Bill of Materials
One of the defining tenants for Labinator is that it had to use cheap, commodity hardware. The bulk of the cost, therefore, comes from consumer grade hardware you can find from places like AliExpress or Amazon to keep the prices as low as possible.
The bulk of the lab can be built for well under $1,000 USD. However, to be a little flashy and clever, some extras were added such as the relayinator (which “presses” the power buttons of the lab gear to turn the machines on and off). The lab is also intended to be mobile and demonstrative of the technologies in use, so each machine has one or more monitors attached to it to allow the observer to see what is going on with each machine at any given time. To stay mobile, a ton of 3D printed models are used to arrange the devices on a mobile board and to mount screens and wires. You can use the filters below to hide such extras.
| Item | Description | Purpose | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| FriendlyElec NanoPi R3S | Ingress router and firewall running OpenWRT | 47.67 x 1 | |
| Hasivo S800W-8G-SE 8 port managed switch | Network switch with VLAN support | 38 x 1 | |
| MLLSE M2 Pro Mini PC | Celeron J3710 CPU, 8G RAM, 256G SATA SSD. 6 nodes and 1 boss | 79 x 7 | |
| Apevia ATX-SP700 Spirit ATX power supply | 115/230v power supply with 120mm fan | 36.99 x 1 | |
| ESP32 8 relay DC module | The relayinator used to power off or power on machines by triggering button presses | 15.65 x 1 | |
| FT232RL FTDI USB to Serial Adapter | Serial to USB adapater for boss to talk to relayinator | 1.47 x 1 | |
| 5 pcs OLED I2C mini display | Display module for relayinator to show statuses | 14.99 x 1 | |
| 3x Mini USB cable | Who uses Mini USB these days | 6.99 x 1 | |
| 8 pin ATX EPS extension | Used to adapt ATX power supply wire from harness to relayinator. Not needed if splicing directly from power supply. | 1.26 x 1 | |
| PCI Express 6 pin extension | Used to adapt ATX power supply wire from harness to relayinator. Not needed if splicing directly from power supply. | 1.61 x 1 | |
| 2.8mm spade crimp terminals | Female terminals to connect ATX extension wires to panel barrel jacks | 6.99 x 1 | |
| 24 pcs 5.5mm x 2.1mm barrel connectors | Female barrel jack panel mount terminals for power and relays | 6.99 x 1 | |
| 4 - 100v LED voltmeter | Measures volts on the 5v and 12v rails of the power supply | 1.19 x 2 | |
| Black Cat 6 eithernet cable | Cable Matters 25ft snagless cable | 9.99 x 1 | |
| 10pcs 5.5mm x 2.1mm male barrel plug | Connects devices to power supply or relayinator | 1.76 x 3 | |
| 5.5mm x 2.1mm barrel to USB C adapter | Adapts lab power wiring to USB C for the NanoPi R3S | 2.1 x 1 | |
| 18awg 2 pin wire | Low voltage power wires from relayinator to all devices | 13.3 x 1 | |
| Overture Matte black 1.75mm PLA filament | 1kg spool of filament for the 3D printed mounts | 18.99 x 3 | |
| 50pcs M3 x 14mm stainless thumb screws | Used to secure the lab components to the portable board | 1.83 x 1 | |
| 100 pcs M3 flat washers | Black washers for the thumb screws | 5.49 x 1 | |
| M3 x 8mm stainless pan head screws | Used to secure screens to the mounts | 6.66 x 1 | |
| 1/2 self-stick edge trim | Finishes the cut edges of the mounting board | 9.99 x 1 | |
| ESP32-S3 4.3-inch LCD module | Used to display stats of the lab | 15.82 x 1 | |
| 7-inch LCD IPS touchscreen | Large touchscreens for steering the lab interactively | 30.41 x 2 | |
| 4.3-inch LCD HDMI screen, no touch | Displays for the lab boxes | 22.3 x 6 | |
| 5.5mm x 2.1 barrel to micro USB adapter | Adapts lab power wiring to micro USB used by the screens | 1.98 x 1 | |
| USB 3.0 to HDMI adapter | Boss only has one HDMI output so this adds a second | 5.3 x 1 | |
| 180 degree HDMI adapter | Flips HDMI outputs for the large screens so the cables do not interfere with the lab | 1.87 x 2 | |
| 180 degree Micro USB adapter | Flips USB inputs for the large screens so the cables do not interfere with the lab | 1.23 x 4 | |
| 2 in 12 out power splitter | Distributes power from 5v rail to the 6 worker screens | 1.97 x 1 | |