19" racks

A

Animated_Dog

n00b
Joined
Dec 5, 2003
Messages
4
i am currenty constructing my own rack but ive reached a problem, the depth. I cannot find if there is a standered depth as far as i can see it is diffrent depending on what / where you buy the rack from. any advice would be greatly aprechated.
thanks, matt
 
when you say rack, do you mean relay rack or cabinet?

I assume you are talking about a cabinet as the depth on a relay rack is irrelevant....

The standard depth of a cabinet is 600mm, a standard server will usually be around 560mm+ deep, making this depth cabinet unsuitable for many servers, this type are generally used for network/telco equipment (routers/switches/patch panels etc), the next size up (again, standard size), is 800mm, this depth can accomodate pretty much any server on the market today, including DELL servers (which are some of the deepest)....
 
sorry i wasnt very clear before.
yes i mean cabinet depth.

so i guess its best to make my rack 800mm deep as the main reason for building it is to hold my servers.
 
Originally posted by Animated_Dog
sorry i wasnt very clear before.
yes i mean cabinet depth.

so i guess its best to make my rack 800mm deep as the main reason for building it is to hold my servers.
Click to expand...

your making your own rack ?

it depends on the depth of the servers you want to buy..... many 4U chassis are just 480mm deep, so would fit in the 600m deep chassis fine, its the 1U and 2U chassis which are much deeper..... the proprietary servers, for example DELL, IBM and many others are a lot deeper....
 
yes i am making one myself, mainly because i cannot afford to buy one.
4U cases are to be the only cases i will be using no need for anything smaller.

the case i have chosen to use is this
one

thankyou for your help
 
are you following any sort of guide to make your rack? I'm having difficulty locating a good cheap rack cabinet to buy....
 
no guide...ive bought some mounting strips (example) and now i am simply making a basic frame. not much more to it really (as far as i know)
 
ahhh, your a brit, fancy that ;)

I did not even know Videk sold just the rails.... I buy my network supplies from them (patch cables are the most common items I buy), site looks a lot nicer than the old one btw... But remember, those mounting posts are designed for the Elite series racks..... you will NOT be able to screw these onto a wooden frame, it will either crack or snap the wood, the weight of a standard 4U server is 25KG (with minimum bits installed), the amount of tension exerted on the wooden frame would be massive, you need a re-inforced steel chassis to securely hold those rack brackets in place properly..... even if you do get away with using wood, you would only be able to use one server, its guaranteed to break with more than one rack unit installed..... just so you know

Btw, why not buy a relay rack, they are relatively cheap, or buy a second hand, used rack cabinet off eBay, they are going for about £80.00 used (excluding £50 or so courier pallet delivery, depending on the size you get)

Regarding the rack chassis, I would be very careful with that chassis, its is EXTREMELY cheap ! A reasonable quality 4U rack chassis with no PSU will set you back £160+ without £20+ shipping, that case will not be made of 1mm+ thick steel, more of the cheapo stuff (I have seen those 4U cases going on eBay for around £50 brand new, I would not touch them if I got paid to)

Look at www.pcicase.co.uk or my latest supplier, www.tmc-uk.com, they are very cheap (a non-extended 4U chassis without PSU will be £125 exVAT (and excluding Delivery+VAT)

I would steer clear of that cheap 4U though, it will just be of a very poor built quality and may cause you problems in the long run
 
Originally posted by RichardParry
But remember, those mounting posts are designed for the Elite series racks..... you will NOT be able to screw these onto a wooden frame, it will either crack or snap the wood, the weight of a standard 4U server is 25KG (with minimum bits installed), the amount of tension exerted on the wooden frame would be massive, you need a re-inforced steel chassis to securely hold those rack brackets in place properly..... even if you do get away with using wood, you would only be able to use one server, its guaranteed to break with more than one rack unit installed..... just so you know
Click to expand...

Ive got cut down posts from a relay rack bolted into a case made from 3/4IN HDO plywood. It's maby 20-25U of space with no problems. It has been on occasion loaded up with 4 4U dual amd boxes as well as a quite heavy peavey Architectural Acoustics series 4ch amp with no problems. Wood will work fine if you know what you are doing and you do it right.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top