rack mount equipment box help

Try Schroff or Buckeye-enclosures. Many others but these were the first to come to mind. GG

Unless the quantity is large, you'll want to start with a stock box and have a local shop cut it with a laser or water jet. Many are designed to take a separate front panel insert, which you can source pre-cut from a shop like Front Panel Express.

The trade rags like EE Times have ads for enclosure makers; some popular ones are Bud and OKW, and the usual distributors offer many (but not all) of their lines - see Digi-Key, Newark, Allied, etc. for a starter.

At 2-3 rack units and above (1.75" per RU) there are a lot of options out there - look for "enclosure". At the 1RU size, the options are a lot more limited for some reason. There are shops that will make cases for you custom, but at ~$200 apiece for a short run; that's a lot of money for something that should be a stock item. At this rate, it's easy for the enclosure to be 50% of your bill of materials.

Something else to consider... buying a pre-fab unit with power supply and fan may be a ton easier/faster/cheaper than rolling your own solution. (It's not hard for the mechanical aspects to take as much effort as the electronics.) Also, don't forget about safety (e.g., UL) and FCC certs.

Here's a collection of links I've compiled over time...

Front Panel work:

Server cases:

Good luck! Richard

I've builit an audio project (a stereo 16 X 8 matrix mixer for a band's in ear monitor system). I need a source for some place that can make me a metal enclosure(s) to fit in a standard "road case" (19" equpment rack). Same place needs to be able to punch/drill out all the holes for the knobs/jacks etc. It would seem simple to find such a place but I either end up talking to businesses that make airconditioning duct work or beams for bridges! Anyone had "boxes" made? Dallas, Tx area - if that helps.

Andy

Ok, I'm with you on this one. I've done a lot of custom panels and such but nothing like that. Good luck.

try here

you can buy "standard" 19" boxes and put your own front/backs on

hope this is a bit of help

martin

After the first death, ther is no other. (Dylan Thomas)

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Yes, I own a drill : ). This is something I want to mass produce in the end. Each channel of his matirx mixer has a volume and a pan control for each of 16 inputs. There are 8 "channels" to the box so 16 X 2 X 8 comes out to a minumum of 256 holes plus 8 more for headphone/output jacks (and that's just on the front!). Drilling that many holes accurately without doing something dumb, like drilling a hole in my hand, just takes more ambition and concentration than I have anymore. So, I want to leave the more "dangerous" stuff to the guys with the computer controlled metal working machines.

Andy

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Thanks for the leads. My unit will take up 6 to 8 units so the box with the separate front panel sounds like a good option.

Andy

Of course, a drill press helps too. It seems obvious, but the line about drilling the hand makes it sound like that's not one of the available tools.

For a quarter century I've had an adaptor to put my electric drill in to make it a drill press, albeit a limited one. But one of the hardware chains here routinely puts a real drill press on sale for forty dollars (Canadian), and even once for thirty. If I was actually drilling much these days I'd grab one.

I suppose it also depends on the panel. 1/8 inch is standard, but I wonder if thinner metal can be used nowadays since the equipment behind the panels is so much lighter these days.

There must be local places that will do it, however.

Michael

In which case - lol - you'll want to design your own box for economy.

Not if you do it right ! Pilot holes etc.... I've even successfully reworked exisitng painted panels with nothing more than a quality drill and bits and the knowledge of how to do so efectively.

That'll cost.

Graham