Search for a PCB rack and you get subracks and card cages mixed in with the racks that hold boards on a production floor. They all hold circuit boards on edge, so the mix-up is easy to make. Order the wrong one and you've paid for a 19 in (482.6 mm) card frame when you needed a rack that feeds your SMT loader.
Subracks and card cages are parts of the finished product. They hold plug-in cards inside an equipment cabinet for the life of the system. A PCB magazine rack is production equipment. It holds boards between process steps and feeds them to the SMT loader. If your boards are moving through a factory, you want production racks: magazine racks for the line, slotted-edge racks for the bench.
Here for a PCB magazine rack?The rack finder matches your largest board to the right rack and shows its price in seconds.
What is a subrack?
A subrack is a frame that bolts into a 19 in (482.6 mm) equipment cabinet and holds circuit boards as plug-in cards. The cards slide in on guide rails and plug into a backplane at the back. The subrack ships inside the finished equipment and stays there, and the card positions are set by the product designer, so it gets chosen once, at design time.
What is a card cage?
A card cage is the frame inside an enclosure that holds boards upright on card guides. In practice the two words overlap: a card cage is often a subrack without the front-panel hardware. When people search for card cage parts, they usually mean the guides, rails, ejector handles and backplanes, which come from enclosure vendors and get bought once for every unit built.
What is a PCB magazine rack?
A PCB magazine rack holds boards on edge while they move through production. Ours have 50 slots at 10 mm (0.394″) pitch and side panels that adjust to the board width, and they drop straight into SMT loaders and unloaders. Between steps they keep boards apart and off the bench. The whole rack is conductive, 10⁴ Ω, so static drains away instead of sitting on your assemblies.
The standard B0103GN-80C takes boards up to 355 × 250 mm (13.98″ × 9.84″), and the largest stock rack, the B0110GN-80C, takes 620 × 460 mm (24.41″ × 18.11″). For boards wider than 460 mm (18.11″) we build custom racks in some cases, up to 24 × 21 in (610 × 533 mm).
How do subracks, card cages and magazine racks compare?
Subracks and card cages are built into the product you ship. A magazine rack stays on your factory floor and carries boards through every job.
| Subrack | Card cage | PCB magazine rack | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | Bolted into a 19 in (482.6 mm) cabinet, inside the finished product | Fastened inside an equipment enclosure | On the production floor, moving between process steps |
| What it holds | Plug-in cards on guide rails, mated to a backplane | Boards on card guides | Bare or populated boards on edge, 50 per rack |
| Width | Fixed by the card guides | Fixed by the card guides | Adjustable, from 10 to 460 mm (0.394″ to 18.11″) across the range |
| ESD | Part of the product's grounding design | Part of the product's grounding design | Conductive, 10⁴ Ω |
| Temperature | Set by the product's thermal design | Set by the product's thermal design | 80 °C (176 °F) standard, with 120 °C (248 °F), 200 °C (392 °F) and 300 °C (572 °F) versions |
| When you buy it | Once for every unit you ship | Once for every unit you ship | A set for every line, reused job after job |
| Where to buy | Enclosure and chassis vendors | Enclosure and chassis vendors | PCBRacks.com magazine racks |
When does an engineer want a magazine rack?
When the boards are the product moving through your factory, not cards inside a product. These are the usual cases:
- Boards feed an in-line loader. Magazine racks drop into SMT loaders and unloaders. The SMT loader guide covers the fit.
- Boards bake or cure. The 200 °C (392 °F) GM racks go into the J-STD-033 moisture bake with the boards inside, and the 300 °C (572 °F) all-aluminum racks take boards straight from reflow.
- Board width changes between jobs. Gear-track racks change width in seconds with both sides moving together. The adjustment guide compares gear, screw and belt.
- Boards wait at a bench. Slotted-edge racks and angled holders keep the batch on edge at the station, so nothing gets stacked.
- Boards move in a tote. The Karry-All 35 sits inside a tote or outer box, with 30 numbered slots keeping boards apart.
Where do you buy subracks, and where do you buy magazine racks?
Subracks, card cages, guide rails and backplanes come from enclosure and chassis vendors, chosen along with the product design. Everything that holds boards on your production floor comes from us. PCBRacks.com is a US-based OEM of ESD-safe PCB racks and V-cut depaneling machines for electronics manufacturers in aerospace and defense, automotive, medical devices and contract manufacturing, and in-stock racks ship from the USA in under 24 hours.
Which PCBRacks rack fits your line?
Match the rack to the job:
- Standard SMT lines. Gear-adjustable magazine racks, for boards 50 to 250 mm (1.97″ to 9.84″) wide on the standard chassis.
- Large boards. The bigger chassis in the magazine rack collection go up to 620 × 460 mm (24.41″ × 18.11″). For wider boards, custom racks go up to 24 × 21 in (610 × 533 mm) in some cases.
- Narrow boards. Belt-adjustable racks close down to 10 mm (0.394″).
- One width, long runs. Screw-adjustable racks lock solid and hold that width for months.
- Bake and cure. The high-temperature collection goes to 300 °C (572 °F) in all-aluminum construction.
- Bench work. Universal racks: slotted-edge racks and angled holders, in packs of 10.
- Turning the assembly. The D380 and D500 ESD turntables hold the assembly and spin it at the workstation.
Every rack and holder is conductive, 10⁴ Ω and RoHS compliant, and the ESD and RoHS test reports go to your quality team on request. Not sure which one fits? Send your board size and the hottest step in your process, and an engineer confirms the exact part number before you order.
Know your board size?The finder shows the rack that fits and its price. Want a second opinion first? Ask an engineer.