[Boatanchors] 19" Cabinet Mounting Question

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

Cage nuts fit square holes and are made for various ranges of panel 
thickness.  They install from the back side of the panel.  My 40 KW Onan uses a 
zillion of them.  From the way in which you described the holes in your cabinet 
I think they are round.  The fitting you need clips on over the edge of the 
panel, and J-nuts is one name for them.  They are made for both sheetmetal 
screw threads and machine screw threads.  One place to look is McMaster.com. 
 But I've never bought any so there's no telling what they call them.  I 
would start by searching for "nut" and look at the photos.

In a message dated 12/12/2010 5:35:43 PM Central Standard Time, 
anchor at ec.rr.com writes: 
> Hi Folks,
>     Yes, these are better than the J-nut or speed-nuts, and you get a real 
> 
> nut with several threads to engage, a desirable attribute if you're rack 
> mounting.  I have some of them, but often they're too "closely coupled" 
> and there's too much metal in the cabinet or rack mount between the hole 
> and the edge of the lip.
> 73,
> Al, W8UT
> www.boatanchors.org
> www.hammarlund.info
> 
> "There is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- half so much
> worth doing as simply messing about in boats"
> Ratty, to Mole
> 
> On 12/12/2010 5:33 PM, Dennis pharr wrote:
> >Greg:
> >
> >What you need are called Cage-Nuts.  These clip onto the existing
> >non-threaded hole in the rack rail and provide a 10-32 nut behind to 
> capture
> >the screw.  You can do a Google search and find a lot of sources for 
> these -
> >one is below.  You might be able to find them at a well-stocked local
> >hardware store as well, but it's doubtful since they are somewhat of a
> >specialty item.
> >
> >http://www.rackmountsolutions.net/Rackmount_Screws_Hardware.asp
> >
> >73
> >Dennis
> >WD5JWY
> >
> >
> >On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 4:19 PM, Greg Roecker<n4osj at bellsouth.net>  
> wrote:
> >
> >>Hello to the group,
> >>
> >>I have obtained a very nice 19” cabinet for my R-390A.  The cabinet has 
> a
> >>recessed lip on either side of the cabinet that runs down both sides 
> behind
> >>the front panel of my R-390A.  The holes in the lip are NOT threaded - 
> and
> >>are larger than a standard mounting screw - so I can not simply attach a
> >>screw through the front panel into threads on the lip behind it.
> >>
> >>Anyone have any suggestions or ideas on how to secure the front panel to
> >>the
> >>cabinet?
> >>
> >>Thanks, and 73,
> >>
> >>Greg/n4osj
> 

Robert & Susan Downs - Houston
wa5cab dot com (Web Store)
MVPA 9480