MOTM

Regarding all of this [confusing without pictures] talk about rails and
cabinets, what timeframe are we talking about for these things actually
becoming available?

I ask because I'm close to turning my attention to building my cabinets now
that I have modules built & scattered loose all over my studio. I was
figuring I'd have to develop a custom solution, but if we are close to
having "official" MOTM rails available, it would alter my plans.

What I *was* going to do was get a bunch of 10u 19" rack rails and use
regular rack screws rather than the ones that ship with the modules. But if
there are better rails coming down the pike, I'd rather use the supplied
screws (smaller heads, for one thing).

I know that you don't want to get into stocking too many different sizes of
rail-completely understandable. It seems that a lot of folks on this list
want to build big honking Moog 55 style cabinets. Unfortunately for me, I
need something that is smaller & more flexible ('modular,' if you will) and
can be reconfigured, transported... I was designing something more along the
lines of Moog IIIp cabinets. If the rails were too long, they wouldn't be
much use to me (I don't relish hack-sawing through thick steel).

If the long rails need to be cut in half for transport, then my vote would
be for 24u, because that means it's really a 12u pair of rails, and 12u is
something I can work with. It's bigger than the 10u I was planning, but
close enough that I could readjust my plans if I had to.

So anyway, the big question for me is 'when.'

In a message dated 2/1/2000 7:19:10 AM, Ken.Tkacs@... writes:

>Regarding all of this [confusing without pictures] talk about rails and
>cabinets, what timeframe are we talking about for these things actually
>becoming available?

Thanks much for the PDF! Like Moe, I really like the look of the IIIP style 
you're after -- but the thought of building one cabinet (let alone three) is 
not one that I relish. But I too want to have some idea about a time frame 
for these rails, since I'm currently out of cabinet space for MOTM. When 
Paul, when?

>I ask because I'm close to turning my attention to building my cabinets
>now
>that I have modules built & scattered loose all over my studio. I was
>figuring I'd have to develop a custom solution, but if we are close to
>having "official" MOTM rails available, it would alter my plans.


This is why I recently started thinking (again) about using the 22U rails 
I've mentioned before.

>What I *was* going to do was get a bunch of 10u 19" rack rails and use
>regular rack screws rather than the ones that ship with the modules. But
>if
>there are better rails coming down the pike, I'd rather use the supplied
>screws (smaller heads, for one thing).


I know you've mentioned the 10U rails before. Let me suggest putting the 
standard MOTM rack rails in a vice and bending the ears back by 90 degrees so 
that those could be used as a way to mount the rails against the sides of the 
cabinet. This seems like a perfect solution to me. In fact, between you and 
the oak/rosewood inlay (was that Dave T.'s cabinet?) that also used the 10U 
wide approach, I'm still thinking about doing a cabinet similar to this -- 
but mine would slope up (at the bottom), go vertical (in the middle), slope 
back (above) to give it that flight engineer look -- but maybe 5 panels.

>I know that you don't want to get into stocking too many different sizes
>of
>rail-completely understandable. It seems that a lot of folks on this list
>want to build big honking Moog 55 style cabinets. Unfortunately for me,
>I
>need something that is smaller & more flexible ('modular,' if you will)
>and
>can be reconfigured, transported... I was designing something more along
>the
>lines of Moog IIIp cabinets.


Larry and I (and others I believe) are thinking more about the Moog 35 look 
(two rows as opposed to three) which would only be about 50% heavier than the 
IIIP type cabinet you're thinking of.

I've never got the hang of that Moog way of numbering models. Is it IIIP = 
three portable cabinets; 35 and 55 = 35 and 55 modules respectively?

John (I always "knew" the ARP 2600 was called that since they seemed to cost 
about $2600) Barlow

Interesting! Would this work? And be sturdy? I haven't bought any of the
current MOTM horizontal rails because I never intended to use a store-bought
rack. But if you think this would work for my application, maybe I should
look into a set for experimentation...?

		-----Original Message-----
		From:	JWBarlow@... [mailto:JWBarlow@...]
		Sent:	Tuesday, February 01, 2000 9:38 PM
		To:	motm@onelist.com
		Subject:	Re: [motm] Rails & Cabinets

		Let me suggest putting the standard MOTM rack rails in a
vice and bending the ears back by 90 degrees so that those could be used as
a way to mount the rails against the sides of the cabinet. This seems like a
perfect solution to me.

Hi Ken,

Yes, the MOTM rails are great -- very sturdy. The only problem I see would be 
getting the "ears" in the vice at the exact distance to bend for a perfect 
width rail (especially if one were to do this repeatedly for building several 
cabinets at once, but you could set up a jig -- a stop on your vice -- to 
facilitate this). A similar idea would be to just cut the ears off, but they 
seem perfect for mounting to the sides considering they are bent in the wrong 
direction.

JB

In a message dated 2/2/2000 7:26:26 AM, Ken.Tkacs@... writes:

>Interesting! Would this work? And be sturdy? I haven't bought any of the
>current MOTM horizontal rails because I never intended to use a store-bought
>rack. But if you think this would work for my application, maybe I should
>look into a set for experimentation...?

>       -----Original Message-----
>
>       From:   JWBarlow@... [mailto:JWBarlow@...]
>
>       Sent:   Tuesday, February 01, 2000 9:38 PM
>
>       To: motm@onelist.com
>
>       Subject:    Re: [motm] Rails & Cabinets

>       Let me suggest putting the standard MOTM rack rails in a
>vice and bending the ears back by 90 degrees so that those could be used
>as
>a way to mount the rails against the sides of the cabinet. This seems like
>a
>perfect solution to me.

Thanks much for the info! Depending on how long it takes for MOTM cabinet
rails to hit the market, I am going to give this some serious thought.

		-----Original Message-----
		From:	JWBarlow@... [mailto:JWBarlow@...]
		Sent:	Wednesday, February 02, 2000 10:10 PM
		To:	motm@onelist.com
		Subject:	RE: [motm] Rails & Cabinets

		Yes, the MOTM rails are great -- very sturdy. The only
problem I see would be 
		getting the "ears" in the vice at the exact distance to bend
for a perfect 
		width rail (especially if one were to do this repeatedly for
building several 
		cabinets at once, but you could set up a jig -- a stop on
your vice -- to 
		facilitate this). A similar idea would be to just cut the
ears off, but they 
		seem perfect for mounting to the sides considering they are
bent in the wrong 
		direction.

I'd entertain that solution, too, but are such rails available? I need to
get cabinets made pretty soon so I can start using my modular, so I'm
looking for something that's either available or available soon.

		-----Original Message-----
		From:	Crawley, Eric [mailto:esc@...]
		Sent:	Thursday, February 03, 2000 9:48 AM
		To:	motm@onelist.com
		Subject:	RE: [motm] Rails & Cabinets

		Sigh, I feel like a broken record but the right answer for
this is to use
		wood for the structural support and a simple flat rail
attached to it for
		mounting modules.  The current rails are fantastic for rack
mounting where
		the slop in the cabinet can be tolerated by the mechanics of
the side rails
		but it becomes harder when you try to mount those rails
where you have
		tighter tolerances.

		I'm not a mechanical engineer but I really like simple
solutions to
		mechanical problems.

Sigh, I feel like a broken record but the right answer for this is to use
wood for the structural support and a simple flat rail attached to it for
mounting modules.  The current rails are fantastic for rack mounting where
the slop in the cabinet can be tolerated by the mechanics of the side rails
but it becomes harder when you try to mount those rails where you have
tighter tolerances.

I'm not a mechanical engineer but I really like simple solutions to
mechanical problems.

	Eric

> -----Original Message-----
> From: JWBarlow@... [mailto:JWBarlow@...]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2000 10:10 PM
> To: motm@onelist.com
> Subject: RE: [motm] Rails & Cabinets
> 
> 
> From: JWBarlow@...
> 
> Hi Ken,
> 
> Yes, the MOTM rails are great -- very sturdy. The only 
> problem I see would be 
> getting the "ears" in the vice at the exact distance to bend 
> for a perfect 
> width rail (especially if one were to do this repeatedly for 
> building several 
> cabinets at once, but you could set up a jig -- a stop on 
> your vice -- to 
> facilitate this). A similar idea would be to just cut the 
> ears off, but they 
> seem perfect for mounting to the sides considering they are 
> bent in the wrong 
> direction.
> 
> JB
> 
> In a message dated 2/2/2000 7:26:26 AM, Ken.Tkacs@... writes:
> 
> >Interesting! Would this work? And be sturdy? I haven't 
> bought any of the
> >current MOTM horizontal rails because I never intended to 
> use a store-bought
> >rack. But if you think this would work for my application, 
> maybe I should
> >look into a set for experimentation...?
> 
> >       -----Original Message-----
> >
> >       From:   JWBarlow@... [mailto:JWBarlow@...]
> >
> >       Sent:   Tuesday, February 01, 2000 9:38 PM
> >
> >       To: motm@onelist.com
> >
> >       Subject:    Re: [motm] Rails & Cabinets
> 
> >       Let me suggest putting the standard MOTM rack rails in a
> >vice and bending the ears back by 90 degrees so that those 
> could be used
> >as
> >a way to mount the rails against the sides of the cabinet. 
> This seems like
> >a
> >perfect solution to me. 
> 
> --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor 
> ----------------------------
> 
>       Books, music, auctions and more! Amazon.com.
> <a href=" http://clickme.onelist.com/ad/afamazon1 ">Click Here</a>
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
>

You could screw the modules directly into the wood rails until metal rails
are available.  You can't do lots of module swapping but it will work and
requires no metal bending.  Set the wood rails back slightly so that when
you add the metal rails, you have the panel set back that you want.

Flat metal rails in 10U lengths can be cut with a hack saw and butted
together for different widths.

	Eric

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tkacs, Ken [mailto:Ken.Tkacs@...]
> Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2000 9:44 AM
> To: 'motm@onelist.com'
> Subject: RE: [motm] Rails & Cabinets
> 
> 
> From: "Tkacs, Ken" <Ken.Tkacs@...>
> 
> 
> I'd entertain that solution, too, but are such rails 
> available? I need to
> get cabinets made pretty soon so I can start using my modular, so I'm
> looking for something that's either available or available soon.
> 
> 
> 		-----Original Message-----
> 		From:	Crawley, Eric 
> [mailto:esc@...]
> 		Sent:	Thursday, February 03, 2000 9:48 AM
> 		To:	motm@onelist.com
> 		Subject:	RE: [motm] Rails & Cabinets
> 
> 		Sigh, I feel like a broken record but the right 
> answer for
> this is to use
> 		wood for the structural support and a simple flat rail
> attached to it for
> 		mounting modules.  The current rails are 
> fantastic for rack
> mounting where
> 		the slop in the cabinet can be tolerated by the 
> mechanics of
> the side rails
> 		but it becomes harder when you try to mount those rails
> where you have
> 		tighter tolerances.
> 
> 		I'm not a mechanical engineer but I really like simple
> solutions to
> 		mechanical problems.
> 
> 		
> 
> --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor 
> ----------------------------
> 
>       Books, music, auctions and more! Amazon.com.
> <a href=" http://clickme.onelist.com/ad/afamazon1 ">Click Here</a>
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
>