Sheet Metal Fabrication for Data Centers
K-Display's data center sheet metal fabrication ranges from server rack frames and rails to hot and cold aisle containment doors and panels, with cable managers, blanking panels, and PDU enclosures between. The parts go to data center OEMs and integrators.
Rack, containment, and PDU enclosures for data centers
A server cabinet is a frame with rails, perforated doors, and side panels, and hot and cold aisle containment closes the space around a row of cabinets with doors and ceiling panels. We cut and form these parts from steel, weld the frames, press in self-clinching nuts and studs, powder coat, and assemble each cabinet. A rack unit is 44.45 mm, and a 1U front panel is 43.65 mm high, plus or minus 0.4 mm (IEC 60297-3-100), so in data center sheet metal fabrication a blanking panel is cut just under the unit rather than to it.
A vertical cable manager holds the cable path open between the rack and the containment door frame. Its mounting holes are located from the rack frame, the same datum the rails and doors use.
What we make for data centers
- Rack frames and rails
- Posts, crossmembers, base assemblies, and mounting rails, punched for each rack-unit height.
- Cable managers
- Vertical managers, fingers, spools, and horizontal trays with brush-strip openings, formed to keep power and data pathways separate along the cabinet height.
- Perforated doors and side panels
- Front and rear doors punched with a perforation or louver pattern, plus solid side panels.
- Aisle containment doors and panels
- Door frames, end walls, ceiling panels, and ceiling brackets cut to the row length and ceiling height of hot or cold aisle containment.
- Blanking and filler panels
- Flat and formed blanks in 1U and multi-U heights, with mounting ears that land on the rail holes.
- PDU enclosures
- Housings, mounting plates, breaker cutouts, and covers for rack PDUs, with the cable entries and outlet cutouts.
- Floor-stand brackets
- Bracing plates and floor-stand feet for cabinets, punched to the anchor pattern of the raised floor or slab.
What data center jobs require
- Rack-unit height and frame load
- Height in rack units, the loads the frame carries from your design, and the rail hole pattern for the equipment mounted.
- Airflow openings
- Perforated open area and louver pattern for each door, and any seal at the side panels.
- Cable pathway separation and bend radius
- Power-to-data separation and minimum bend radius from your cabling standard, for the manager fingers, spool radii, and pass-through openings.
- Door swing and handing
- Hinge side, swing direction, and lock or latch for the front and rear doors.
- Containment dimensions
- Row length, ceiling height, and end-wall and door positions for each aisle.
- PDU outline
- Model dimensions, mounting holes, breaker positions, and outlet cutouts for each rack PDU.
A blanking panel closes an empty rack position so air passes through the equipment and not around it. It is solid where a door is perforated, and it seats across both rails to keep the position closed.
How data center work runs
Cut, punch, and form
We laser cut the frame members, doors, and containment panels, punch the rail holes and perforations, and form each part on the press brake.
Weld and fit hardware
We weld the frames and press in self-clinching nuts and studs before powder coat, masking the grounding points so door-to-frame contacts stay bare metal.
Coat, assemble, and pack
We powder coat, then hang the doors and mount the panels and cable managers on cabinets that ship assembled. Cabinets that ship knocked down go out with their doors and panels labeled to the cabinet, and both are packed by cabinet or by row for each release.