[jbsjbs]

Hello, all. This is a question which I thought would be easy, but to my total surprise I've found nothing online to fill the need. I have a Middle Atlantic 77" ERK rack in my theatre closet and I left the cables long enough and bundled in such a way that I can wheel it out of the closet when I need to work on it. That said, the thing is massive and I keep expecting one day that I'm going to yank it over on top of me and end up in the Darwin awards (though I already have kids, so I guess it's too late for Darwin).


I've been looking for some sort of handles that I could attach to the front of it to give me a bit better grip. Ideally, these would be handles that I can attach to the standard 10-32 equipment rack holes, either with bolts from the back of the rail and out into the handle, or with through-holes in the handle that mount into the rack.


Has anyone ever seen/used anything like this? The rack is Middle Atlantic, and standard 5/8 - 5/8 - 1/2 spacing of 10-32 machine screw holes. Middle Atlantic makes a handle, which they classify as sub-part number 500-00241. It looks like the right idea, but as far as I've been able to find, it's not sold on its own, only as part of a complete rack system. It looks like this:

Any ideas on a good pair of handles to use to be able to pull the rack around? Thanks!


--Jason

 

[jamis]

You might be able to find some cabinet handles at Home Depot or Lowes that could work. The trick would be making sure the holes on the rail line up with the screw hole on the handles.

 

[BIGmouthinDC]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jamis /forum/post/15513662


You might be able to find some cabinet handles at Home Depot or Lowes that could work. The trick would be making sure the holes on the rail line up with the screw hole on the handles.

That is a fairly standard cabinet pull. I would just grab one in the size and finish you like then line up one hole with an existing hole and drill one for the other end.

Think I would put a washer on the screw head side to prevent a pull-out.


You may need to buy some shorter screws because the ones that come with anticipate a 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick cabinet door.

 

[ttby58b]

I've had success at this site for various types of handles maybe you will too.
http://www.thehardwarehut.com/

 

[BIGmouthinDC]



8 3/4 inches long

$5 pair at IKEA


Buy online:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50038543

 

[jbsjbs]

I should have mentioned I'm a huge fan of an industrial supply company called McMaster-Carr (www dot mcmaster dot com). They carry every imaginable part and do, in fact, have handles in 150 different sizes. But because racks rails are spaced oddly (5/8 - 5/8 - 1/2) instead of, say, every half inch, there are only certain whole-inch options available (3" 7" and 10" for example) It limits the option of mounting standard cabinet pulls without drilling new holes in the rail. Since I have a lot of equipment already mounted in the rack that I can't take out, I was hoping to avoid creating too much steel dust (and new holes in the rack).


I thought for sure this was going to be an easy item to find, but it sounds like I will end up needing to adapt something from cabinetry.


I got excited about the Ikea option because it was 8 3/4 which is 5RU, but that's the overall size. The hole spacing is actually 8 13/16.


Any other ideas I'm all ears. Otherwise I'll start figuring out where best to drill . . .


Thanks, everyone!


--Jason