29 Dec
2002
29 Dec
'02
7:41 p.m.
On Sun, 29 Dec 2002, R. D. Davis wrote:
While thinking about racks to use for mounting my
PDP-11/44 components,
as well as other equipment from test equipment to audio and synth
equipment, something just occured to me: why bother with hunting down
steel racks when some 2x4s and lag bolts may suffice just as well? I
was thinking that one can just run 2x4s from the basement floor up to
the heavy wooden rafters, attach them to the rafters, and then add
horizontal supports at the bottom to space the vertical 2x4s apart
properly. Any thoughts on this? I guess the museum-type equipment
purists won't like the idea, but it would be a cheap and functional
solution for many of us. :-) Has anyone else here tried this?
That sounds kinda like a relay rack to me :)
If you are handy with woodworking, it isn't too hard to create your own
studio racks for your audio equipment. What you are looking for are the
metal rails that run vertically that the equipment bolts to. Several
companies make and sell these. One place that comes immediately to mind
is: [http://www.hometech.com/rack/rack.html]. That page shows rails
available from 3U up to 27U. If you wanted an angled overhead type rack
for certain equipment, these rails would also work very well.
Lastly, has anyone on this list tried retrofitting
non-rack-mount
equipment into racks? E.g., welding (or "JB Weld"ing) rack-mount tabs
onto systems like PCs and Kaypros, as well as making rack-mountable
shelves to hold the Macintoshes, etc.? Just trying to think of ways to
save space. Stacking system on top of system, helter skelter, as
systems are added, tends to result in rather annoying, space hogging,
piles of systems after a while, making some systems difficult to get to
at times.
I'd just recommend rack-mount shelves. JB Weld (basically a high temp
epoxy) wouldn't likely hold the weight of most gear, though it might be
possible to bolt rack slides to some things.
-Toth