[Rack Stuff]

[Harry Bissell]

Don: Real quick course 101 (or my wife will kill me...)
1) All racks are 19" wide overall. About 17.5" of space inside the panel can
usually be used
2) A 1U rack is 1.75" high. All panels are multiples of 1U
3) If you mix and match different Mfg. products, you will have ground
connections at the audio cables, at the power supply ground pin, and through
the front panels. This can and does lead to hum sometimes. I load every other
rack space and use nylon shoulder washers and nylon flat washers on the screws
to totally break that ground path. I have a Keystone part number for the
shoulder washers, but you need to cut them with a razor blade to get the
thickness right. If ya want I'll look it up for you.
HumFreez etc that try to make each rack space usable might not work in a large
rack, the tolerances stack up too quickly.
Acoustic isolation like sorbothane is IMHO not needed because when you tighten
the screws enough to stop the gear from moving, the benefit is lost. Use the
SKB shock-mount isolated cases if you really need shock mounting... :-) Harry
Bissell


"Donald B. Colbath" <robodon at juno.com> wrote:
I've looked at racks and enclosures in electronics catalogs and found
them to be really expensive and geared for telecom stuff. The best
sources I've found recently are 
 Musician's Friend ... www.musiciansfriend.com and American Musical
Supply
americanmusical.com  They both have good selections of rack gear to
include rack rails as in drilled pieces of metal in case you want to make
your own enclosure out of wood or something.

I've got a Fatman kit on the bench just waiting for me to quit
procrastinating.

What I need from somebody is a quick "rack 101" course as in what
constitutes a "space" in rackish and what else do I need besides screws.
I see ads for acoustic and ground isolation tabs...do I need these?

Don Colbath

dcolbath at austin.rr.com

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