synaesthesia Posted October 12, 2015 Posted October 12, 2015 (edited) I know you lot like a lovely cabinet re-working, so I thought I'd show you my handiwork from this morning. Before: After: Not quite the usual setup I'm sure you'll agree! It's a lesson in why you should always use the proper hardware to hang cabinets. Whoever hung this, used bog standard, cheap as chips (Wilko's grade) rawlplugs in plasterboard walls. Hugely surprised it hasn't moved for a dozen years! Not a one off either, the same company that hung that did another cabinet in the same school which fell off the wall last year. I would have been sat right underneath that, just where the glass door collapsed and nearly impaled a desktop PC on the desk. Thanks to years of things being added to it, we had to hacksaw open the back of it to get it off the wall and I decided against trying to re-hang anything! Damn lucky that noone was hurt, and that none of the fiber cables were broken! Also worth noting the holes where it was screwed to the wall were not damaged - the plugs just came cleanly out! Edited October 12, 2015 by synaesthesia 4
synaesthesia Posted October 12, 2015 Author Posted October 12, 2015 Some of those are dated 1985. I jest not Thankfully, that wiring is just temporary to get them up and running within an hour. Will be chucking those tapes out thankfully to make way for a floorstanding cabinet - and then I will be going OCD on them (bearing in mind I'll have to reuse the cables!)
rich_tech Posted October 12, 2015 Posted October 12, 2015 Wow to that Impressive angle though and all still connected in the first one, was it held to the wall with pritt stick ?
synaesthesia Posted October 12, 2015 Author Posted October 12, 2015 It might as well have been. Just glad there were large enough bunches of Cat5 in there to hold the weight. On it's way down it managed to damage one of the mains sockets underneath it by bending the front down. To be honest, I've been itching to rewire that thing for ages I'll do it properly though, cut & repatch everything!
mikeprice Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 The after version looks like my server room when I started! Except for the VHS tapes - they seem to have got rid of all those here (now waiting for the request for something to play one - due any minute after that comment)
hallb15 Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 I've seen similar - there seems to be no end of cowboys who are willing to do a poor job and charge a fortune for it, just because its in a school and they think they can get away with it. Glad no-one was hurt.
Gaz Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 This makes me sad lol... I look forward to the final tidy.
hallb15 Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 A couple of months ago I did some investigating into why a particular classroom PC was dropping the network connection and generally behaving rather strangely. Whilst following the CAT5 cable above the false ceiling, I moved one of the tiles and this fell out!
Oaktech Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 Scratched the surface of why I was only getting 100mb in various places... Found this little lot. There was a DC hung off one these abominations! 1
NB9457 Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 Scratched the surface of why I was only getting 100mb in various places... Found this little lot. [ATTACH=CONFIG]32646[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]32647[/ATTACH] There was a DC hung off one these abominations! I've come across things like this in the past. It annoys me when they use the same cable for a couple of things too, I put it down to laziness rather than expense, CAT5 is only around £23 a roll now. I'd just run a few fresh runs for what its worth!
hallb15 Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 Ah, that old trick when you need one more network point, but only have 1 cable available. I think there are probably a few of these left here from a previous 'person' who thought this was a good way to separate admin and curriculum networks...
Davit2005 Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 Scratched the surface of why I was only getting 100mb in various places... Found this little lot. [ATTACH=CONFIG]32646[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]32647[/ATTACH] There was a DC hung off one these abominations! Probably done as a quick fix, then became out of sight/mind etc.
Oaktech Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 The terrifying thing about these is that apparently we paid to have these modifications done, they weren't just bodged by an in house techie or caretaker, these came about in refurbishments and were done by people who should know better!
ITGURU Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 One reason why I don't install data cabinets myself (or ceiling mount projectors) - always get the contractors to fit when installing fibre. We did have an incident earlier this year where one came out of a plasterboard wall (mobile building) and ripped out the fibre module.
NB9457 Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 One reason why I don't install data cabinets myself (or ceiling mount projectors) - always get the contractors to fit when installing fibre. We did have an incident earlier this year where one came out of a plasterboard wall (mobile building) and ripped out the fibre module. I love doing things myself, then I know it's done properly. I'd never put a network cab on plasterboard though, I'd have to find the beams, big piece of wood, then cab onto that and even then that's using bolts rated for 100KG. 2
halbaradkenafin Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 I've come across things like this in the past. It annoys me when they use the same cable for a couple of things too, I put it down to laziness rather than expense, CAT5 is only around £23 a roll now. I'd just run a few fresh runs for what its worth! I suspect it's not a cost issue but more of an effort issue. The thought process is likely "I could run a new cable through the ceiling but that means lots of time up and down a ladder as I go across the school, or I could just bodge it at this point above the destination and call it a day".
NB9457 Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 I suspect it's not a cost issue but more of an effort issue. The thought process is likely "I could run a new cable through the ceiling but that means lots of time up and down a ladder as I go across the school, or I could just bodge it at this point above the destination and call it a day". That's what people are paid for though! There's definitely no excuse if it has been like that from day one, so easy to run multiple cables along side each other, even with one reel you still have the old double up trick!
Oaktech Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 I love doing things myself, then I know it's done properly. I'd never put a network cab on plasterboard though, I'd have to find the beams, big piece of wood, then cab onto that and even then that's using bolts rated for 100KG. Yup... I used to install cabinets all the time and my standard technique for checking the fixing was just to lift myself up on the front edge of the cabinet. If it can handle 13stone of installer hanging on it, chances are it is fine for it's intended purpose. It was a pretty regular occurrence that I would either refuse to put a cabinet up on a wall, or I would have to take down a section of the wall, rebuild it with studwork in the right place, plasterboard it and then put the cabinet up. I've even been known to drill clean through a piece of flaky brickwork and then use threaded bar and plate washers/uni strut to sandwich the wall. I've put up * a lot* of cabinet's, TVs, projectors and speakers and to my knowledge nothing has come down of it's own accord and only one thing came down with help which was a nightclub speaker which was ripped off the wall by a drunk clubber.
ITGURU Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 Then again you cannot trust contractors! We went to take a projector down to change the bulb and the ceiling mount literally fell out the ceiling in our hands, couldn't believe it. Just a good job no students were there otherwise that could have been serious. It was a small lightweight cab 2U with patch panel and switch, had been there 10 years before it gave up the ghost! We used to hang off the projector poles to check secure!
Duranis Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 Jeez. I sit directly under our main cabinet but it looks like it might have been our site manager that installed it so feel fairly safe. *goes to look for a hardhat*
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