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I don’t think I could do this…

Originally published by "Dave" on 2004-07-14 10:27:00Z

… to a brand new G5!

At work we’re looking at installing a new archive server that will run on a shiny new Mac G5 (woohoo!) Since the server closet is getting a little crowded I was thinking that it would work nicely to put the thing in a rack. We could go with an xServe, but that costs a bit more than a standard G5 tower.

So I checked out the premier outfit for rackmounting Macs, Marathon Computer. Sure enough, they had a rack kit for the G5 – the G5 Horizontal Rackmount – but get this; you have to cut the G5’s handles off with a hacksaw!

Complete do-it-yourself instructions and tips are included in the G5 Horizontal Rackmount package, so you can tackle the job with confidence and end up with a great-looking rackmounted G5. (Take a preview of the installation instructions to find out what’s involved. It’s a 468K PDF download.)

The reason for this radical surgery is that the G5 with its handles is too wide to fit into a standard 19” rack, and since the handles and sides are one piece of aluminum they’ve got to be cut off. The installation instructions describe how to get the handles off with either a hand hacksaw or a power saw. As shocking as the line drawings of the deed being done are, the instructions aren’t without humor.

The ultimate power tool for cutting off your G5 handles would be a table saw equipped with a rip fence and a metal-cutting rotary blade. In which case, you need no advice from us.

(Well, of course, the ULTIMATE, ultimate tool would be a chainsaw. If you go this route, please take pictures to share!)

Very little clean-up should be needed, and you will be rewarded for your patience with a G5 that looks like it came from the factory without handles, ready for rackmounting.

If God meant for us to have G5’s without handles, they would come from the factory that way.

Comment by "Michael" on 2004-07-15 14:17:00Z
Yipe! "Look Honey, I got this beautiful new SUV at the dealership today. It's little bigger than our last car though, so I'm going to have to hack off the sidemirrors and the roof rack to get it in the garage." Isn't that going to make it a bit wobbly if you ever want to use it as a desktop again. Most of the G3's and G4's we used as server ended up back on someone's desk eventually. Good thing we kept the handles!
Comment by "Rollaway" on 2004-08-11 07:42:00Z
>Yipe! "Look Honey, I got this beautiful new SUV at the dealership today. It's little bigger than our last car though, so I'm going to have to hack off the sidemirrors and the roof rack to get it in the garage." Well, I guess it really depends on how strong your rackmount bias/need is... but a better analogy would be: "Look, Honey, I got this beautiful new SUV at the dealership today, but instead of wheels it has propellors on its axles. I think I'll cut the propellors off and add wheels and rubber tires instead..." It is, after all, the end user who decides WHY he or she buys a computer and who decides what the computer is going to be used for -- indeed, WHY it is useful in the first place. If the use requires that it be rackmounted, and the only way to do this is to make modifications to the case, then the modifications would seem, to this humble geek, to be justified... and the judgement upon them, after the fact, to be based solely on elegance of execution. As far as putting it back on someone's desk eventually... well, isn't that why the Good Lord gave us rubber bump-ons? :-) Or, better yet... I think if I had moxie enough to cut off the handles in the first place, I'd come up with some really cool replacement for them, should the day arise. (That having been said, I think Apple's case is already mui elegant, and, personally, I have not the need to go acutting of the handles... but I can understand why some folks would want to.)
Comment by "Geof Day" on 2008-11-15 12:08:00Z
no reason to use the hacksaw with the Isobox.
Comment by "Studio Racks by Sound Construction Supply, Nashville" on 2012-01-04 15:21:00Z
Sound Construction now offers several ways to horizontally mount your Mac Pro -- complete with handles. They've got the IsoBox (sound / heat isolation) and the Mac Pro Rack which is a plain studio furniture rack made with an extra large opening. Stay cool!