Penn-Elcom R0828/04 Rack Rail Pair 4U

These rails come in a satin gloss black, teflon-based paint, your 10/32 scews will go into them smoothly with no cross threading. I used Raxxas screws for mine.I like the fact the RU's are shown with slight indentations all along the rails, making it a little easier to count where you want to be. Usually I count my RU's between each set of holes set closer together to each other on the rail. But the indents make it a little easier, and they're not too noticeable when you stand back from the finished product.I cut my rack panels out of 20" wide finished pine board I got at Lowes and slapped these rails in the two cabinets I built (I bought 4 of these rails). The entire buildout only took me about an hour.You'll be glad to know there is no "Left" and "Right" rail like there is with some brands who start with an odd, unusable screw hole at the top or bottom of the rail, forcing you to buy a matched set of LR rails. These rails have no such limitation, they start at 1 RU on any rail you pick out. When you install them, you can't go wrong as long as you keep them level. I placed mine all the way to the top of the cabinet and they turned out perfect.One word of caution when building your own boxes... I learned this long ago when building my own cabinets for the first time, the actual distance from wall to wall of the inside of you cabinets should be 19 1/8". This makes the screw holes on any rack rail line up perfectly for the vast majority of equipment's rack ears. Also, if using server-class rackmount computer cases, make the rails flush with the front of you cabinet. A lot of server case rack ears don't comply with exacting 19" on the center-of-the-hole standards, so if you need to hang over a bit, you can. If you inset them an 1/8 of an inch (which is normal) you won't be able to use a server style rack case. Not all rackmount computer cases do this, but some do.I read in some other reviews that their rails were delivered bent. I suppose that could happen in shipping with longer rails, but I didn't have that experience with the 3 footers. Mine came out straight, just fine. The vendor would have been better off shipping them in a tube, though, instead of a box, the box was huge for such small rails and they have to put a lot of stuffing in the box to keep these from moving around. A shipping tube would have simplified their task a lot.

I hesitated to buy this rack rails, as some users have complained about their lack of precision. To be honest I thought they were terrible when I installed them, as they are built to hold rack gear in a specific position. They have some marks where you can put the top part of your gear, but if you decide to skip a hole and start installing the gear below that... then you're in trouble! If, by any reason, you need to skip holes - I've made it every time I install amplifiers or hard drives, where heat can be a problem - then you may need to adjust a little, and not to expect every gear to fit perfectly. Otherwise, if you follow the spaces provided, they are great! And by the way, very affordable!

I like how each RU is marked with a subtle notch, as opposed to white lines and numbers

These seem like as good quality as the other brand I’ve bought before. However I docked one star for not actually being tapped for 10-32 screws as stated. The pair I received are tapped for M5 metric screws. M5 fits perfectly but 10-32 screws are sloppy, which could eventually be a stripping problem. I have both sizes so not a problem for me, just be warned.

The rail is quite sturdy. Although there was a bit of confusion about the order, it showed the excellent customer service support. Seller went above and beyond to ensure our satisfaction.

these work great but if you work with rack gear order a lot more than you think you'll need, maybe twice as much.

Made well and from good materials. Bolt holes drilled and spaced correctly and no issues mounting to them using standard rack screws.

Ordered two different sets of these. Sturdy, well-made rack rails. Screw holes weren't overly powdered, everything has attached perfectly, the first time.