I'm in the process of rearranging my equipment, and part of this is putting together some stands to hold things more efficiently. I'm mostly working in wood because it's easily and cheaply available and easy to work with if you're careful about what bracing you expect of it.
I've got a couple of these desktop racks which are designed for close to floor-level installation, and are angled as a result. This is fine if you're above them, but once they're on a table behind a keyboard the slope is actively irritating. I've built this simple stand to get the rack almost vertical. It's too high right now, but I'm about to replace the table behind it with a set of lower metal shelving that will compensate for it.
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A few of my synths are desktop units that either aren't or can't be put into a rack. These shelves will hold two desktop units, the suitcase converted Juno 106, and something else, yet to be determined. The picture on the left shows the stand out on my balcony until the glue dries. On the right, it has been moved inside and tested. In the background is the box of the cheap metal shelving that is going to form the base of the racks.
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Here are the assembly steps. The base is formed of some cheap metal shelving. I've discovered a way to hold those damn plastic feet on: hot-melt glue. The black shape on the left is the rack of gear balanced precariously waiting for shelf to sit on. After the metal base, we add the synth bases described above. Those will eventually be bolted to the base for stability. Finally, add some synths.
This is the first prototype installation. When I'm sure that everything is holding together and that I don't need any extra strength or shelves, I'll stain everything black and add some panels to the metal shelves to hold them more solidly.
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| I've turned all the synths on, they all seem happy in their new home. The rack is now secured into the base with honking great cable ties through some conveniently drilled holes, so I feel pretty confident it won't be going anywhere. | |
This is the final step, everything is far neater, I have access to everything while using the DX7 as my master keyboard, and I even get some sensible storage space underneath. The cable need to be neatened up, and I don't have enough length to get MIDI and audio to the Evolver but there's a pair of 6m stereo audio cables and some 20' MIDI runs in a bagunder my desk just waiting to be installed.
One downside is that the cables to the synths on the right of this rack (currently just the MS2000) are lying on the floor, since they used to be suspended from the bottom of the electronics desk that has gone. I'll clean those up next week once I figure out where the MS2k is going to live.
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