At 08:30 AM 11/12/01 -0800, you wrote: I typically just lift the stuff into the rack myself, even the heavy stuff (like RK05s and the like). Most of the peripherals have a rail that can be mounted first, and then it is just a matter of lifting the unit up and sliding it onto the rails. The RL02s have a very nice system for doing this where the drive is actually set onto the rails and the rail interlocks into the drive so that the screws can be installed. I carried a H960 rack up the stairs to my 2nd floor office as well, but I stood inside of the rack with the rack on its side. I guess I might have a wider staircase than Ethan does... In any case, I am a fairly large person, so carrying and lifting these things is not as much of a problem. --tom

At a place I used to work we had a dual-BA23 MVII with two Eagle drives, a Kennedy 9-track tape drive, and two large Ungermann-Bass rack-mount units. Everything was in two racks bolted together on heavy duty casters. All that was in one of the racks was the two UB units (we used the bottom for storage, so to make maintaining them easier I removed them and unbolted the racks. The empty rack was sometimes used as an inpromptu moving cart for rackable items. It was also used for fun, racing around the raised floor. :-) -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Enthusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

Well I think the point is, for computer equipment this DOES work. It's how I managed to get four RA81s into a rack all by myself. I had help returning the rack to vertical of course. g.

I have a decided love-hate relationship with my racks. I love having the stuff organized, but the process sucks. Recently I racked up a bunch of 4U machines in my upstairs office and removed one bay, a process that was accomplished using the tried-and-true technique of holding screws in my mouth while using my left shoulder and arm to hold the machines in place and my right hand to position and drive the rack screws. The worst part was de-racking an HP front-loading nine-track drive and having it get hung up on one of its rails. Fortunately Jen is still maneuverable at nine months pregnant and was able to coax the offending slide into behaving while I cursed and wondered if I was going to end up dropping the pig. I generally look for help when it comes to racking minicomputers. I've managed to rack and derack DG gear solo, but nothing bigger than a jumbo chassis and always with bloodletting and bent backplane pins as a consequence. Recently I've taken to blending hobbies; substantial quantities of homebrew usually yields a body or two to help move stuff around. I need to re-rack John's old PR1ME, but I'm waiting until he returns to give me a hand. It scares me a bit. Fortunately it's in the garage, where there's a bit more latitude when it comes to being a tool-using ape... -- Chris Kennedy chris(a)mainecoon.com http://www.mainecoon.com PGP fingerprint: 4E99 10B6 7253 B048 6685 6CBC 55E1 20A3 108D AB97

Actually, with all-grain brewing of high SG beers I often rack a batch at least twice before kegging. Then again, the comment quoted was about a _machine_... -- Chris Kennedy chris(a)mainecoon.com http://www.mainecoon.com PGP fingerprint: 4E99 10B6 7253 B048 6685 6CBC 55E1 20A3 108D AB97 -----Original Message----- From: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org [mailto:owner-classiccmp@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of gwynp(a)artware.qc.ca Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 3:41 PM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: RE: Lifting stuff into racks On 12-Nov-2001 Chris Kennedy wrote: One re-racks wines, not beers.... -Philip

I've been there a couple times, mounting boat anchor radio equipment into racks. I've found a couple things that do work: Plan your installation and mount the equipment from the bottom up. I use spacers out of whatever material is handy, and use it to balance the next piece of equipment. If you have to put something above something else with a space, put two screws in the holes just below where you are mounting said equipment. Then use some sort of spacer (blocks, boxes, books, etc) to sit the equipment on while you insert the proper screws. Rotten job, but we all have to do it . . . . Gary Hildebrand

Not being a lover of rack-mounted equipment, I'm not the one to do this sort of thing often, but, when we were setting up the ISP, with dozens of drawers of 5-1/4" disk drives and the associated power supplies to heft into place so they could be screwed to the frame, we used two fellows with muscle and a third with a screwdriver and small hands with nimble fingers. When I worked in the aerospace industry, where the "right" equipment is always in the wrong place, I frequently observed a technician with a solid plate he'd made from a piece of heavy steel and a couple of brackets, on which he situated a pair of small bottle jacks with which he pushed the equipment into place so he didn't have to get help when he rearranged the hardware in the racks. I found that fairly clever, though I imagine one still had to have some skill to go with it. Dick ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Lawson" <jpl15(a)panix.com> To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 8:14 AM Subject: Re: Lifting stuff into racks