29 Dec
2002
29 Dec
'02
2:49 p.m.
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?
Well, I'm sitting here typing this with a wooden rack on either side of the
desk. They're prefab "shelving units" that you put together. Of equipment
that's normally rack mounted I've currenly got a PDP-8/m in one and a
storageworks shelf in the other. Up until a few days ago, I also had a
High-Speed papertape reader in the one, so far that's the only rackmount
that I've tried that's been a tight fit. I've been buying them at "Fred
Meyer's", they're basically 4 boards that are about 5'3" high, with
shelves
that are about 32"x18". I've found it best to buy 3 sets at a time to have
enough shelves for making up two. I also use them in my one storage unit,
and have a pair that are 3 sections long, and another that is 2 sections
long.
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 recommend building shelves for your rack rather than trying to make a
non-rack mounted system a rack mount. That's what I do, and it's also what
we do at work. For example Sun Pizza boxes fit great on the shelf of a 19"
rack.
Zane
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| | Classic Computer Collector |
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