--- In motm@y..., Stooge Barlow wrote:
> And how did you do them -- most specifically the hole drilling
> pattern? And what are you planning to make them (the cases) out
> of -- veneer plywood?
The rails are pine, with brass insert nuts. The nuts have wood
threads outside and #8-32 machine threads inside. I had to use a soft
wood because the brass would deform trying to seat it into oak rails.
I bought hundreds of them (literally 576 to cover 144U of panel
space) from Lowe's and got a special price. I decided to populate
each and every possible hole location so that I wouldn't be
constrained later on when I wanted to move modules around. They are
spaced in standard rack spacing - start 0.25" from one end, then the
pattern is 1.25", 0.50", 1.25", 0.50", 1.25"...
For the cases themselves, I haven't decided, although the technique I
used to build the other one worked really well, was inexpensive, and
turned out beautifully. That was simply to use good birch 3/4"
plywood, and cover all exposed ply edges with iron on birch veneer
(all this stuff is available at Lowe's also.) It matches perfectly
and looks dead-on like solid wood. After finish sanding, I used 1
coat of MinWax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner as a sealer, 2 coats of
MinWax Red Oak Stain, and 3 coats of MinWax Wipe-On Poly. I will
stick to these products the next time, because it's the very first
time in my life that I obtained a professional looking finish.
Moe
Dave's Hot Rod MOTM Shop
http://www.users.qwest.net/~daveb2