Where do you get your rack boxes for DIY projects?

[allbaldo]

I'm wanting to rack up a bunch of stuff, and Google searches bring up nothing but server oriented stuff. I'm looking for 1U and 2U boxes. Where do you get yours? Thanks!

[earth tones]

http://www.nice-racks.com/

[earth tones]

...actually, you may have been seeking rackmountable chassis to house a DIY project in. The link I gave you is for housings to store rackmounted gear in. If that does not apply, I apologize.

[allbaldo]

I'm looking for the rackmount chassis, as opposed to the racks. Thanks for the link though!

[curtiswyant]

A google search for "rack chassis" produced many results!

[meblumen]

Here you go:

http://www.par-metal.com/

[RustyBrooks]

I buy obsolete rack mounted telecomm gear. In my case there is a goodwill store near here that only sells old computer stuff, they have all kinds of old awesome 1-4U chassis

[Milkmansound]

where is this magical place?

as for par-metal, I use the 10 series - but the 11 series sure is one amazing rack box. The second front panel has many many uses, and the all aluminum thing certainly makes drilling easy.

[brianroth]

I like Par Metal as well. Warning...the "12" series units have a 0.062" spacing between the front panel and rear chassis.

Bri

[RustyBrooks]

where is this magical place?

Austin, TX. There may be other ones in other states.

[housepig]

I buy obsolete rack mounted telecomm gear. In my case there is a goodwill store near here that only sells old computer stuff, they have all kinds of old awesome 1-4U chassis

totes. there's a couple of joints locally, and one annual surplus auction, where I can score all the 1U and most of the 2U, occaisonally 3-6U, for about $1/U or less.

[Milkmansound]

yeah, I meant 12 series not 11...

the 10 series has that annoying lip that can be a pain in the balls when racking up channel strips. Hacksaw gets rid of it, but then you lose some structural integrity.

what are you planning on racking?

[RustyBrooks]

I buy obsolete rack mounted telecomm gear. In my case there is a goodwill store near here that only sells old computer stuff, they have all kinds of old awesome 1-4U chassis

totes. there's a couple of joints locally, and one annual surplus auction, where I can score all the 1U and most of the 2U, occaisonally 3-6U, for about $1/U or less.

Nice. I usually expect to spend $5 or so. The best ones I've found are usually something like units that are used for sharing one monitor/keyboard/mouse between multiple computers. Typically short (for computer stuff) light, blank faceplates with just a pushbutton switch or two, reasonably clear rears.

Given what a new rackmount case costs, or even a small project box, $5 seems OK to me. All my stuff is ugly as hell but it's just for me. I could probably pretty a lot of them up given a little time and effort.

[Milkmansound]

yeah - who cares what the back looks like. Just get a new front panel and you are all set. Someone on the prodigy boards mentioned that they just use a redco blank panel as a front panel, because its thick enough.

[allbaldo]

Thanks for the info folks!

I'm planning on racking up a bunch of McCurdy modules. I have a couple of their consoles, but to put any more money into them would be a waste of time given their value, so I'm going to rack up the stuff I want... well, Brian Roth will probably end up doing most of it... but I'll probably attempt a bit of DIY just to learn.