One type of case that has become a mainstay in the sound, lighting & music business, and the scientific & military communities, is the rack case. Rack mountable equipment is designed with or without an outer casing and has an industry-standard width faceplate designed to be mounted between rails. The purpose of this design is to allow mixing and matching of components to suit virtually any user requirement. For example, you might have a number of amplifiers that you want to house in the same enclosure along with signal processors, power conditioners or other related components. With rackmounts you can combine all of these in one convenient package. When the time comes to upgrade or change your configuration you simply unbolt the old hardware and bolt in the new.

Rack heights are measured in "spaces", a unit of measure equal to 1 3/4". One space is termed "1u". The width of the rack (between the rails) is an industry standard 18 3/8" mounting hole center to mounting hole center. The only other measurement of any consequence is the rackable depth, the necessary distance from the front to the rear of the equipment. Knowing the rackable depth and the number of spaces required allows you to easily specify the case that most precisely fits your requirements.

At Engineered Case Manufacturers we've taken rack design to new heights. Our ability to fabricate custom parts and components means that we can offer you sophisticated refinements that are unavailable anywhere else. Take our shockmount racks for example. For equipment that is sensitive to shock or vibration it is necessary to isolate the equipment from the case shell. We do this by creating a custom inner sleeve that holds your rackmount equipment, and is mechanically isolated from the outer shell. The isolating system can be as simple as a foam lining or as sophisticated as a series of strategically placed elastomeric isolators. The inner sleeve is typically of plywood or laminate construction, from other case manufacturers at least.

At Engineered Case Manufacturers our standard inner sleeve is constructed from 1/8" 5052 aluminum sheet. For the ultimate in shockmounts we use 6061 T6 structural aluminum tubing. Both designs are more rigid, and provide better protection for your valuable equipment than standard shockmount racks.

All of our rackmount cases can be equipped with handles, latches, ventilating panels, fans, stacking hardware, fixed or removable caster boards, even drawers. The possibilities are endless. Call or e-mail us with your equipment specs. We'll design a rackmount case that's tailor-made for your application.