19" 3U Lockable Rack Drawer – 200 mm Deep

It gives you enclosed storage inside the rack itself.

That is useful for patch leads, cage nuts, tools, testers, adapters, spare modules and the assorted small items that otherwise have a tendency to colonise the bottom of a cabinet.

No. 10" and 19" describe the rack mounting format, not the usable width of the storage compartment.

The drawer body has to be narrower than the nominal rack format so that it fits between the mounting points and accommodates its runners and structure.

It tells you how much vertical rack space the drawer occupies. A 1U drawer takes one rack unit, a 2U takes two and so forth.

It is a mounting-space designation, not a promise that every millimetre of that height is available inside the drawer.

You get the assembled drawer, two keys, four M6 cage nuts, four M6 rack screws and four washers.

That is the normal fixing pack needed for a compatible square-hole rack rail.

The drawers are constructed from 1.0mm steel and finished in black powder coating.

That construction is common to both the 10" and 19" ranges.

No. It arrives assembled.

Fit the cage nuts where you want it and secure the drawer to the rack with the supplied fixings.

No. It is physically the wrong rack width. Use the 10" drawer range in a 10" cabinet.

Measure from the front mounting rail to the first rear obstruction rather than relying only on the cabinet's advertised external depth.

Rails, doors, cables and rear equipment all consume space.

The external cabinet depth is a rather optimistic proxy for the room actually available to a drawer.

A shallower drawer is useful where cabinet depth is limited.

A deeper drawer gives substantially more storage space where the rack can accommodate it.

Choose by the usable space in the cabinet and what you intend to store, rather than simply buying the deepest version available.

Normally, yes, but very shallow rail-to-door spacing can make it tight.

The lock or handle area projects by roughly 5mm from the drawer face, so I would allow around 10mm between the mounting plane and the inside of the door rather than designing it to touch.

Yes, provided the rack format, U space and available depth are suitable.

Also consider the cabinet and wall fixing if you intend to put appreciable weight in the drawer, because opening it moves that weight forward of the mounting rails.

Yes, provided it has the normal compatible rack-hole pattern.

The drawer is front-mounted.

Just use some common sense about how heavily you load it and how stable the rack is when the drawer is extended.

Not necessarily. The stated 200, 260 or 370mm figure is the nominal drawer depth, not a guaranteed internal usable dimension.

Runners, the rear structure and the drawer construction all reduce the storage space, so use the published usable dimensions when an object is a close fit.

On the verified 19" range, the 200mm 1U drawer has 171mm usable depth and the 200mm 2U and 3U drawers have 176mm.

The 370mm 1U drawer has 350mm usable depth, while the 370mm 2U to 5U drawers have 345mm.

Those are more useful figures for checking whether a particular item will actually fit.

The verified clear usable heights are 38mm for 1U, 65mm for 2U, 109mm for 3U, 154mm for 4U and 198mm for 5U.

On the 1U version the clear opening while accessing the drawer is tighter at 32mm, so an item can be small enough for the cavity yet still be awkward or impossible to pass through the opening.

The verified usable width is 380mm on the 1U drawers and 388mm on the 2U through 5U versions.

This is why treating "19 inch" as an internal measurement leads one rather quickly astray.

The verified 200mm 1U version extends by about 186mm and has a maximum open depth of approximately 387mm.

The 200mm 2U and 3U versions extend by about 180mm and reach approximately 385mm overall.

The main forward projection is around the handle or lock area and is roughly 5mm.

I would treat that as a practical measured figure rather than an absolute design tolerance, and allow a little more space where a cabinet door closes in front of it.

We do not currently publish a verified maximum load rating for this drawer range.

I would rather leave that figure unstated than borrow a load rating from a superficially similar drawer and pretend it applies here.

For unusually heavy contents, contact us so we can advise around the particular installation.

On a small free-standing rack, yes, that is a sensible precaution.

Pulling a loaded drawer forward moves its centre of gravity towards you.

A substantial 42U floor cabinet or a properly wall-fixed cabinet is a different proposition from a shallow 15U free-standing rack, so there is no useful universal height rule.

Where stability is in doubt, keep the drawer lower.

No. The keyed cam lock is useful for controlling ordinary access to tools, documents and accessories, and for discouraging casual disappearance of small items.

It does not turn a 1mm steel rack drawer into a certified high-security safe.

Typical uses include tools, patch leads, cage nuts, adapters, console leads, testers, spare transceivers and installation accessories.

Taller drawers simply give you more freedom for bulkier items.

It is a storage drawer rather than a prescribed kit list, which is rather the point.

For something light, briefly, yes.

I would not treat it as a general-purpose work shelf though. The drawer is shaped for storage, so a laptop or tester can be awkward to sit on it and heavy loads are better kept off an extended drawer.

No ESD-protective certification is claimed for the drawer.

Sensitive items such as bare electronic modules should remain in suitable antistatic packaging rather than relying on the powder-coated steel drawer as ESD protection.

No. The drawer is supplied as an open storage tray without dividers, foam or an anti-slip mat.

No. These drawers are designed as front-mounted units and have no rear-support provision.

The four front rack fixings are the mounting arrangement.

Yes. Use all four.

They are supplied for a reason, and a sliding drawer is not something I would jerry-rig onto the rack with half its fixings.

The supplied cage nuts are intended for square-hole rack rails using the standard three-hole-per-U pattern.

If your rack uses threaded rails or a different mounting system, the supplied cage nuts are not the appropriate fixing method.

They are M6: four cage nuts, four screws and four washers.

Yes. The drawer stays within its allocated rack-unit space, so another correctly mounted item can sit immediately above or below it.

You do not need to sacrifice an empty U merely to let the drawer move.

Mechanically, yes.

Choose the position for convenient access and rack stability.

If the drawer will carry substantial weight in a small free-standing cabinet, putting it lower is the sensible option.

It can be used in a transport rack, but lock the drawer before moving the rack so that it is positively retained closed.

The lock does not restrain the contents inside, so the rack still needs to be handled in a way that does not throw everything around or turn the drawer upside down.

Yes. There is a release tab or lever on each runner.

Operate the releases and the tray can be withdrawn completely while the rack-mounted chassis stays in place.

To refit it, line it up with the runners and slide it back in.

Not during normal opening.

The runners have positive stops.

Complete removal requires deliberate use of the runner release mechanisms.

The soft-close mechanism acts over the final part of the closing travel, drawing the drawer in smoothly rather than merely adding resistance over its entire journey.

It makes closing rather less agricultural, but it is separate from the lock.

No. The keyed cam lock physically retains the drawer closed.

Soft-close just controls the final part of the movement.

If you need the drawer secured, turn the key.

Yes. The current drawer range is keyed alike, so one drawer key can operate the others.

That is convenient where several drawers are installed in one site, though naturally it should also be taken into account when deciding what degree of access control you need.

No. The 1U drawers are opened by pulling the front face itself.

The taller drawer versions have a separate handle.

Yes. The key can be removed in both the locked and unlocked positions.

Yes. Additional keys can be supplied.

If you need extras, contact us and we can arrange them.

Yes. The cam lock can be replaced with a different keyed arrangement.

I would contact us before ordering parts for this, because we can check the particular drawer and advise on a suitable replacement rather than relying on appearance alone.

Yes.

The runners can be replaced independently, so a damaged runner does not mean replacing the complete rack drawer.

They provide rear access for cable routing and also allow some air movement.

That makes it possible to bring power, network or other low-voltage connections into the moving tray without drilling an improvised opening in the drawer.

On the verified 19" drawers, ordinary RJ45 plugs, USB connectors, small DC connectors and C7-type power connectors can pass through the rear access holes.

Larger mains connectors depend on their physical design and the aperture size, so check before assuming a bulky terminated connector will fit.

Yes, provided you leave a suitable service loop so the cable can follow the drawer through its travel without being stretched, trapped or dragged through the runners.

The access hole solves the entry problem; it does not abolish the need for sensible cable management.

As a practical installation allowance, I would leave about another 50mm where cables are routed behind the drawer.

That is guidance rather than an absolute mechanical minimum: large connectors, stiff cables or a generous service loop may need more.

No. Grommets are not supplied.

The aperture edges are usable for cable passage, but I would fit a suitable grommet where a cable will remain there permanently or move repeatedly.

No. A normal UK three-pin plug is too large.

Route the cable before fitting the plug, use an appropriate smaller detachable connector arrangement, or choose another sensible cable-routing method.

Potentially, yes, for modest low-heat networking equipment whose own ventilation requirements are satisfied.

The rear apertures provide cable access and some air movement, but there is no other deliberate ventilation in the drawer.

It should not be treated as a universal enclosure for anything that happens to have a mains lead; a hot appliance would be an entirely different proposition.

No. There is no dedicated earth or bonding point on the drawer.

Do not assume the drawer provides a purpose-designed protective-earth connection for equipment placed inside it.