Mounting HP7970e 9-Trk 1/2" Tape Drive

[Chuck Guzis]

On 2/7/19 9:16 AM, Jack Harper via cctalk wrote:

> I mounted the two HP7970 Drives in a non-HP rack - just a standard
> six-foot 19" rack that I found a few years ago.
> 
> I installed two heavy aluminum rails (1/8" thick and perhaps 2" on the
> two sides - angle stock) for each Drive to support the 130-pound weight
> of each.

That makes a lot of sense and doesn't look too difficult to fab up from
stock.  Or if you're not handy with metalworking, these would do the
same job:

https://www.hammfg.com/dci/products/accessories/raab

That way, the right-side bolts serve to keep the thing in the rack.

The Fujitsu drive that I use weighs more than the HP and doesn't even
have "ears" to mount to the rack rails--it uses a sliding arrangement
like many large disk drives.  Fasten one part of the slides to the rack
and the other to the drive and just slide the drive in--there are bolts
to secure the slide position once the drive is in place.

--Chuck