XL rack ears too wide???

mr_fender

Axe-Master
Not really a bug per se, but I recently bought an SKB standard 3 space rack and when I went to rack up the Axe, I noticed that it did not completely fit between the outer lip edges of the rack. I though maybe my rack was damaged in shipment or something, so I busted out the old tape measure and sure enough my Axe II XL is almost 1/8 inch over 19 inches across at the rack ears. I had to put one side in and push quite hard to get the other side to squeeze into the front of the rack in order to sit flush against the rack rails. In the process some of the powder coat paint on the rack ears chipped off the edge. My power conditioner fit in the rack above the Axe easily and had a little wiggle room to spare, and it measures almost exactly 19 inches wide. Has anyone else encountered this? Not a big deal since I got it in the rack ok, but I thought I'd mention it. Maybe I got some rack ears that are a tiny bit out of spec or something.
 
I just got an Axe-Fx 2, and had the same thing. The ears were too wide in a SKB 4U and a Gator 6U rack. These racks have held preamps, power amps, mixers, compressors, wirelesses, you name it.
I just took both ears down by about 1/32" with a bench grinder, hit them with some black rustolem. It fits now :).
 
The XL fits perfectly in my Gator rack, and also in my Anvil shock rack. I know that both SKB and Gator racks have issues fitting some gear with especially square corners on the rack ears, because the body of rack framing the rails has radiused corners; I've seen some examples where people carved out a bit of the plastic to allow the rack device to fit all the way into the corners.
 
My old SKB was too narrow all the way, not just corners. Gator fit OK. Seems I had to file the rack ears on a couple other pieces over the years.


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Here's the 4U rack I use:
SKB 4-Space ATA Rack Case | Musician's Friend

Like I said, I got it to fit. It didn't fit anywhere, even if I tried putting it in the middle 2U (in other words, leave 1U open above and below it). It was hitting on the rail part that is perpendicular to the screw holes, on both the Gator and SKB racks. A little shaving of the ears solved it quite easily enough for me, and it fits in the rack in any position now. I imagine rack ears aren't built to high tolerance. I was just kind of surprised that it didn't fit in the same spot I just pulled a QSC power amp out of :p
 
Rackmount standards specify front panel should be 19 inches or 482.6 mm wide. Some racks give a little more room for error, but ultimately my XL is a little out of spec. It's not a big deal since I still got it in the rack OK. I was just curious if others had the same issue or if mine was an isolated case. Given the mixed responses, seems there must be a bit of variation in the manufacturing tolerances for the Axe II XL cases or rack ears. It happens.
 
My XL was a super tight fit compared to the II it replaced in my Gator. Got it in, but it took some finessing.
 
My XL fits into my Gator GR2S no problem at all.

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