Mounts with a Back Plate

Some of my older designs hold the device with a separate printed plate that screws onto the back of the mount, instead of leaving it to slide in and out. If your box has a flat printed plate with screw holes in it, plus a set of screws for that plate, this is your guide.

Everything else about the mount is normal. If it is a 19" Modular you still have two halves and a seam to bolt, and if it is a 10" mount it is still one piece. The plate just adds a step, and it changes when you fit the device.

What is in the box

• The mount. One piece on a 10", or a device half and a blank half on a 19" Modular.
• 1 x back plate.
• Screws for the plate.
• Seam screws and a 2.5mm hex key as well, if it is a Modular mount.

Rack screws are not included.

These assemble in the opposite order to my other mounts. The plate closes the back, so you cannot reach it once the mount is bolted to the rails. Fit the device and the plate on the bench, then rack the finished assembly.

Step 1. Check what the plate screws into

1. Look into the screw holes in the mount body, the ones the plate lines up with.
2. If you can see brass, they are threaded inserts. Drive the screws normally.
3. If it is bare plastic, the screw cuts its own thread as it goes.

Worth ten seconds, because the two want a different touch and these designs use both.

On bare plastic holes, go slowly and stop as soon as the plate pulls flush. There is no brass to stop against, so it is possible to keep turning and strip the thread out. Take the screws in and out as few times as you can, because each pass recuts the same thread.

Step 2. Fit the device

1. Slide the device into the mount through the opening.
2. Push it until it seats.

Check: the device's front face sits level with the rack face, and nothing stands proud at the back where the plate has to sit.

Step 3. Screw the back plate on

1. Offer the plate up to the back of the mount and line up every hole before starting a screw.
2. Start all the screws by hand.
3. Tighten in a cross pattern.
4. Stop as soon as the plate pulls flush.

Check: the plate sits flat against the mount all the way round with no gap at a corner, and the device no longer moves.

Step 4. Join the halves, if it is a Modular mount

Now do the normal seam assembly. Bring the blank half on and bolt the four seam screws from the blank side, exactly as in the Modular guide. Skip this on a 10" mount.

Step 5. Bolt the assembly into the rack

1. Fit cage nuts first if your rack has square holes.
2. Start all four rack bolts loose, two per ear.
3. Let the mount settle in the slots, then tighten.

The oval slots take M6 and #12-24.

Check your rack screw length before you start. A printed faceplate is thicker than a steel one, so a short screw, or a screw with a washer under it, can run out of thread before it bites. Go up a length or drop the washer.

What holds the device in

The plate does. Unlike my other mounts, where the device is a friction fit you can pull straight out, this one is captive once the plate is on. That is the point of the design, and it is why these are worth the extra step on gear that would otherwise be easy to drag out of the front.

Troubleshooting

The plate will not sit flat

The device is not fully seated, or a cable is trapped behind it. Take the plate off, push the device home, and try again. Do not pull it down with the screws.

A plate screw spins and never tightens

If that hole has brass in it, the insert has sat too deep. If it is bare plastic, the thread has stripped. Either way, stop and message me and I will send a replacement piece.

I racked it before fitting the plate

Take the mount back out. There is no way to get a screwdriver squarely onto the back plate with the mount bolted to the rails, and starting a screw at an angle is how the plastic threads get stripped.

A rack bolt will not start

Screw length. See the note in Step 5.

The plate covers ports I need to get at

Then it is the wrong plate for your device, or the device is in back to front. Check the cutouts in the plate line up with your ports before you screw anything down. If they do not, stop and message me with a photo and your order number rather than leaving ports buried.

There is a gap around the device and it does not feel snug

That is almost always the clearance cut for the rubber feet on the bottom of your device, and it is meant to be there. Check the device is pushed all the way back against the rear bars. If it is seated and still rattles, send me a photo and I will check it against the design.

The mount will not line up with my rack

A 19" mount is cut to the EIA-310 standard, 465mm between hole centres, and a 10" mount to 236.5mm. If one ear lines up and the other does not, your rails are not on the standard spacing. That is common in wooden AV cabinets and furniture-style racks where the rails are decorative rather than to spec. Measure the centre-to-centre distance between your rail holes and send me the number. Do not trim the ears, because the mount then has nothing to sit against.

I think I have the wrong mount

Check the model on the label underneath your device against the model list in the listing you ordered from. Manufacturers reuse names across chassis that are not the same size, which is where most of these come from. If it is the wrong one, message me with your order number and a photo and I will sort it out. Do not modify the part to make it fit, because that ends any chance of me replacing it.

A piece arrived cracked

Message me with your order number and a photo, even if the box looks fine. Printed parts can take a knock in transit that the packaging does not show. I will reprint and post a replacement.

Hardware missing from the bag

Message me with your order number and I will post the rest the same day.

Taking the device out later

Unscrew the plate and the device comes straight out. On bare plastic holes, reuse the same screws in the same holes and start them gently, letting each one find the thread it already cut rather than forcing a new one.