Rack Question

[olds]

I am looking at getting an enclosed rack to hold a few components. My questions is about sliding shelves. If I get a sliding shelf to hold an item that is 1 ru, does the shelf take up an ru for a total of 2 ru?

TIA

 

[XavierMace]

Depends on the shelf, but generally yes.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Especially if it's a sliding shelf, as there will be 1u rails involved.

If it's just a shelf, maybe not.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Depends on the shelf, if you look at a basic shelf like this:

It takes up 1U, but that 1U is space that is used to hold items, and not wasted. But something like this, "wastes" 1U of space that is not usable to hold items:

 

[olds]

Thanks folks, I am looking at the second image the squirrel posted.
2 ru it is.

 

[sdifox]

get the sliding ones. nothing is more lethal than a shelf that sticks out of a rack

 

[rchunter]

Yeah I don't really like those shelves that are only supported by 2 posts. You can't really put a lot of weight on them.
In my rack I have a big fixed shelf that's bolted in to all 4 posts and I keep a 5 bay synology on plus my router.

 

[Red Squirrel]

They are ok for small things like modems and other stuff of that nature that's not rackmount, but yeah if you want to support a whole server or a bunch of desktop towers or something then go with the 4 post shelves.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I use the 2 post trays all the time in my home rack. 1 holds up my TV Tuner, Charter SDV adapter, and my lab ASA 5505. I have 2 other 2 post shelves that I mount a cable pass-through with and use them as make-shift cable trays for running cable between switch pairs and holding excess.

Like mentioned, for light stuff, they're cheap and effective.

 

[rchunter]

They are ok for small things like modems and other stuff of that nature that's not rackmount, but yeah if you want to support a whole server or a bunch of desktop towers or something then go with the 4 post shelves.

Yeah, I suppose they are ok for smaller items however I pulled the one I had out of my rack.
1. the shelf was too small for what I needed.
2. I didn't really trust it to hold the weight of even my 5 bay NAS. I suppose it probably would have but I didn't want to risk it....

 

[ch33zw1z]

I wouldn't trust a 2 post shelf with a 5bay Nas either, too much money, time, and data on the line.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I wouldn't trust a 2 post shelf with a 5bay Nas either, too much money, time, and data on the line.

A standard depth (13") 1U rack Shelf of appropriate quality from APC, Rack Solutions, or the like can hold over 50 pounds, which is more than enough for a typical 5 Bay NAS. If you take advantage of the height and get a 2U or 3U cantilever shelf, you can easily do 150 pounds. At that point, a full shelf is nice just to make sure you don't topple the thing off the shelf if you were ever doing maintenance, but compromising the shelf itself is not going to happen unless you got one of those 18 or 20 gauge Steel eBay specials.