Hack-a-Rack

[sKiZo]

The victim:

Nice eq ... works great, but wouldn't fit in my home stereo cabinet. I always figured, if it won't fit, MAKE it fit! Cut the ears off the faceplate for a standard 18" width and cleaned up the edges with a file and a bit of black paint. The case was real easy - nice sharp bends on the mounting tabs, so a few bends back and forth with pliers and they snapped right off. Filed off the sharp ends on those is all.

The result:

Now the hard part ... DeOx'ing 66 sliders.

 

[vintageboy]

Well now you made it fit

 

[just dave]

Nice job,and remember if brute force doesn't work,your not using enough!

 

[sKiZo]

My sentiments exactly - if at first you don't succeed ... get a bigger hammer.

Something else I was playing around with ... yah, I know ... slow day. <G>

Sliced up some strips of metal duct tape and added those to the ends to dress them up a bit. Built up about 10 layers for depth, then just made the top strip wide enough to roll over all the edges.

Almost looks like a real factory trim panel. Also a good match for the McIntosh amp that will sit just below it. The Yamaha will be replacing the BSR eq ...

Do a bit of metal polish tomorrow, slap it together, and good to go!

 

[cfinchrist]

Nice work.

 

[sKiZo]

A few finishing touches ... the EQ is a pro rack unit and had about a hundred foot of heavy duty power cord I didn't really need. Chopped that off and replaced it with a standard 18 gauge three pin from an old computer power supply.

Alas, an EQ is one helluva signal path, and this one had the extra XLR and transformer jacks on the back just waiting to leak RF. Yet another use for the metal tape. I did layer the jacks with black tape first so I wouldn't short any pins. Not saying RF would have been a problem, but ... as they say ... just sayin' ... Also a whole bunch cheaper than cardas caps for unused RCAs. Speaking of which ... also a legacy of "pro rack" ... the quarter inch plugs got some shiny new RCA adapters.

Oh. And I added some feet.

I now pronounce it ready to rock!