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If flat rails become unavailable, then usingsolid oak trim is a good solution. I tested a piece for #8 screwthreading and removal and gave up after 60-70 tries. It seemed like itwould never wear out. Just make sure the pilot hole isn’t too big,and use the screw to form the threads inside the wood. As I mount my flatrails to oak anyway since the mounting holes in plywood “float” toomuch, making the rail position imprecise, the flat rails seem to be a nice butextraneous and expensive feature. They are easily the most expensive partof my cabinets.
I used this same method for a Wiard 300cabinet, which uses smaller #4 screws, and it is working just fine.
http://www.wavemakers-synth.com/motm/diy_resources.html
John Loffink
The Microtonal Synthesis Web Site
http://www.microtonal-synthesis.com
The Wavemakers Synthesizer Web Site
http://www.wavemakers-synth.com
-----Original Message-----
From: motm@yahoogroups.com[mailto:motm@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Tkacs,Ken
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 200612:58 PM
To: MOTM Forum All
Subject: FW: [motm] Flat rails,anyone?
>>>>>
Hi all,
I'm building a 24U wide, two row cabinet, and I need flat rails tomount the
modules. After all the drama, I assume it is no longer for saleanywhere?
<<<<<
Another thing that you can do in a pinchis use normal rack rails. What I mean by that is the kind of rails that youwould buy if you were constructing your own 19” rack enclosure. I onlylooked at these quickly, but something like this:
http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-RAX-RKRL6--m-11_65_271.html
I used such a setup for a while beforediving into the woodworking. In fact, this might be the same exact brand that Iused. I had three pairs of these rails about 12u “high” each.Turned horizontally, I bolted two of the pair together back-to-back (they areL-shaped in cross-section), with the third pair split as the “top”and “bottom” rails. After bolting a bunch of MOTM modules to these,the whole thing holds itself together with no other back or sides (naturally,for your safety and the safety of your modules, you wouldn’t want to leaveit like this, but as an interim measure, this worked for me).
All I’m saying is that if the Stoogeflat rails are ever really gone for good, maybe turning to something like theserails and building a cabinet around them would be the way to go.
One thing to be aware of – thetapped holes in a 19” rack are a size larger than those in the Stoogeflat rails. I don’t remember the exact sizes off-hand, but if Paul isshipping #8x32 machine screws with the modules, then you need #10x32 I thinkfor the rack (whatever standard rack-mount screws are). The holes in thecorners of MOTM modules “just about exactly” pass a #10, so you mayend up nicking the paint a little bit (inside, in the mounting holes normallycovered by the screws). Just mentioning this because it’s not and perfectfit and if you’re sloppy the screws may dig into the sides of themounting holes a tad.
But it does work. And they’rerelatively cheap. There are other lengths available – see the sidebar atright.
Hope this helps.
Ken T.