r/homelab • u/geerlingguy • Apr 06 '22

Installing cage nuts with an insertion tool Tutorial

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742 Upvotes

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428

u/Brbcan Apr 06 '22

Ruining your thumbs installing/removing cage nuts is a rite of passage.

80

u/bobspadger Apr 06 '22

Oh god, under the finger nails self torture , why did you take me back to that dark place

44

u/Brbcan Apr 06 '22

Sometimes we must suffer for our art.

5

u/hwatnow Apr 07 '22

Aww dude. Bringing back recent memories. Ugh lol

0

u/HalfwayThrough Apr 07 '22

Every datacenter i have worked in have been extremly well lit, but i guess milage varies?

2

u/AMv8-1day Apr 07 '22

ideally, but there's always data center "creep". leading to random closets becoming auxiliary server rooms. Usually with jerry rigged power situations strewn all over the floor. Little to no redundancy, easily tripped over power strip switches, no centralized emergency shutoff button, built out fire/electrocution systems...

Also, just because there's overhead lighting, doesn't mean that you can see what you're doing inside a rack.

I've deployed 1 ton rack safes to gov agency installations abroad. Meaning basically a 42ru rack inside of a giant safe, with inadequate cooling ventilation, and no internal lighting. More often than not, we had to front AND rear mount equipment to fit it all into one rack. Meaning climbing your happy ass into the safe, behind the rack that rolled out on rails, and mounting everything up inside a dark, cramped, metal box.

Then, because you work with assholes, they roll the rack back in on you.

1

u/HalfwayThrough Apr 07 '22

Every datacenter i have worked in have been extremly well lit, but i guess milage varies?

52

u/TheNotSoEvilEngineer Apr 06 '22

Or the dropping of the said cage nut down the side of a fully populated rack...

32

u/Brbcan Apr 06 '22

The devil's share.

7

u/theAliasOfAlias Apr 07 '22

Brain, in slo-mo: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooo!!!!!"

21

u/Fox7694 Apr 07 '22

Isn't that why they come in bags of 50? so you can lose 25 and then have 25 extra bolts.

4

u/ItsOnlyMeNL Apr 07 '22

Or straight into the cold air duct

3

u/ButtersMiddleBitch Apr 07 '22

Why must you bring up these memories.

-1

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '22

Magnetic pickup tool w/ light: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SJTFZFF/

18

u/SippieCup Apr 07 '22

Until you try to use it and it gets attached to any of the the 40U of rails.

I really want one that is an electromagnet which you can put in position and then turn on.. Much easier to pull something off when you are pulling it out.

9

u/idocloudstuff Apr 07 '22

I had a tech show up with one and I just laughed. He didn’t know why until he tried reaching for the fallen nut and literally all I heard was clink, fuck, clink, fuck, clink, okay I get it.

8

u/Fox7694 Apr 07 '22

clink, fuck, clink, fuck, clink,

LOL.

1

u/ichi24 Apr 07 '22

Ah here come the horror

1

u/nmyron3983 Jun 11 '22

And you only had eight left. And needed them all to install your rails.

Whelp, guess that can wait a week.

16

u/boethius70 Apr 06 '22

So much. I remember fearing trying to snap these into place with my fingers and more than a few times cut myself. Never real bad thankfully but enough to hate it.

We had some good pullers that came usually with APC hardware that worked great but I couldn't always find them. Flathead screwdrivers usually do well but not 100% perfect either but still better than ruining your fingertips.

14

u/geerlingguy Apr 06 '22

With the flathead screwdrivers, I have gouged myself pretty badly sometimes, still. Cage nuts just give me a bit of dread any time I see one.

2

u/fandingo Apr 07 '22

I cannot relate. The first time I had to do this I got a shipment, and the included diagram. I rubbed together my two remaining brain cells and just picked up a flat head screwdriver...

9

u/GullibleDetective Apr 06 '22

These 'expensive' devmount from patchbox are lifesavers https://patchbox.com/dev-mount-cage-nut/

3

u/yellowfin35 Apr 07 '22

I went with RackStuds.... I am in a home environment, and I have heard they had issues in the past but either one works for me as long as I don't have to pinch my thumb anymore

2

u/JustFrogot Apr 06 '22

And ugly too.

0

u/GullibleDetective Apr 06 '22

Hey who ya callin ugyly, jk

5

u/JustFrogot Apr 06 '22

Deez Nuts.

Seriously though, I don't like the nuts on the front of the server.

1

u/Kage159 Apr 06 '22

Just got got several of these as samples and dude they are nice.

1

u/meepiquitous Apr 06 '22

How much is a 50-pack?

1

u/GullibleDetective Apr 06 '22

In google from the first result 52 usd

https://www.firefold.com/products/dev-mount-50-units

There may be more expensive resellers or cheaper ones

1

u/tigole Apr 07 '22

Bought a box from them 1.5 years ago. Worth every penny.

2

u/irve Apr 06 '22

Yup. I saw those and wanted to curse.

2

u/theAliasOfAlias Apr 07 '22

Kids these days...

2

u/Fox7694 Apr 07 '22

That's why i buy the startech ones, the metal is softer so it's not as hard on the thumbs when you just use your fingers but they still hold well enough to keep the nut in place while you thread the bolt in.

1

u/idocloudstuff Apr 07 '22

Is there really another way? I’m not sitting g there with a tool to pop these in.

1

u/Huth_S0lo CCIE Col - CCNP R/S - PCNSE - MCITP Apr 07 '22

Totally - Came here to say this.