Dealing with bent rack ear?

[Boudoir Guitar]

For those with more extensive rack experience...how do you deal with this? This thing is like 1/4" plate that my weak ass can't be d with chanel locks...maaaaaaybe if I stuck it in a vice and put my entire body weight onto it, but doubt it.

Absent finding some OG one's from Samson for this Poweramp, is something like this my best bet? They may not align with the front of the amp, but that's not super important for my use. Super annoying there isn't a standard bolt-hole pattern for these things.

 

[JCW308]

Put it in a vice (as you said) but use leverage. Attach to a 2x4, go to the end and easily bend.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Meant to include pic:

Put it in a vice (as you said) but use leverage. Attach to a 2x4, go to the end and easily bend.

I assume using some hefty construction screws. Longer flat piece in vice and shorter, bent side to 2x4?

 

[TSJMajesty]

Meant to include pic:

I assume using some hefty construction screws. Longer flat piece in vice and shorter, bent side to 2x4?

Dude, I don't think that's fixable without heat. If you put that in a vise, as soon as you start to put pressure on it, it'll probably pull the other part of that bracket out of the frame.

Maybe if you removed it, put the straight leg into the vise, applied heat, then grabbed the bent part with vice grips, you could get it fairly straight/flat/square.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Dude, I don't think that's fixable without heat. If you put that in a vise, as soon as you start to put pressure on it, it'll probably pull the other part of that bracket out of the frame.

Maybe if you removed it, put the straight leg into the vise, applied heat, then grabbed the bent part with vice grips, you could get it fairly straight/flat/square.

Yeah, would pull it off the amp before doing anything with it.

 

[JCW308]

Meant to include pic:

I assume using some hefty construction screws. Longer flat piece in vice and shorter, bent side to 2x4?

You got it!

 

[TSJMajesty]

You got it!

Not even close. It'll just pull the screws out.
It'll need to be bolted to another piece of metal, preferably steel.

 

[Bruce]

Should be able to bend it back with a set of pliers. Thats what Ive done in the past. I didnt care how it looked, though.

 

[DrewJD82]

Hahaha I took a dead blow hammer to the rack ears on my G-Force a couple times. It worked!

 

[JCW308]

Not even close. It'll just pull the screws out.
It'll need to be bolted to another piece of metal, preferably steel.

That's strange, I've fixed rack ears using this same method my entire life. Several times at least.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Can you get a replacement rack kit from L6?

 

[fretworn]

Every man should own a bench vise; preferably 6 to 8 inches jaws.

About 10 years ago I picked up a used Wilton machinist vice with 8” jaws and it was one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. (Actually, I bought a $200 table at auction with $1000 vice attached to it.)

You can change out the jaws and put in plastic or brass, so you don’t mar stuff like the face of your aluminum rack plate. (I wouldn’t apply heat.)

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Can you get a replacement rack kit from L6?

It's on the 4,000 pound, very deep Samson Servo 120. Which probably explains why they are 1/4" plate...takes a pretty massive ear to support that much weight pivoting on that long of a moment arm.

I found a replacement pair on eBay for $30 last night, but that's also like 33% of what I paid for the amp, so...not really a high "value proposition". There are some ways I can make it work with only one rack ear for my purposes...but first I need to actually get around to firing this thing up to see how much heat it generates to know if the spot I plan to mount it even makes since.

 

[fretworn]

Remember, you can only bend this so much… Before it possibly work hardens.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Remember, you can only bend this so much… Before it possibly work hardens.

I mean, there's also a minimum amount I have to bend it, so all I can really do is hope for the best. Once installed, it'll just sit still in my music room forever, so it needs to remain strong enough to hold the amp, but not deal with impacts.

 

[fretworn]

I mean, there's also a minimum amount I have to bend it, so all I can really do is hope for the best. Once installed, it'll just sit still in my music room forever, so it needs to remain strong enough to hold the amp, but not deal with impacts.

All I’m saying is do it once

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

All I’m saying is do it once

You wildly underestimate my laziness if you thought I'd shoot for a second shot!

 

[Desertdweller]

If you want to go with the fix that will cause the least damage, brass hammer. Buy a brass hammer, and just beat the hell out of the thing until it's in the correct position. Being brass, it will be softer metal than what you're hitting, and it should allow you to bend it back without really damaging it or ripping into it like you might experience with pliers.

I had a 2:90 once that shipped to me with a bent ear and I was able to hammer it back into shape with no ill effects.