How do you handle half-width rack items? - D-Tools Forum

Jack Frost · 08-10-2010, 07:43 PM

I have some items that are rack mountable but only half rack-width. These usually have an adapter rail to attach two together and then are full rack width but in DT these do not snap to the rack correctly. They snap, but only if they are centered in the rack (i.e a half-width device takes up the whole rack space).

I'd like to put them in as they go in the real world and have them snap to the rack so I'm wondering how others are handling this.

thanks,
J.

**Dave Kirn** · 08-10-2010, 11:57 PM

We use a blank rack plate and then just place the items on top of the blank rack plate

Jack Frost · 08-12-2010, 01:53 AM

Thanks for the reply Dave but how does that get the items to snap to the rack? Or is that just for the aesthetic of covering the rack rails/screws?

I was hoping for a solution that snaps the devices into place.

Thx,
J.

**Dave Kirn** · 08-12-2010, 03:37 PM

It is not a perfect solution to what you are wanting - to get it exactly to what you are looking for you would need to create a custom shape and edit the Shape Sheet Properties.

I was just giving you a simple work around that we use.

Jack Frost · 08-15-2010, 05:40 PM

Thanks Dave, I appreciate the response.

I don't have any experience creating shapes from scratch but I do have some experience mod'ing them.

Any ideas where to start/what params I should be examining to achieve this. And I'm pretty sure I'd need two mod'ed shapes, one for left and one for right. Agreed?

Thanks again,
J.

**Dave Kirn** · 08-15-2010, 05:45 PM

The problem that you are going to run into is the "snap" feature. I don't know of a way to make a shape that is actually not rack width snap into a rack. There might be some type of workaround but my brain is not coming up with anything right now.

**Dave Kirn** · 08-15-2010, 05:49 PM

Actually you might be able to do it if you list the width of the item as a standard rack width, but when you create the actual stencil only make the the correct size. In theory your stencil should then be the correct width with just a blank space on either the right or left (depending on how you created it)

SenoS · 08-17-2010, 04:37 PM

Yes, in order to accomplish this you would need two modified shapes as Jack Frost suggested. All of our Elevation shapes have the connection point offset 9.5 inches from center (actually 9.5625 according to the ShapeSheet). To accomplish what you are trying to do:

1. Make two copies of the shape you wish to modify.
2. Double-click one the shapes to edit it.
3. Click on the shape to select it and then open the ShapeSheet.
4. In the "User-defined Cells" section, change the property "User.AttachHalfWidth" from 9.5625 to 4.75. (see attachment)
5. Save the modifications to the shape.
6. Repeat steps 2-5 but this time in step 4, change the value to 14.35.

This will give you two shapes that will snap appropriately to a rack for half-rack width devices (see attachment).

SenoS · 08-18-2010, 02:40 PM

More detailed instructions here.

**Dave Kirn** · 08-18-2010, 10:47 PM

Originally Posted by SenoS

More detailed instructions here.

Seth - Awesome post - the screenshots should really help people.