Cage nut
Encyclopedia
A cage nut or caged nut consists of a square nut
in a spring steel
cage which wraps around the nut. The cage has two wings that when compressed allow the cage to be inserted into the square holes in equipment racks, and when released hold the nut in position behind the hole. The nut is usually slightly loose in the cage to allow for minor adjustments in alignment.The gap between two wings determines thickness of material that will hold nut in correct position without pulling it fro base material.The size of square hole will also govern the position of nut.If size of hole is too large it will still pull out from base material.
There are two types of cage nuts:
A)SLIDE-ON
These nuts are used when rails are square punched because in such a case it becomes easy to move mounting hardware.
B)SNAP-IN
These nuts are used for rails that are punched with square mountings in data cabinets.
The most common use for cage nuts is to mount equipment in square-holed 19-inch rack
s (the most common type nowadays). There are four common sizes: 10-32 and to a lesser extent 12-24 are generally used in the United States; elsewhere M6 (6 mm outside diameter) for light and medium equipment and M8 for heavier equipment such as uninterruptible power supplies
(UPSs).
Although some modern rack-mount servers have bolt-free fitting, other components such as shelves, networking hardware, UPSs and KVM switch
es still tend to be fitted using cage nuts.
Nut (hardware)
A nut is a type of hardware fastener with a threaded hole. Nuts are almost always used opposite a mating bolt to fasten a stack of parts together. The two partners are kept together by a combination of their threads' friction, a slight stretch of the bolt, and compression of the parts...
in a spring steel
Spring steel
Spring steel is a low alloy, medium carbon steel or high carbon steel with a very high yield strength. This allows objects made of spring steel to return to their original shape despite significant bending or twisting.-Grades:...
cage which wraps around the nut. The cage has two wings that when compressed allow the cage to be inserted into the square holes in equipment racks, and when released hold the nut in position behind the hole. The nut is usually slightly loose in the cage to allow for minor adjustments in alignment.The gap between two wings determines thickness of material that will hold nut in correct position without pulling it fro base material.The size of square hole will also govern the position of nut.If size of hole is too large it will still pull out from base material.
There are two types of cage nuts:
A)SLIDE-ON
These nuts are used when rails are square punched because in such a case it becomes easy to move mounting hardware.
B)SNAP-IN
These nuts are used for rails that are punched with square mountings in data cabinets.
The most common use for cage nuts is to mount equipment in square-holed 19-inch rack
19-inch rack
A 19-inch rack is a standardized frame or enclosure for mounting multiple equipment modules. Each module has a front panel that is wide, including edges or ears that protrude on each side which allow the module to be fastened to the rack frame with screws.-Overview and history:Equipment designed...
s (the most common type nowadays). There are four common sizes: 10-32 and to a lesser extent 12-24 are generally used in the United States; elsewhere M6 (6 mm outside diameter) for light and medium equipment and M8 for heavier equipment such as uninterruptible power supplies
Uninterruptible power supply
An uninterruptible power supply, also uninterruptible power source, UPS or battery/flywheel backup, is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source, typically mains power, fails...
(UPSs).
Although some modern rack-mount servers have bolt-free fitting, other components such as shelves, networking hardware, UPSs and KVM switch
KVM switch
A KVM switch is a hardware device that allows a user to control multiple computers from a single keyboard, video monitor and mouse. Although multiple computers are connected to the KVM, typically a smaller number of computers can be controlled at any given time...
es still tend to be fitted using cage nuts.