rack mount designs

[fabfour1257]

does anyone here have, or know where i can get (preferably off of the internet) some designs, or blueprints maybe for building rack mounts for the studio? i need to build (2) with enough rack space to hold about 6-8 pieces of gear each. any help would be greatly appreciated!!! thanks, gregg

 

[DDev]

No plans are really needed. It is just a simple box. Once you determine how many rack spaces you want, just allocate 1.75 inches for each space (vertical), make the interior width of the cabinet 19.125 inches wide, and as deep as you want it. You can get pre-drilled/tapped steel rails from most music supply shops (Musicians Friend, etc) or you can use a piece of hardwood (1x2 oak, for example) to attach the equipment to.

Good luck,
Darryl.....

 

[frederic]

does anyone here have, or know where i can get (preferably off of the internet) some designs, or blueprints maybe for building rack mounts for the studio? i need to build (2) with enough rack space to hold about 6-8 pieces of gear each. any help would be greatly appreciated!!! thanks, gregg

here is what I did, made out of scrap steel left over from a variety of other things. If you purchase "MAP" rack rails from samash.com, zzounds.com, musiciansfriends.com or sweetwater.com, the most important measurement is that the supports that you bolt the rails to, are 19.125" apart (19 1/8"). You can make racks out of metal, poplar, oak, mdf, pine, almost anything.

First of three "legs":

Second "leg", making sure its flat:

Test-fitting 11U rack rail (Mid Atlantic Products, 12U with 1U lopped off):

Crosspiece welded onto one "Leg":

All three "legs" welded to one crosspiece (of two):

Final 22U rack, sitting under console table, begging for gear to be loaded:

Yes, this looks an awful lot like a desktop rack... however its made out of 1/8" thickness steel, some pieces 2" wide. This means instead of a $45 flimsy unit that music stores sell mostly for lightweight outboards, synths, etc, I can pack in some really heavy stuff. Like four Akai DR16 recorders at 90lbs each, and still have some space for 6U worth of lighter, smaller things.

 

[Dracon]

Also if you have the money, you can go to one of those used office furniture places, and buy some used desktops with partitions (preferrably four foot high partitions). If you get a corner section, and about a 6' table for it, I can literally stand on it without issues and I weigh almost 200 pounds.

That's what I got. I love it 'cause it's modular, it has a corner unit, it's sturdy, and when I move I can break it down into manageable pieces.
I just need to recover mine, 'cause the peach/pink color of the partition is just not that exciting.
There is also some modular desks that do not require partition if you don't like the partition stuff.

However, be forwarned they are expensive. Mine are free 'cause my company was throwing out the old desks and partitions to get new ones.

 

[starber]

Kinda sorta cheap racks

Raxxes (www.raxxes.com) sells all kinds of racks, rather reasonable priced. I have two of their ER-12 (12U) racks from Guitar Center for $100 each. Not a bad little unit and certainly is nice to have all my computer networking and recording equipment in one location. Just look out for all those cables in back, geesh!