Mounting HP7970e 9-Trk 1/2" Tape Drive

[Jay West]

Chuck's retension levers.... any chance this is on thingiverse or would you
be willing to send me the .stl file so I can 3dprint my own? :)

I have not looked at my 7970's in quite some time, but I had thought the
previous discussion was for mounting the 7970's in an HP rack. Not all later
HP racks, but the 2 or 3 series that were predominant around the time of the
7970's, had a very specific build related to positioning of the holes (which
were actually a few sliding metal bars with tapped holes, not just holes all
up and down the rack). The 7970 mounting bracket was designed for that 'odd'
HP-way the racks were built at that time (they changed later). I do not
think that an HP rack called a "storage array" (obviously much later
production) would have the same hole (and more importantly, the channels
around the bars) pattern. Long story short, I am not positive that mounting
the 7970 in a non-HP  or HP but non-period rack would work 100% as
originally intended. It may stay in the rack, but there could be some
positional/operational issues.

Specifically what I'm wondering, without the bracket and in a "non-hp" hp
rack ;)... how did you bolt it on the left hand side? And are you sure that
with it mounted that way, the speed bolt on the front right inside the door
allows you to swing the unit all the way open without hitting the flush
surface on the left of the casting?

I need to go look at mine and see if I'm just remembering this all wrong...
lol

J