MOTM

>You could indeed plane off the inside top to accomodate the required tilt
angle, but I would prefer adding wood to >the structure rather than taking
it away. Although I don't see whay a metal shop would have a problem in
>bending the required angle for the rail.

Because the sheet metal "brake" used to bend 11ga steel (as opposed to say
0.0.62 al) can't be set
smaller than 30/45/60/90 "stops".

>My suggestion for the rack rails would be to use wood, and as Larry
mentioned , the brass threaded inserts. When >you are constructing the
cabinet and cutting the face angle of the top lid, your saw angle would
already be set up, >so you'd just have to rip a piece of wood to the
appropriate length, about 1 1/2" wide and 1/2" tall ( this should >easily
clear the top edge of the MOTM PC bracket.) Another option would be to route
a 1 1/2" channel along the >inside of the top lid to a depth of 1/4" and cut
your wood rails to 3/4" tall. You would then be able to "set " the wood
>rail into the cabinet top for an even more secure mounting method.

I think a 'channel' in the underside is the strongest way.

The main point I'm trying to make (remember, I'm looking at the *mass
manufacturing side*, not
the "Hell, let me at that band saw!" approach) is that the best you can hold
wood to is about 0.070", which
in sheet metal is a 4-lane hiway.

So, what the best solution is I'm guessing is you start at the bottom, the
when you are ready to drill into the
top, you just use the panel holes as a drill guide into that top wood rail.
Brass inserts are better that wood
screws, if we can get Larry to hunt them down.

As far as buying the 'normal' rails and turning them sideways, be aware of 2
things:

a) the tapped holes are #10, not #8 (as in the MOTM-19A). I *think* a #10
screw barely fits in the
existing panel holes, but certainly the "slop" is now all gone

b) the distance from the edge of the rail to the center of the holes need to
be so that the rail does not
hit the pots/mounting bracket/jacks. This dimension *will vary widely* from
supplier-to-supplier.

>A question that I have for Paul and others, is would a rack rail made from
wood cause any ground, etc..problems >because the modules do not share a
common conductive mounting point?

Sure they do! Each module has 2 18ga ground wires that are connected back at
the power
distribution board. This is called a "star ground", and is the absolute
lowest noise grounding scheme.

Paul S.