Hi,

i'm looking for a good / cheap place to get rackmount accessories like rack shelves, panels and rack rails.
i want to build a custom rack enclosure. I would like to hear ideas and suggestion from any of the talented people who post or lurk here.

Thanks in advance,

Warren

Middle Atlantic makes the best racks and accessories - thier website is www.middleatlantic.com although unless you are a factory direct dealer you will never get the last column price therefore Bitronics now known as BTX carries their full line. Also ADI carries their line. I suggest you surf Middle atlantic's website, write down the part numbers and accessories you want then call BTX or ADI for a quote and these are probaly the best prices you will get.
PS - that's how I order my racks and accessories.

PartsExpress carries alot of Middle Atlantic's products at great prices. I bought every piece of MA equipment in my house (4 slim 5 racks, and tons of smaller pieces like shelves, cable lacing bars, blank panels, connector panels....you name it) from them. Check them and their prices out, at www.partsexpress.com

First off Middle Atlantic is hands down THE product you WANT to spend your money on. I purchased all of mine from a local electrical contractor supply house ~ I was already buying conduit and other stuff when I spotted a skinny ol' M.A. catalog between a bunch of other books. Turned out they were a dealer and the counter guy told me he could order anything. They had only sold M.A.'s data products and were hot to sell audio rack parts. They ended up beating every price I could find on the web, or over the counter in Burbank or North Hollywood.

Maybe you'll have better luck with the references above, but you could at least give your local supplier a holler and see if he's a dealer.

Dear Sheik,
thank you, finally, for a serious comment.

How's Howard at Electronic City? Or is that Pacific? and who are you talking about in North Hollywood?

Ernie

Allow me to thank you, (hopefully not finally), for reading a post wherein I made a serious comment.

Electronic City? I always feel like the geek shopping next to me in the weird short-sleeved madras plaid "Ex-Lockheed employee's shirt" is either a bomb builder or he installs CCTV cameras in bidets.

Pacific Radio? The not so well-hidden, yet (for some) secretive location behind the infamous Fry's. You probably WOULD'NT be surprised at how many people I overheard in the aisles at Fry's looking for Telco racks and cable management accessories whom I diverted around the corner to Pacific. (Before I swore off of Fry's.)

The guy in North Hollywood was not a real M.A. distributor, he was just a musician's supply guy who was trying to be all things to all people = didn't pan out. A manager at another music store also offered to get M.A. stock too, but getting quotes was tough and indications were that the supply chain was going to be slow.