Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

With all the talk about how rare and expensive the Command Station rack ears are, I figured I'd share this...

I made my own rack ears out of 1" by 1" aluminum extrusion, that I got from Home Depot or Lowe's (can't remember which).  Its just an L-shaped length of aluminum (1/8" thick) that you can cut with a hacksaw and drill out.

I cut it to the same length as the original plastic ears of the Command Station, then rounded the corners a little with a file.  I drilled all the holes with a regular hand drill.  If like me, you don't have a drill press, then the drill bit can slip around on the aluminum which will put the holes off-the-mark.  So I used a centerpunch to make a little dimple in the aluminum at the proper location, set the bit into the dimple and then I was able to drill the holes perfectly by hand.  A centerpunch is basically like a heavier metal ice pick that you strike with a hammer to put a sharp dent in the aluminum.  You can get a centerpunch for less than $10 at Lowe's/Home Depot as well.  I elongated the rack mounting holes using a rat-tail file.

Total investment was about $20.  The only downside is that the extrusion won't cover some gaps in the Command Station chassis (you'll see what I mean if you remove the plastic ears).  For those I just covered them with small pieces of tape to keep dust out.  Not the prettiest solution, but it doesn't cost $50 - $60 like the Emu rack ears either.  ;)

D7