If you have equipment that's light enough it needs to be secured to the shelf, it's too damned new. ![Laughing :-DD](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley_laughing.gif.pagespeed.ce._hfWAz_QHO.gif)
mnem
"...when gravity fails,
and negativity don't pull you through...
Don't put on any airs,
When you're down on Rue Morgue Avenue.
They got some hungry women there,
And they'll really make a mess outta you-ou..."
Let me be more specific, should i try making rack mount ears OR should i just zip tie the items together onto a 200lb server rack shelf. The second option negating the need (and cost) of me attempting to make ears.
Short version:
Old bed rails, chopsaw, drill press; welder and angle grinder optional. Lubricate well with alcohol and one to three similarly mechanically-minded friends. You may be forced to make a strategic withdrawal in the wee hours of the morning as exhaustion overtakes you; this just makes for a more interesting return sortie a day or two later. ![ThumbsUp :-+](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/icon_smile_thumbsup.gif.pagespeed.ce._JElyJQqdB.gif)
Cheers,
mnem
*whump* ZZZZzzzZZZzzzZZZzzzZZzz...
![](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=405336;image)
Butchers you are all metalwork butchers ![Flogging A Dead Horse :horse:](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/DeadHorse.gif.pagespeed.ce.kBWvHKqCd1.gif)
![Laughing :-DD](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley_laughing.gif.pagespeed.ce._hfWAz_QHO.gif)
And its done ready to add to the rack, square and a 'proper' job ![Wink ;)](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xwink.gif.pagespeed.ic.cldandycH0.png)
Maybe so, but I'll offer this free advice, based on mounting hundreds of bits of networking gear in racks, and decades earlier, hundreds of bits of PA, Music, Sound processing & amplifier gear in mobile racks and stacks...
Never count on the chassis of the gear as a structural member for your framing; always make a bracket that is self-supporting that your gear hangs from. I've done the clever trick you did of bolting the equipment to each other (it does look awesome, BTW), only to have them, much to my horror, pull the chassis apart of one or both units. Eventually, they WILL at least sag right at the joint; it is nigh-inevitable. Your best hope of avoiding this is to have that set of gear resting directly on top of another single piece so it supports their weight; but THAT can be VERY hard to accomplish within the constraints of standardized slot spacing.
I know this seems counter-intuitive, as much network gear is made precisely this way with just metal angles bolted to the chassis; but network gear doesn't get move AT ALL and is very rarely handled at all once it's hung. And sometimes, it STILL sags at the chassis joint; that's why we have shelves for heavy stuff.
It seems the act of adding an extra junction like this somehow not only invites Murphy, it incenses him to do his worst.
![Wink ;)](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xwink.gif.pagespeed.ic.cldandycH0.png)
Short version:
Old bed rails, chopsaw, drill press; welder and angle grinder optional. Lubricate well with alcohol and one to three similarly mechanically-minded friends. You may be forced to make a strategic withdrawal in the wee hours of the morning as exhaustion overtakes you; this just makes for a more interesting return sortie a day or two later. ![ThumbsUp :-+](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/icon_smile_thumbsup.gif.pagespeed.ce._JElyJQqdB.gif)
Cheers,
mnem
*whump* ZZZZzzzZZZzzzZZZzzzZZzz...
Too young to drink and my friends are carefully arranged lines of sand. ![Laughing :-DD](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley_laughing.gif.pagespeed.ce._hfWAz_QHO.gif)
Alter your FOV; remove at least one or two degrees of separation. Your friends should at most be on the other side of that carefully arranged sand; and then, only part of the time.
In short: Get up, get out, meet people, DO something even if it's wrong. IRL should be more to you than an acronym for an abstract concept.
![Grin ;D](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xgrin.gif.pagespeed.ic.QVVz6XIT20.png)
(SNIP)
And what is wrong with simply stacking them up? By definition they will be boat anchors anyway so therefore not going to run away. [emoji23]
From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]
And we've just gone recursive, so I'm going to go weld something now...
![Laughing :-DD](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley_laughing.gif.pagespeed.ce._hfWAz_QHO.gif)
If you have equipment that's light enough it needs to be secured to the shelf, it's too damned new. ![Laughing :-DD](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley_laughing.gif.pagespeed.ce._hfWAz_QHO.gif)
mnem
"...when gravity fails,
and negativity don't pull you through...
Don't put on any airs,
When you're down on Rue Morgue Avenue.
They got some hungry women there,
And they'll really make a mess outta you-ou..."
My bench grinder tends to disagree. Heavy as anything, but also scary as anything if you omit bolting it down.
Ahh, yes... but that's MACHINERY, not EQUIPMENT. The difference is subtle; mostly it revolves around whether or not the subject has sufficient motivation to jump off the bench of its own accord...
![Laughing :-DD](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley_laughing.gif.pagespeed.ce._hfWAz_QHO.gif)
mnem
...and whether Murphy is interested in you at the moment.