what are these old style rack slide out rails called?

[WastelandTek]

I see these on lots of older rackmount gear, but I have never seen the rack parts they are supposed to interface with.

My Google-fu is failing me, surely somebody here knows the nomenclature for these parts.

[Vgkid]

Are they sliding rack rails/ rack slides.

[WastelandTek]

Are they sliding rack rails/ rack slides.

when I google that I get hundreds of hits of modern slide systems, not these

[TerraHertz]

I don't know who made them, or if they are even made any more. They were commonly used for Tek rackmount scopes and other gear, and are excellent. They allow the equipment to be slid a LONG way beyond the front of the rack, so you can easily get at the back connectors.
There's a safety stop at the fully extended position (1st pic), that is released by pressing a button on each rail. To re-mount the equipment, just align the rail ends and slide it in - the end stops are bypassed when inserting the rails. And the rails are hardened steel, with some kind of tough low friction coating. Very strong.

Fortunately some of the R7903 scopes I have, came with the complete slide sets. But only because I was the one who removed them from the original racks. I've _never_ seen any ebay seller or whatever selling equipment with the complete slide set still attached.
Which is just criminal laziness and stupidity in my view. Being too slack to undo a few more screws, and so ruining the utility of rackount gear. Culprits should be shot.

Edit: Arrgh. There's a manufacturer's label, but it's the closest to totally unreadable I've ever seen. Reflective foil, with fail green ink, tiny print. Absolutely cannot read it by eye. I'm trying to get a readable photo, without much luck. Give me a minute. The biggest text says "CHASSIS TRAK".

Edit2: OMG. If these people went out of business, it was because no one could read their damned product labels. Added a photo, that took extreme measures and many failures to obtain.
"Chassis trak. A division of General Devices Co, Inc. PO Box 39100-Indianapolis, In 46239 - Phone (317) 897-7000."

Anyway, photos:

[Vgkid]

@ Thz that helps.
Look here:
http://catalog.generaldevices.com/category/solid-bearing-slides
Or more generally here:
https://www.generaldevices.com/products/

[WastelandTek]

Thanks for the help Vgkid, but I'm not seeing the same stuff, the C-300 rev C slide might mate with it, hard to say.

Yeah THz, glad its not just me that has never seen the rack side parts for sale

edit/  OK, seeing the new pic, thanks so much THz, perhaps the thing to do is contact this outfit...though they will probably only sell whole sets.  Still, seeing what they do I simply must have them  /edit

[Halcyon]

Rack rails are mostly manufacturer and model/product specific. There are countless different types. Even among my Dell servers at home, there are 3 different types of rack kits between different PowerEdge models.

You'd be better off going back to the equipment manufacturer to see if the rack kits/rails are still available. You can buy several "universal" rack rail kits which might be a suitable replacement for the OEM kit.

[TerraHertz]

I added a photo of the label, and the details. See above.

In fitting with the general illegibility of the label, there is no model number. Maybe they only made one type?

Halcyon, the OP is asking about rails used on Tek gear (his photo looks like Tek stuff) from the 60s through 80s. So far as I know they only used one slide rail type. His pic is the exact same type as mine, and as you'll see half-a-rail of on almost all 2nd hand Tek gear from that era.

Tek typically used spot-welded stud screws on the rackmount gear, to mount those rails. So they would not be lightly changing to different ones.

[WastelandTek]

I left a link to this thread in their "contact us" form...not holding my breath but who knows.

If they can deliver rack side assemblies at a reasonable price I will standardize on these.

[WastelandTek]

Well, color me impressed

The slide shown in your pictures is a C-300-B-4-XX slide assembly (XX = length of the stationary section) with an optional B-308 rear extension bracket.  The C-300-B series slides can still be manufactured however they are not a stocked item.  If you look at the attached information from an old catalog you will see that this slide was designed to be use as a pivoting assembly but it was not used that way.

I've also attached information for our C-300-S series slides which would be a better choice for a non-pivoting style slide.

We also offer many other "Solid Bearing" and "Ball Bearing" style slide assemblies for rack mounted equipment and you can find information for all of our products on our website www.generaldevices.com

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,

David

 

David W. Willis

Manager Field Applications Engineering

General Devices Co., Inc.

Indianapolis, IN 46239

 

TEL: 317-715-5375

FAX: 317-898-2917

looks like surplus sales might have them

https://www.surplussales.com/Cab-RacksHardware/ChassisSlides.html

[TerraHertz]

"C-300-B Solid Bearing Slides.pdf "

That's them all right.

General Devices certainly are marketing geniuses. Quoting from that data sheet:
"Finish: All standard slides are coated with Poxylube(r) dry film lubricant."

Poxylube.    Um... does that sound as bad to Americans as it does to an Aussie?

[SeanB]

Short for Polymer oxide solid lubricant perhaps, otherwise known as the generic powder coat plastic finish.

[Brumby]

Whatever it's short for - it still comes out as "Poxy".

Not a positive inference.....

[Brumby]

The ability to slide out past the full length, is a feature also available on ordinary drawer runners - just look for "Over Extension" in the description.  I bought a few many years ago to be used in a media storage system - for video tapes and CDs.

Kinda glad I didn't finish building it.

[Red Squirrel]

One thing I typically go with is "universal" type rails, they are basically L shaped and you install them where the L forms a channel on both sides, then the rackmount case just sits on top of it and is bolted in.  Downside is it's not as handy as the drawer style rails, but they are universal which is nice.  I find that lot of cheap rackmount cases don't even come with rails so it's easier to use those universal ones than to try to figure out and chase the rails I need for a particular case.  I wish they would standardize this more instead of making it a guessing game.

[WastelandTek]

I wish they would standardize this more instead of making it a guessing game.

EIA/ECA-310 (RS-310) is woefully incomplete IMO