more rack ideas

[Steve Jones]

>                         cabinet wall
>                                V
>                        //////////////
> custom panel front side >|   _____|
>                          |  |     | <- 19" standard panels on back side
>        short cable conn. |  |     |
>                        \ |==|     |
>                         \|==|   <-+-- 19" standard rack, 3 or 6 units heigh
>                          \  |     |
>                          |==|_____|
>                          |        |
>                        //////////////
>                              ^
>                         cabinet wall

Martin,

No flames from me!  In summary, if I understand, the back
and the front are swapped.  I kind of like this idea.
I agree that the problem stems, at least in part, from the
panel/electroncs area ratio being so high.  I have an old
rack mounted box, about 4 RU high, that receives several
slide-in cards.  I could fit a lot of circuitry in there
and do whatever I wanted with the back/front panel.

These cards are (very) roughly 4"x7" or so, with the card
edges brought out to one of the narrow sides.  These cards
are large enough to hold an entire voice.  It has a very
beefy PSU as well.  Is (was) this any kind of standard?
The equipment (camera control) was probably 20 years old
or older (one of the cards comprised a single opamp!).
Is anyone familiar with this size?

steve