Portable Rack Cabinets

This project has two goals.  1) The ability to take some modules on the road, 2) More expansion space for the modular studio.  The cabinets are EWI Tourcase Model R10UE-10 (thanks for the tip, Ivan).

These are nice, strong cases that hold 20U width of MOTM modules.  I outfitted them with Synthesis Technology MOTM-19A mounting rails.  One of the cabinets has a Power One HAA15-0.8-AG +/-15 volt supply, and the other a Power One HTAA-16W-A triple voltage supply with +5V.  These use MOTM-960 and MOTM-990 power distribution boards, respectively.

The depth worked out nicely, with plenty of room in front of the supply for normal MOTM modules.  There’s even enough clearance for a Stooge 3-pot long bracket (below).

I built the power supplies into aluminum box enclosures for safety, so that no 120V AC wiring is exposed.  The box and cover are Digi-Key parts 377-1028-ND and 377-1047-ND.  I found a combination AC inlet, power switch and fuse, Schurter IEC320 AC I, (Mouser 693-4304.6090) for $9.00.  It takes the same type of fuses as the MOTM-900/950 (Littlefuse 0239.800HXP for USA), but fuses both sides of the AC line so you need two.  The enclosure is mounted on a 3U high blank aluminum rack panel.  The whole unit is just another rack-mountable item.  It’s essential to use an aluminum panel, not steel, because of the machining required to cut the large rectangular hole for the power connector.  I drilled 20 small holes in the enclosure to allow some ventilation, and the whole box being fastened to a big panel also provides conductive heat dissipation, which I hope will be sufficient.  On the HAA15 supply the jumpers labeled VW1 and VW2 near the output terminals have to be cut to change from +/-12 to +/-15 volts (thanks to Paul Schreiber for this tip).

9 Responses to Portable Rack Cabinets

  1. jfm3 says:

    If you get a chance, can you post pictures of how these stack, and how they fit together sideways?

  2. Richard says:

    The cabinets have sturdy feet and one can stack on top of the other easily. Side-to-side their handles bump first. But they can sit close.

  3. loopcycle says:

    nice work. those cases look fantastic–where did you order those from? thanks!

  4. Richard says:

    These are EWI Tourcase Racks from Audiopile Pro Audio. The audiopile link above on R10UE-10 is broken at the moment. Try Googling.

  5. loopcycle says:

    i picked up a tourcase R12UE-10 for my euro system and it looks fantastic (and its built great). now i need a couple more. thanks for providing the info.

  6. John L Rice says:

    Thanks again for this page, Richard! So far I’ve purchased 4 EWI cases! The quality is amazing for the price! (there are a few minor inconsistancies but nothing critical) The two 12u 10″ deep cases I got are for my rapidly growing MOTM, the 10U 10″ i got holds a Korg MS2000+Novation Supernova+Yamaha TX81Z+power strip, and the big 12u 14″ deeep case holds a Yamaha RM1X on a sliding shelf+Roland Fantom XR+Roland RPS550+Alesis DM5+Digitech VR harmonizer+Rolls stereo line mixer+MOTU MTPAV+light unit+patchbay! (I can barely lift that one! 😉 And. . . in the not too distant future I plan on getting two more 10u 10″ deep cases to hold various sequencers and switches etc! (but then that’s really it! no more after that!!!! 😉

    And your power supply tips were really helpful too.

    There are come pictures posted on the Yahoo MOTM site for anyone interested.

  7. John L Rice says:

    Hi Richard,

    I finally made a video of how I’ve been making my power supplies over the years, and they are still closely based on what you shared here! 🙂 I mentioned you near the end of the video and put a link in the description text to this page. Here’s the video link https://youtu.be/fj_3armQwsg

    Thanks again! 🙂
    John L Rice

  8. Richard says:

    Great video, John! Thanks for commenting here and mentioning me in the video.

  9. John L Rice says:

    My pleasure, Richard! 🙂

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