Which ESD tray holds heavy boards steady on a cart? The RA-18C, slotted on both edges
· PCBRacks.com engineering team
RA-18C is a 25-slot ESD PCB tray with slots on both edges and a carry handle molded into each end. It's the rack we send when boards have to move: bench to cart, cart to shelf, shelf to the depaneler, without anyone touching a board.
What goes wrong with a single-edge tray?
A board standing in one slot pivots on that slot. Push the cart over a door sill and the top of the board swings, the bottom edge climbs the slot wall, and a heavy two-side-populated board can walk out. The RA-18C grips the board at both edges, so it can't pivot. It stays where the operator put it, through doors, down corridors and into the elevator.
The second problem is the carry. A 25-board rack with a handle at one end gets carried one-handed and tilted, and a tilted rack is how a loaded board ends up on the floor. Two handles, one at each end, mean two hands and a level rack. That's the whole reason the handles are there, and it's why this one outsells the rest of the slotted-edge series.
What does it hold?
| Slots | 25, on a 15 mm (0.591 in) pitch |
|---|---|
| Slot width | 3 mm (0.118 in), rounded profile |
| Slot depth | 7 mm (0.276 in) top side, 7.5 mm (0.295 in) bottom side |
| Board thickness | Up to 2.4 mm (0.094 in) |
| Maximum board size | 320 x 180 mm (12.60 x 7.09 in); wider boards may overhang both sides |
| Rack size | 480 x 140 x 35 mm (18.90 x 5.51 x 1.38 in) |
| Material | Conductive polypropylene, 10⁴ Ω |
| Temperature | -10 to +80 °C (14 to 176 °F) |
| Sold as | Pack of 10 |
Thick boards are the point. Heavy-copper power boards and backplanes that rattle in a 1.7 mm (0.067 in) slot sit tight in the RA-18C's 3 mm (0.118 in) slot, and the rounded slot profile doesn't chip the edge plating. If your boards are standard 1.6 mm (0.063 in), you'll want the RA-16C instead; it's the same idea with a tighter slot.
Where does it sit on the floor?
At the bench, on the cart and on the WIP shelf, and at the depaneler, where the operator lifts a board out, cuts it and puts the pieces back. It isn't a shipping container and it doesn't go on the SMT line; the magazine racks do that. Empty racks stack for storage, so they don't take shelf space when they're not in use.
How fast does it ship?
Racks ship from the USA in under 24 hours if in stock: orders by noon Pacific ship the same business day. Five or more packs take a volume discount at checkout; the universal rack collection lists the tiers, and the rack finder picks the model from your board size.
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