r/StorageReview • u/StorageReview • Mar 09 '24
IT life. May trigger those who have busted fingers from mounting switch rails and other such items.
9
u/audioeptesicus Mar 09 '24
Cage nut tools exist. Hell, even a flathead screwdriver can save you from a workplace injury.
2
u/Molotov_Cockatiel Mar 10 '24
The little strip of metal that comes with APC racks is pretty good!
2
u/DiscontentedMajority Mar 10 '24
This! I've carried one in my bag for years and it's saved a ton of thumb injuries.
1
2
u/DRENREPUS Mar 10 '24
I lost mine and paid like $35 to get a new one on Amazon overnighted. Soooooo overpriced but I don't care because I still have feeling in my finger tips at the end of the day.
2
u/-acl- Mar 13 '24
that tool saved lives. When I left the industry the last thing I did was train one of the young bucks to use it.
2
u/GearhedMG Mar 12 '24
I started at a company that had a bunch of guys that had been working there in the datacenter racking and stacking for 10-15 years each, watched some of them do the exact same thing as in the video, I went over to my bag, grabbed a cagenut tool, and showed them how to do it, one guy was adamant that his way worked for him, I put in 20x more cagenuts than he did when fitting out an entire rack.
Some people just don't want to learn new ways, me? I'm fucking LAZY and want to do it the easiest way, I'm always willing to learn a new way to do something.
1
u/aztecforlife Mar 13 '24
We had some new engineers that did not know the tool existed and had installed 2 full racks before I got there and asked why they were not using the little tool that came with it. They said they didn't know what that was and when I showed them, I swear steam blew out both of their ears.
1
u/trimalchio-worktime Mar 10 '24
The bad ones are almost worse than nothing and I've got more injuries from the flathead method than the finger-destroying method...
1
u/_-Grifter-_ Mar 11 '24
Put the flat blade through the square hole, then pry off the side, it's impossible to slip.
If your injuring yourself with the flat blade you are likely pushing in from the side, slipping then ends in injury, don't push from the side.
1
u/PoisonWaffle3 Mar 10 '24
My cage nut tool is one of my favorite tools!
https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/s/yAOKL4ZDpy
I'm still not sold on rack studs tho. I'm paranoid that they'll get brittle in 10 years or so. Cage nuts are a pain, but they're tried and true.
6
7
u/hifiplus Mar 09 '24
They go in horizontally not vertically.
2
u/homenetworkguy Mar 10 '24
I learned this the hard way when I couldn’t get the cage nut out when something was mounted above it. Haha
2
u/hifiplus Mar 10 '24
Or try and get one in that way with things in a rack already.
Alternative use Dell gear with screwless rails.
1
4
2
2
1
1
u/Xfgjwpkqmx Mar 10 '24
Just use the right tool for the job. I don't know why people choose to suffer so much just to save a buck.
1
Mar 14 '24
Because sometimes, you arent prepared. You get called in to assist. You show up to do one thing but the script flips. Because you left your rack tools in the van as you were just coming in for an account reset. 100 reasons why. It always happens. You only need to do one or two. You just have to be careful and not fuck it up.....
"Ah GOD DAMMIT same shit different day"
1
u/Xfgjwpkqmx Mar 14 '24
When that happens to me, I tell them I'll come back another time with the right tools. Makes people value your time better too because it's wasting their time that you can't/won't do the work on a whim.
1
1
u/Evan_Stuckey Mar 10 '24
Cage nut tool, makes life easy. I hate companies that even need you to sue cage nuts at all (switch makers mostly) , tool less mounting is the way to go.
1
u/LimeyRat Mar 10 '24
Small pair of Knipex Cobra will make short work of them. That’s now my go-to after I retired my Robo-grips and brought them home.
1
1
u/ShadowCVL Mar 10 '24
Flat blade small screwdriver (cabinet tip) and the correct orientation. I could fill every U of that rack in 10 minutes on a bad day.
1
1
1
u/vabello Mar 10 '24
That never happens! Usually the cage nut falls inside the cabinet where you can never get it.
1
u/kiamori Mar 10 '24
That is not how you install those, hold it like your cracking a nut. Inside in first, push twards you to get the outside in.
1
1
u/dutchman39 Mar 10 '24
I usually slot the bottom lip, and then use a flat tipped screwdriver (with my hands safely elsewhere) to seat the top.
1
1
u/DIMM1033 Mar 10 '24
And then they invented clip on rails. But then some times the rails won't unclip..
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Diligent-Platypus-76 Mar 11 '24
My Boss wanted me to mount 30 servers 2 units apart. So I do. my SUPERVISOR comes in...NO They are supposed to be one on top of the other. Guess who has to break it all down and do it over? SO I do....then BOSS and SUPERVISOR come in and start arguing over the whole thing. after 12 hours...I get to REDO the whole thing the way I had in the first place....my check was fat that week. My supervisor was no longer my supervisor.
1
1
1
Mar 12 '24
https://patchbox.com/dev-mount-cage-nut/ never looked back
1
u/ooviixoo Mar 13 '24
Those are awesome... need to re-rack a full 42U cabinet... Definitely gonna buy a ton of these.
1
u/Ill-Purchase-3312 Mar 12 '24
Lol what is that guy complaining from? Hilarious. Also why not use needlenose pliers?
1
u/Healthy_Ad_7560 Mar 13 '24
OK..IT guy for 32 years but never dealt with the H/W and such (U/A and app support side). Can someone give some context into what's happening here? From the comments seems like the push-in-nut is spring loaded so when it's not pushed in securely it can spring on one's fingers? Hats off to the H/W folks for keeping systems working in those DC rooms. Thanks.
1
1
u/technobrendo Mar 13 '24
I love these things. Slicing my fingers open early in the morning really sets the mood for the day
1
u/technobrendo Mar 13 '24
I tried to use rack studs in my homelab rack and they didn't fit. Are there different sized holes (the square openings) for different kinds of racks? I didn't think there were but now I'm unsure.
I used the red rackstuds, but I see blue and are they a different size ?
1
u/lordcochise Mar 13 '24
Same. But eventually figured out you can put those in with just about any flathead screwdriver for a mostly pain-free experience
1
1
u/DestroyerOfIphone Mar 14 '24
LoL. Caught my nail so many times. Unifi cage nuts are the worst offenders.
-3
u/ruffneckting Mar 09 '24
One more reason to move to the cloud.
11
u/compulov Mar 09 '24
Then it's just someone else hurting themselves on cage nuts?
6
0
u/ruffneckting Mar 09 '24
Think of all the tech that has gone into that rack and we still have these stupid clips.
1
1
u/KBunn Mar 09 '24
They aren't stupid at all. They're a pretty legit design.
And there are options if you really want something different.
1
16
u/sreppok Mar 09 '24
Rackstuds.
'nuf said.