5 May
2011
5 May
'11
6:02 p.m.
First, I'd like to minimize the potential for
scratching the paint on
the rack mount plates. Should I use a plastic or teflon washer between
the plate and the mounting screw? Like most rackmount equipment, the
only support is from that front panel, so it has to be mounted pretty
tight to support the weight.
The maintenance manual doesn't say anything specific about mounting the
equipment in a rack. Is it typical for things to be supported only by
that front mounting panel, or do people add some kind of additional
support in the rear?
Very few devices are designed ot be hung on their front panels. The ones
that are at short from front to back and quite light in weight. Things
like connector panals, power controllers, flip-chip backplanes, etc
Procesosr,s drives, interfaces, etc always need more support. Holdign
them by the panel only will damage them. There are 2 main ways that this
is done.
Some units have proper rack silde rails. These are boltaed to the front
and rear uprights of the rack. The inside part of the rail is screwed to
the side oif the device. The unit can be pulled out onn the rails for
servicing.
The other way is to ut a couple of lengths of metal angle between the
front and rear rails at each side. These support the bottom edges of the
unit, itjust rests on them. Serviicng may be more difficult, particularly
if you have ot pull the unit out top get to PCBs.
In both caes the front panel screws just prevern the unit from sliding
out of the rack on its own. They don't support the weight. So they are
not that tight. It is common, thoguh, to put a plastic washer between th
escrehad and the panel to prvent marking the paintwork.
-tony