SOS

Building your own 18U rack

Although I was impressed with the £75 price tag for the Studiospares 18U rack mentioned in the Toys Are Us article in the December issue of SOS, I recently found a far cheaper alternative for about the same amount of gear. How about £1 per U? This solution probably won't interest anyone but the bedroom studio builder who wants to spend their money on gear that makes or changes sounds, rather than on the other paraphernalia -- but if you are with me on that one read on.

All you need is a pack of that self-assembly metal shelving supplied by most hardware stores -- the type that screws together rather than clips -- and an electric drill. Don't panic at this point, you probably only need to drill four holes!

The first step is to throw away the assembly instructions. Now build something that looks like a gear rack instead. Bolt two of the L-shaped uprights together to form a T shape. Two of these form the front of the unit, while two shelves and two more L-pieces form the sides and rear legs respectively. The shelf sides will screw to the L- and T-pieces at the top, but you will have to drill fixing holes at the bottom, both front and back. To some extent the gear you put in will hold the rack together at the front, so you can use one of the remaining L-pieces and the corner reinforcements to brace the back. The L-piece is too long, so you will either want to cut it or do what I did, and mount the shelves on the top of the unit sitting over the L-piece. I put one shelf upside-down (it mounts better that way) then dropped the final one inside it. The result is a 19-inch rack with a wide shelf on top.

The holes in the uprights are not exactly 1U pitch, but as most people only seem to use two screws in the bottom of a piece of gear, this should not be a problem. If anyone asks about the small gaps of about 5mm between your modules, you can claim they are to allow air circulation. If the occasional item does need extra fixing (I have a small mixer in the middle of the rack that did) then a couple of seconds' work with the drill will suffice.

I stood the whole thing on a board to make it easier to drag around. I never knew my gear weighed so much! Oh, and if you have one of the L-shaped uprights left over, then this could be mounted to a wall as a cable rack/tidy, as jack sockets drop neatly through.

Hope this helps the thrifty amongst us.

Andrew Hawken
via email

Assistant Editor Sam Inglis adds: Thanks to Andrew for what sounds like a useful DIY hint. Be warned that none of us here at SOS have tried this, however -- and we can't be responsible if it goes wrong! If you prefer a wood effect on your home-made racks, check out Paul White's alternative design on page 154-156.

Monday 8th February 2010

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