Data centers are the backbone of modern digital infrastructure, and the server racks inside them do far more than hold equipment. According to ENCOR Advisors, server racks integrate power distribution, cooling, and monitoring to ensure seamless operation — making them critical to uptime and efficiency in any data center environment. When standard off-the-shelf racks fall short of your requirements, custom server rack fabrication is the answer.
At MetalTech Products, Inc. (MPI), we’ve spent more than 20 years turning precise specifications into ready-to-install component parts for OEM manufacturers and technology infrastructure clients. Our full-service fabrication capabilities — from design through cutting, forming, welding, powder coating, and assembly — make us a capable partner for custom server rack projects at any scale.
Understanding Server Racks and Why Custom Matters
AND Cable Products describes a server rack as a standardized vertical frame designed to securely house and organize multiple servers, networking equipment, and other IT hardware in data centers or server rooms. While standard racks serve general environments well, many data centers face unique challenges that catalog solutions simply cannot address: non-standard equipment depths, limited floor loading, specific cabling strategies, seismic requirements, or unusual room constraints. Custom fabrication solves these problems by designing the rack around your environment — not the other way around.
Dgtl Infra notes that data center racks, cabinets, and cages are engineered to house IT equipment in a structured and accessible configuration, enabling efficient use of space, power, and cooling. When you go custom, every dimension, mounting position, ventilation slot, and cable channel is designed to optimize your specific deployment.
EIA-310 Standards: The Foundation of Server Rack Design
Before a single piece of metal is cut, server rack fabrication starts with the EIA-310 standard — the industry specification that governs 19-inch rack design across data centers, telecommunications, audio, and computing environments. Key EIA-310 specifications include:
- Standard width: 19 inches (483 mm) between mounting ears, ensuring compatibility with all standard IT hardware
- 1U = 1.75 inches (44.45 mm) of vertical rack space; three mounting holes repeat every 1.75 inches
- Most common rack height: 42U (~73.5 inches), balancing equipment capacity with manageability
- Rack depth ranges from 27 to 42 inches, with deeper configurations available for high-density equipment
- Mounting strips are typically steel (minimum 1.9 mm thick) or slightly thicker aluminum
According to Data Center Knowledge, choosing the right rack size depends on the equipment you’re housing, the space you’re working with, and your plans for future expansion. Custom fabrication allows you to dial in every one of these dimensions precisely, rather than making your equipment fit a catalog solution.
Materials: Steel vs. Aluminum for Custom Server Racks
Material selection is one of the most consequential decisions in custom server rack fabrication. The right choice depends on load requirements, environment, weight constraints, and budget.
Steel — specifically mild steel or high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steel — is the standard choice for heavy-duty data center racks. It offers superior load capacity, excellent weldability, and a long service life. Fully populated enterprise server racks can weigh 2,000 lbs. or more; steel handles those loads reliably. Powder-coated steel also delivers corrosion resistance suited for controlled data center environments.
Aluminum is appropriate when weight is a primary concern: mobile deployments, elevated floor installations, or edge computing locations where floor loading is limited. It is corrosion-resistant by nature and well suited for lighter-duty configurations. MetalTech works with both steel and aluminum, as well as stainless steel, copper, and titanium, allowing us to match the material to your specific application and budget.
The MetalTech Fabrication Process for Custom Server Racks
Building a precision server rack requires discipline and quality at every stage. Here’s how MetalTech approaches the process from concept to delivery:
Design & Engineering: Our Design & Product Development team works from your CAD drawings, specifications, or concept sketches to develop a manufacturable rack design. We optimize mounting hole patterns, cable management channels, ventilation provisions, and structural reinforcements before fabrication begins — catching design issues in engineering rather than on the shop floor.
Laser Cutting: Our Cutting Operations translate your design into precisely dimensioned sheet metal blanks. Laser cutting excels at complex profiles, precise hole patterns, ventilation slots, cable cutouts, and part markings — all in a single high-accuracy operation, with consistent repeatability across production runs.
Sheet Metal Forming: Sheet Metal Forming uses a variety of press brakes to bend rack frames, channels, and panels to exact angles. Proper forming maintains squareness and mounting accuracy — critical for a rack that needs to seat EIA-310 compliant hardware precisely every time.
AWS-Certified Welding: Welding Services join rack components using MIG and TIG processes performed by American Welding Society (AWS) certified welders. For large-volume production runs, our robotic MIG welding ensures every weld meets the same standard across every unit.
Powder Coating: Powder Coating provides a durable, professional finish in virtually any color, texture, or gloss level — including the matte black standard in most data centers. Our system handles parts up to 26 feet long, covering any standard or custom rack configuration.
Assembly: Assembly Services pre-install rails, hardware, blanking panels, and cable management accessories so your team receives a rack ready to populate and install — not one that still needs to be assembled on-site.
Common Custom Server Rack Configurations
Device42’s data center rack guide describes how racks vary significantly by design, each suited to different environments and requirements. MetalTech fabricates all major types to your specifications:
- Open Frame Server Racks: Maximum front/rear accessibility and airflow; ideal for well-controlled, access-intensive environments
- Enclosed Server Cabinets: Full enclosures with locking doors for added security and environmental protection
- 4-Post Racks: Traditional configuration with front and rear mounting points supporting deep equipment
- 2-Post Telecom Racks: Lightweight mid-span mounting for patch panels and lighter networking gear
- 42U Server Racks: Industry-standard height maximizing density in most data center floor-to-ceiling configurations
- Custom Heights (12U, 18U, 24U, 45U+): Non-standard heights for edge installations, room constraints, or mobile deployments
- Seismic-Rated Racks: Reinforced designs for earthquake zones, compliant with Telcordia GR-63-CORE standards
Cable Management and Airflow Design
Effective cable management is a defining characteristic of a well-designed data center rack. Custom fabrication allows you to build dedicated cable routing channels, horizontal and vertical cable managers, and pass-through openings exactly where your infrastructure requires them — not just where a catalog design accommodates them.
Thermal management is equally important. According to Optcore’s server rack size guide, selecting the right rack dimensions for your equipment is fundamental to a functional, expandable data center — a decision custom fabrication allows you to make precisely. Strategic vent placement, perforated panels, and blanking panel integration are far more effective when designed in from the start than retrofitted to a standard rack. Our engineering team can work with your airflow model to support hot-aisle/cold-aisle containment strategies through thoughtful rack design.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has MetalTech fabricated server racks or data center equipment before?
MetalTech fabricates a wide range of metal enclosures, cabinets, and equipment housings for technology and infrastructure clients. Our full-service capabilities — laser cutting, forming, welding, powder coating, and assembly — make us well-suited to server rack projects of varying complexity and volume. Contact us to discuss your specific requirements.
Can MetalTech work with EIA-310 specifications and precise mounting hole patterns?
Yes. Our engineering team works directly from EIA-310 specifications and customer-supplied drawings to ensure mounting hole patterns, rail spacing, and dimensional tolerances meet data center standards. Precision laser cutting delivers consistent hole locations across production runs.
What gauge steel do you work with, and can you fabricate in aluminum?
MetalTech works with a range of steel gauges — including mild steel and HSLA steel — as well as aluminum, copper, stainless steel, and titanium. Material selection is guided by load requirements, environment, and weight constraints. Our engineering team can help you identify the right material for your application.
Are your welders AWS certified?
Yes. Our welders hold American Welding Society (AWS) certifications. We use both MIG and TIG welding processes, and our robotic MIG welding capability ensures consistency on high-volume repeat production runs.
Can MetalTech handle both one-off custom builds and multi-unit production runs?
Absolutely. We work with customers on single prototype racks and large-volume production runs alike. Engineering documentation maintained for each project ensures every production unit matches the original approved design.
What are typical lead times, and can you handle rush orders?
Lead times vary by project complexity, material availability, and current shop capacity. We encourage you to contact us early in the design process for an accurate quote and timeline. Visit our Request a Quote page to get started.
What is the largest rack size you can powder coat?
Our powder coating system accommodates parts up to 26 feet long — covering virtually any standard or custom server rack configuration, in a broad range of colors, textures, and gloss levels.
Do you offer delivery and shipping for large server racks?
MetalTech offers regional delivery within 300 miles of our Lebanon, Missouri facility. For customers farther out, we work with LTL freight carriers and can drop-ship directly to your data center or installation site.
Ready to talk about your custom server rack project? Request a Quote or Schedule a Facility Tour to see MetalTech’s capabilities firsthand.
