SuperChassis 514 with Short-Depth Threaded Hole Rails?

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AndrewX192

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Apr 10, 2016
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I recently picked up a SYS-1019S-WR based on the SuperChassis 514-R407W and would like to get it mounted in my older Middle Atlantic short-depth audio rack which is only about 19" deep. Unfortunately the rail options SuperMicro offers (MCP-290-00056-0N) is for 19"-26.4" racks (which should work), but is designed for square hole racks, not the threaded round hole racks. SuperMicro offers a rail adapter set for round threaded racks, but it looks like these would take additional space and thus wouldn't fit the depth of my chassis.

I typically use CyberPower's 4POST rails, leaving extra space between each piece of equipment in my rack for the rails, but with SuperMicro the ears are attached to the rails so while I can support the equipment I can't retain it in the rack. Are there other options I'm missing?
 

herby

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Aug 18, 2013
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Would it be possible to swap out the threaded rack rails themselves for square hole ones?

I just scored a Chief Manufacturing (same parent company as Middle Atlantic) rack cabinet also with threaded rails, and based on the measurements I should be able to swap for Penn Elcom square hole rails.
 

AndrewX192

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Apr 10, 2016
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That’s an interesting thought. I have a Middle Atlantic BXAXSXR2, and haven’t been able to find too much technical detail on it. Did you figure out how you would attach the top and bottom of the rack to the rails?

FECE7EAE-E781-4626-9428-E791692856EE.jpeg
 

herby

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Aug 18, 2013
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Mine goes together a little differently. As you can see the rails are bolted to horizontal members running front to back. At the top and bottom are just loose brackets to distribute weight down and outward to the cabinet floor and walls:




My current (soon to be old) rack is actually assembled very similarly to your Middle Atlantic. I think you could probably swap the rails for square holed ones. See this thread for pics: https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/need-a-rack-this-is-pretty-neat.14072/#post-239425

It looks like you'll have to use rails with an "L" profile rather than the sort of "d" shape I used. Unless maybe you notched the rails to fit.

Update 1/31/20:
I should note that the Penn Elcom Square hole rails are .75" wide at the face vs the .69" of most threaded hole rails. In my case this meant just swapping from threaded to square hole resulted in about an 1/8" smaller gap between the uprights; and clearance problems with the sliding rails on my servers. Some significant modding is required for my retrofit plans.
 
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herby

Active Member
Aug 18, 2013
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With new square hole rails you'll probably want to use cage nuts and bolts that match their threads. I know they make 1/4"-20 cage nuts and you could use any old 1/4"-20 bolts with lock washers.

edit: oh apparently you can get 5/16 cage nuts
 

AndrewX192

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Apr 10, 2016
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Ok, so my understanding is that there’s square holes on the front and rear of the rack, but on the sides there are round holes for each unit of space. It’s these round holes that are used to attach the top and bottom of the chassis like shown in my picture. The old bolts in my rack aren’t coming out, so I need new bolts, thus I want to order more bolts so that I can attach the rails to the rest of my rack structure. See this rack rail for what I believe are the 5/16ths round holes Penn Elcom 20U Full Hole Rack Strip with Square Holes 2mm/0.08" R0863/2MM-20 | PennElcomOnline.com
 

herby

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Aug 18, 2013
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Oh I see, I didn't understand what I was looking at. Those look like press in studs: www.mcmaster.com/press-in-studs. I'd double check that thread size, the 5/16" studs look like they expect more "meat" than the 2mm of a rackrail

I've never installed or used them before so I'm afraid I can't offer any tips, but they seem pretty simple. I'd probably just use normal screws or bolts with lock washers or locknuts.
 

AndrewX192

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Apr 10, 2016
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Wow, thanks for finding those. I had no idea press in studs were a thing. Unfortunately it looks like the square hole rails use a different mounting hole size than the existing threaded hole rails do, so I’d probably have to expand the holes first.. not ideal.
 

AndrewX192

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Apr 10, 2016
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Ok so this didn’t end up working out. I can’t get rails that have the same mounting points to the chassis, and if I was to modify the mounting points then the square holes would be too close to each other to make a proper 19” rack. So I’d need to get a whole new rack :(
 

snoturtle

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Apr 11, 2017
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Why use rails?
AV equipment and racks are not designed around rails like most server equipment.

I have a similar rack and a pair of Superchassis 512 units that are just bolted in with no rails.
 

AndrewX192

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Apr 10, 2016
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Why use rails?
AV equipment and racks are not designed around rails like most server equipment.

I have a similar rack and a pair of Superchassis 512 units that are just bolted in with no rails.
I have multiple pieces of equipment that weigh too much to mount on ears, for example I have a Lenovo SA120 which I had to mount with upside down rails as the stock rails didn’t fit, and my SuperChassis 514 doesn’t even have ears that attach directly to the chassis
 

AndrewX192

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Apr 10, 2016
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I believe I tried those, but there were for 20+ inch depth racks, not my exactly 20" depth rack.. or perhaps that was the APC rails. Regardless, I use CyberPower 4POST rails now. Unfortunately since these support the underside of my equipment, they take up another rack unit below each mounted piece of equipment. Additionally, in cases where the equipment is really wide, the rails have to be turned upside down such that they provide no horizontal support for said equipment.
 

snoturtle

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Apr 11, 2017
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I use the Navepoint ones on the rack that I have which is a Middle Atlantic ERK 2120 with the rear rails at 20.5" from the front one and they have about .75-1" of space to squeeze in more.

I have them on my Brocade 6450 and Dell R210ii and they work well.

Is there a way to add ears to that case without modification?
Cisco 1u ears are cheap and have lots of mounting holes.