Born in New Zealand in the year 2000
With no help at hand, Pete Stothers was tasked with installing a 15kg computer in a small under-bench rack. He would resort to stacking telephone books below the computer to align the rails with the cage nuts. This was not an isolated incident.
Peter recalled many years of struggling to install cage nuts. The endless cut fingers and losing many a nut down the back of racks. He believed he was well versed with the issues, but could he come up with a better solution?
And so the ten-year prototyping journey began. The design mandate was simple:
It must go in from the front.
It must be simple to install.
It must be simple to remove.
It would not need any special tools; not even a screwdriver.
It must be strong enough to hold a 20kg (44lb) piece of equipment.
It must be affordable to become a natural replacement for the cage nut.
The idea to insert the stud from the front stumped the design team for a long time...years in fact. We trialled dozens of different designs without success. Finally a eureka moment.
We could insert Rackstuds™ from the front, but remove them from the back. That simple realisation that we could 'get in behind the wall' afforded us a solution. After more than ten revisions and two years in the field, we have the products you see today.
Pete Stothers is the Director and the Inventor of Rackstuds. Rackstuds are proud to design, manufacture, and pack our product right here in New Zealand.
The Original Problem Rack
The Digital Video Recorder I tried to mount on my own in 2000 is still there mounted with cage nuts! And oh what a mess.
Pete Stothers
Inventor, founder and totally focused on data centre efficiency.