atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information enclosure or cabinet

I have an existing Norstar MICS and NAM and the customer wants it enclosed in a cabinet or enclosure. The system is already mounted. Anybody have a recommendation? I am not a carpenter. The whole setup measures 40" wide by 20" high.

Tell him that the heat build up would void the warranty. It it is open at top and bottom, that argument is dead.

Look in the phone book for handymen and send a half dozen over, he will stop worring about the phone person being a carpenter.

Tell him that your labor charge as a technician is more than a finish carpenter.

Does this guy have a life?

Bunnie, as usual, gets to the heart of the matter. You will find pre-made cabinets at the ususal big box home improvement stores. Look for the type like used in bathrooms and storage with the louvered fronts. Some venting on top and taking the back out should allow for the cabinet to be mounted without taking down the unit. I've had this request before. Last fall we installed on in a custom built cabinet already installed by the owner.

Good luck!

KLD

A doily adds a nice accent to any piece of woodwork !

I don't know about you but I charge extra when I can't get my a** into the space where the system is. Just had one the other day where it was lucky for them I showed up to do the work. My tech is about 350 pounds and the door into the space was about 14 inches wide.

Just make sure that any cabinet or enclosure doesn't impede ventillation and allows ample room for maintenance. I have seen too many situations like this where sombody with absolutely no idea built a box around the equipment, cross connect, etc and then it was a major PITA to get at it when you needed to work on it. I always discourage this practice whenever I see it or someone wants to do it.

I should also say that if the system is installed in a proper location to begin with this shouldn't be an issue.

-Hal

I'm with Bunnie on this one. On an Inter-Tel cabinet I won't even place the factory cover back on it. Those things HATE heat.

We have used some of the gray wall-mount enclosures with lift-off covers for the blocks and auxiliary equipment only. The KSU must be located outside of the cabinet; that's not even open for discussion. The nice thing about these enclosures is that they can be ganged together to create any size enclosure you need. They are not cheap, but I can understand the customer asking for them to cover the blocks in a finished office environment. It's just better if they ask for them ahead of time, which never happens!

Ed, you talking about the "J" or "H" 202 type enclosures?

Check with justbill, he probably knows where dozens are.

KLD

No, we used to use J & H202 enclosures (actually, I think they were called terminal sections) until they became extinct. The ones we get now are actually made of gray malamine-coated particle board, like the stuff that knock-down furniture is made out of. They are similar but just made of wood instead of steel.