• Increased vertical gap between adjacent Keystone receptacles by 2mm to provide better clearance.
• Modified the multiple-device-cage generator to reduce the amount of material required to print a multi-device cage.
• HOPEFULLY finally fixed a persistent bug in the faceplate modification placement code that would occasionally overlap left and right mod slots over each other.
• Fixed a few more edge-case bugs.

CageMaker PRCG Features

Create Widely-Compliant Rackmount Cages To Fit Any Rack System

• Generates rack faceplates that are by default designed to comply with EIA-310 standard mounting hole patterns, which is used on the vast majority of modern rack systems. Triple-hole, slotted, 1/2"-5/8"-5/8" staggered spacing, 1.75"/44.45mm "unit" height, sized for #10/M5 mounting hardware.
• Can optionally generate cages for rack systems that don't follow EIA-310, which can be useful for custom 3D printable mini- and micro-rack systems. Simply select the system's "unit" size and mounting hole spacing and CageMaker automatically adjusts accordingly.
• Generates full width rack cages for 5", 6", 7", 10", and 19" racks.
• Generates half-width, bolt-together cages for 10" and 19" racks. Mounting ears are automatically generated on one side of the cage for bolting two of them together and optionally, alignment pin holes can be added to allow the use of short lengths of filament as alignment pins.
• Generates one-third-width or one-quarter-width, bolt-together cages for 19" racks. Again, mounting ears for bolting cages together are automatically added as required (and again, optionally, alignment pin holes can be added) - outer cages have a single ear on one side and inner cages have two, one on each side.
• Automatically adjusts height to fit the device to mount in full "unit" multiples by default, and half-unit multiples as an option.
• Full-unit cages are symmetrical by default as long as the cage proper is left to its default offsets. Half-unit cages are asymmetrical but two half-unit cages can be aligned by rotating one so its half-holes butt against its neighbor's half-holes.
• Half-, third- and quarter-width cages can be mixed-and-matched for height - attach two 1U halves to a single 2U half. (NOTE: This requires that the "top and bottom holes only" option NOT be used.)
• Automatically expands width to the the next larger division or even the full rack width to fit the device for partial-width cages if a device is too large to fit in the selected partial-width cage.
• Enforces safe mounting by maintaining a minimum mounting clearance of 15.875mm or 5/8" on both sides of the faceplate.

Durable Rack-Mounting For Smaller But Heavier Equipment

• Plus-profile corner-support structure for maximum rigidity with minimal material consumption.
• Supports devices up to 5Kg or 11 lbs. per complete cage.
• Defaults to 4mm thickness for all flat surfaces, but this can be increased to 5mm or 6mm for greater stiffness and better support for heavier gear.
• Optionally add faceplate reinforcing to reduce twisting/cantilevering.
• Optionally generate additional supports on the top and bottom of the cage.
• Optionally generate the top, bottom, and/or sides as solid surfaces for additional rigidity.
• Optionally generate a rear-mounted support sub-cage to support larger/heavier devices from both front and rear by attaching to both front and rear rack rails.

Loads Of Customizable Cage Options To Fit Any Device

• The back, sides, top, and bottom of the cage proper are mostly open for ventilation by default as long as the device is at least 20mm deep on any given axis. (Back is always open with a retaining lip around the perimeter regardless of depth.) Optionally make the "top" and/or "bottom" of the cage a solid shelf and/or make the sides of the cage solid.
• Easily create side-by-side cages for multiple same-sized devices - enter the dimensions of one device and increase the number of devices as needed. Excellent for mounting a lot of smaller things such as Raspberry Pis or external hard drives in minimal space.
• Multiple cages can be gapped out from each other for better air circulation, which can be helpful for hot-running devices.
• Optionally add screw holes in tabs to the short edges of a cage opening, or the corners of the opening, or both, with selectable hardware sizes. Couples well with multiple-same-sized-device cages, and useful for subrack assemblies - excellent for stuffing several Raspberry Pis or other small SBCs into a rack.
• By default, a cage is centered both horizontally and vertically on its faceplate. Positioning can be adjusted on both axes to move a cage to the top or bottom, to either side, or a combination of both.
• Add up to three sets of add-on faceplate modifications, one on either side of the cage proper and one in the center when creating a cageless faceplate, each of which can be any one of the following:
  • Keystone module receptacles
  • Neutrik D-Series connector cutouts
  • 30mm, 40mm, 60mm, 80mm, 92mm, 120mm, or 140mm cooling fans
  • 10mm, 12mm, 16mm, 19mm, or 24mm holes for things like a pushbutton or panel-mount indicator light
  • Fractional-DIN cutouts in 1/32- to 1/4-DIN sizes
  • VESA FDMI MIS-B/-C/-D/-E/-F mounting patterns up to 200mm for attaching VESA mounting brackets to the rack or the rack to VESA mounting brackets
  • IEC-60309 industrial power inlet cutouts for 16A and 32A inlets
  • IEC AC Mains sockets and outlets - C13/C14 and C19/C20 - in both screw-mount and snap-in formats.
  • Up to three custom cutouts of configurable diameter for round holes or height and width with optional corner rounding for rectangular.
• Faceplate modifications can be placed into a grid of up to 12 columns by 4 rows, space permitting.
• Faceplate modifications can be automatically centered between the device(s) and the edge of safe mounting area, or manually moved. Modifications are automatically centered vertically.
• Can generate a faceplate without a cage proper, with selected modifications or as a blank.
• Optionally add a 1mm retention "lip" on the front of the cage to help retain the device, which is recessed into the cage by 1mm to compensate.
• Selectable hardware for bolt-together and split cages - both metric (M3 through M6) and US-standard/imperial (4-40 through 1/4-20) hardware are supported, including both clearance and threaded hole diameters as well as common heat-set insert sizes by their thread pitch and mounting hole diameters.
• Add ventilation to the faceplate of any cage. The pattern, horizontal/vertical offsets, angle, and size are independently adjustable. Ventilation can cover the whole faceplate, or be limited to either side of, or above and below, the device cage.
• Add ventilation grids to the top/bottom or sides of a device cage. The pattern, horizontal/vertical offsets, angle, and size are independently adjustable.

Custom Faceplate Generation Without Device Cages

• Create a custom faceplate without a cage, in any height from 0.5U to 5.0U in half-unit increments.
• Faceplate can be ventilated as well. The pattern, horizontal/vertical offsets, angle, and size are independently adjustable.
• Add a faceplate modification, centered on the faceplate, which can be any one of the following:
  • Keystone module receptacles
  • Neutrik D-Series connector cutouts
  • 30mm, 40mm, 60mm, 80mm, 92mm, 120mm, or 140mm cooling fans
  • 10mm, 12mm, 16mm, 19mm, or 24mm holes for things like a pushbutton or panel-mount indicator light
  • Fractional-DIN cutouts in 1/32- to 1/4-DIN sizes
  • VESA FDMI MIS-B/-C/-D/-E/-F mounting patterns up to 200mm for attaching VESA mounting brackets to the rack or the rack to VESA mounting brackets
  • IEC-60309 industrial power inlet cutouts for 16A and 32A inlets
  • IEC AC Mains sockets and outlets - C13/C14 and C19/C20 - in both screw-mount and snap-in formats.
  • Up to three custom cutouts of configurable diameter for round holes or height and width for rectangular.
• Left and right side modifications from cage generation can also be placed on a custom cageless faceplate - three different mods can be used at one time.
• Faceplate modifications can be placed into an array or grid of up to 12 columns by 4 rows, space permitting.

Wide Printer Support, Including Small-Format

• Adjustable clearance setting allows for "dialing in" dimensions to compensate for the dimensional accuracy of the printer.
• Can split a cage in half for printing on smaller-volume printers - print a 10" wide 2U tall cage within a 180mm print area. Split cages receive tabs and slots for attaching the halves together.
• Optionally add alignment pin holes to split cages - use small 1.75mm filament "pegs" to more accurately align the cage halves.
• Can separate the cage proper and faceplate into two components for faster printing on larger printers. Reduces print time by as much as 15% and reduces filament consumption by as much as 25%. (Separated cage should be attached to its faceplate with 1.75mm filament segments or M2 screws, and a suitable adhesive such as epoxy is used to "weld" the two into a single unit.)

Making Cage Design Easier Without Requiring CAD Expertise

• Includes built-in "ruler" for easier layout. The ruler function automatically switches off when rendering a completed cage for printing.
• Ruler feature provides a "top" indicator as well as the unit height of the generated cage.
• Automatically marks estimated print height for the Z-axis when the ruler is enabled.
• Optionally display an outline of the build volume of the printer, to help determine whether the resulting 3D object will fit the printer's working area.
• Intelligent problem detection warns of size/fitment issues and overlap, in order to make sure the cage will work as a real thing before spending the time and filament to print the cage. Modifications that cannot fit are automatically removed, and cages that are pushed too far to any one side are automatically recentered.

• Also runs in OpenSCAD Playground, a web-based port of OpenSCAD - design cages in a browser without having to install any software.