1. Cut to proper length and use these to put them back togeather Pro Tools 10 System Requirements (don't know the english word for these) or you can probably by new ones from a local music shop. Here across the sea we have Thomann, you guys probably got something similar.
2. don't know
3. If its narrow enough when it's set at its highest, if not you can always use a piece of plywood on top to get a table

You can get 1ft. 16-gauge IEC cables http://www.parts-ex… among other lengths, at Part***press at a fair price - without resorting to eBay.

Or buy your own Edison plugs https://www.parts-e… at the local hardware store, electrical supply store, or online, and learn how to wire them.

PLEASE NOTE *** It's extremely dangerous/deadly if you don't know what you're doing, but it's not a difficult thing to learn.

The IEC cables from various suppliers are so cheap that it's hard to justify wiring your own for a 4U rack.

In item 2 it seems that you are talking about a patch bay. In any case, my (relatively) cheap, easy, resellable solution is to buy a few snakes. (No boxes - fan to fan.) I have an 8 channel, a four channel and a couple of 2 channel snakes. Long enough to go from the back of my desk to most anywhere in my room (at least when connected to another cable to the mic.) I have labeled the female ends, so it is easy to access all of my preamps from the middle of the room. If you have four channels, a four channel snake will take care of present needs and will be very handy if you expand.

The item Nutti is referring to, we would call a Euro-terminal strip - if that's what you want, they have http://www.radiosha… them at Radio Shack[/].

Item #2: For a true XLR feedthru - you might want something like this feedthru at Redco http://www.redco.co… . It has a Panel Mount Female you can mount on the front of your rack that goes out to a XLR Male on the back. Redco has the pre-punched rack panels too. [make sure you get the panels punched for the specific brand of connectors you intend to use - the hole sizes and bolt-patterns aren't exactly the same on a Switchcraft as they are on a Neutrik D]

Item #3: When I want to use a keyboard stand to hold up a rack or speaker I take a lid from a 12-space rack flip it and make a 20" x 22" tabletop out of it. It fits my keyboard stands perfectly and the lip facing downward on the lids keeps them from wanting to slide off the stands beautifully.

Everybody,

Thanks for the outpouring of help and suggestions!

1) Those little 1ft cables that dvdhawk mentioned are perfect for the price. SOLVED

2) After someone mentioned patchbay (don't know why that word didn't click when I was searching origionally I found this: Hosa PDR-369 http://www.sweetwat… . It's about $30 more expensive than the 8 channel I'd build for myself, but it allows me to flip the feedthrough's if I'm reading correctly. That's worth it to me (no making special f/f xlr's for return signals.) Are there any major signal pitfals with such a product that I'm unaware of?

3) I hadn't thought of using something like that to restrain movement/solidify the keyboard stand. I may look into some heavy duty nylon straps for a lightweight alternative (no rack covers myself, actually that's not true, its just that they cover a 4u rack lol.)

Everybody, once more thanks for all your help. I wasn't pulling up anything useful in my searches. Ya'll are great!

God bless,
Adam

Jumpmonkey, post: 391317 wrote: ....Those little 1ft cables that dvdhawk mentioned are perfect for the price. SOLVED...

Remember that the measurement is tip to tip. You loose a couple of inches bending the ends.

Bob,

Good point! Should still work just fine in this rack. We'll wait to see when the next rack and tools come in if it'll work again.

God bless,
Adam