Steel under-console racks w/pics

[frederic]

As always, I like making things out of steel. I've also discovered that toslink for adat-compatible equipment doesn't like long distances. So, I'll kill two birds with one stone - 22U of rackspace, in two 11U columns, underneath my recently constructed console table.

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.

 

[DDev]

Frederic,

You know, if you keep coming up with new welding projects you'll NEVER get it all put together

But on a serious note, those racks would work nicely underneath my console. I'll provide a shipping address if you need to off-load them.....

Darryl.....

 

[frederic]

I made these whimsically... I was going to buy two "economy" racks, however once I saw the price of them at Sam Ash ($250 for two 10U racks), I decided naaaaaaah. I was too impatient to order online, so instead I bought two pairs of 12U MAP rails for about $20 a pop (I know, twice what it should be). Anyway, I have tons of steel lying around from other projects, and if I don't use it for anything its going to get rusty and get tossed. This was made of scrap, plus the two pairs of MAP rails.

I do have to prime/paint it however. Took 3 hours to make, not that bad.

 

[Track Rat]

I bet you were hell with an erector set. That's some first class fabrication sir.