Cobra Slats
See bottom of this page for updates.
Here's some pictures of what I did with my Cobra slats to easily mount/hang them/transport/store them.
Here's an example of how they could hang off a rack. (I was just hanging off a piece of board for the test/picture.) That's what the boards look like before I sanded and painted them.
In this initial test, I was using some hardware I already had. I found the bolts a little short, so I ordered some a little longer (and black) from eBay.
To make the storage thing, I cut the grooves on one large board. I then cut that board in 1/2. That way the grooves line up exactly. You could measure/mark/cut the grooves a little more exact than I did and they should line up if cut individually. I just make one measurement mark and did a few cuts to make it wide enough. It would be better to do 2 measurement marks to mark each edge so the cuts are more evenly spaced.
The slats are mounted onto boards with a bolt, a spacer, a washer and a nut.
When you drill the holes. They have to be pretty accurate. I clamped a few boards together and drilled several at a time. This worked pretty good when I used my dad's drill press. It didn't work as well when I tried it with a hand drill. The hardboard can kinda tear and not make a clean hole if you're just doing one at a time. You can drill a smaller hole and then a larger to prevent this a little as well. I did that for the larger holes used to hang/secure the slats to boards.
I ordered the M3 spacers from https://www.ebay.com/itm/161893101001?ViewItem=&item=161893101001
I ordered 6mm and 7mm but used mostly the 7mm. The white spacers are 1/4" which is about 6.35mm. (Prior to sanding, the 1/4 and 6mm worked, but after they were a little tight.)
The m3 screws are from https://www.ebay.com/itm/Metric-Thread-M2-M3-Phillips-Pan-Round-Head-Bolt-Screw-Nut-A2-black-zinc-plated/162518089356
I believe they are 20mm long. The Silver one (non-metric) are 4-40 x 3/4" which are a little short.
The washers are 1mm. I'll have to see if I can find the ebay part number for them. (I waited to long to write this up and the links aren't working from my history.)
The slats are mounted to Hardboard Tempered Panel. They have 4'x8' sheet at Home Depot for about $13. They come in a 3/16" and 1/8" thickness. I think I used the 3/16" but not sure I needed to.
I don't remember if I had them cut them down to the final size or just into smaller pieces that I then cut down.
All the measurements will vary if you use a thicker/thinner material to mount to.
There are some places you can order thin sheets of HDPE. If you order a bunch you can get them from a couple dollars each. Most places charged quite a bit for sample, so I didn't end up trying any of those. The hardboard is pretty cheap. (Just keep the hardboard dry.)
The specific storage totes I used don't seem to be available anymore. I bought them years ago on clearance. You should be able to find alternatives. You just might need to add a little extra foam or something. The foam give it a little pressure to hold them in there nicely.
Here's a few more pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/T3p4EbndWxzHCwmp7
Chris
Update #1
Here's some slats I did using HDPE for the Quickplug slats. THe HDPE is nicer since it's easier to clean and doesn't get messed up if you get it wet.
Here's some more pictures:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4qQPJhrhqxpxXqGk9
I bought my HDPE sheets off of ebay. I bought the 3/16" x 4" x 12" (he has a few other sizes) Here's his link
I picked him since shipping was reasonable for my small order. I did a "Make an offer" of 2.50 each rather than the listed price of $3. (I ordered 10 sheets at $2.50 each. 10x2.50 + 12.50 shipping for $37.50 total. Cut into 3rds that's 30 4x4. About $1.25 each)
I cut them down to 4x4 squares. When I did the cutting, I didn't use any special blades and some of the cuts weren't exactly perfect. I used some coarse sandpaper to smooth the sides/corners.
If I you wanted to get them pre-cut at the exact size, this website has HDPE or PVC or other plastics to choose from:
https://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/cut_to_size_plastic
They also have a 4x4 sample they will sell you of some. I would have used them but needed to order several for shipping to work out. I was also not sure exactly which material and what thickness to use.
In larger quantities, it's probably cheaper. (They seem to be about $1 each plus shipping.)
I'd say the 3/16" that I used is maybe a little on the thick side. I think 1/8" would be fine.
For the screws/nuts/spacers/washers, I bought off ebay. They are pretty cheap but sometimes take a long time to arrive.
50pc Thread M2 M3 Phillips Pan Round Head Bolt Screw Nut black zinc plated
I chose the "carbon steel black" "M3x16mm" bolts for the Quick Plug slats. They have an option to include the nuts as well. Looks like it's $3.41 per package of 50. If you go with 1/8 HDPE thickness you might be able to go one length shorter.
M2 M2.5 M3 M4 M5 M6 M8 M10 M12 New Plastic Nylon Flat Spacer Washer Gasket Ring
I chose the "Black" "M3*7*1". 100 pieces is $2.19
ABS Plastic Nylon Round Non-Thread Column Standoff Spacer Washer M3M8 Screw Bolt
For the Quickplug you can use the "Black M3" "4mm" which is $2.46 per hundred.
I liked the look of the black, but you might be able to find normal silver bolts locally or from Amazon.
Drilling the holes was a pain. If the squares were more exact, you might be able to make a template to use with a drill press. Mine weren't exact, so I pretty much marked each hole. Drilling a little larger holes than needed gives you more wiggle room.
The S hooks I used to hang these off racks are from: https://www.harborfreight.com/15-in-heavy-duty-epdm-tie-down-set-20-pc-63345.html It was cheaper to buy these and steal the S hooks than it was to buy S hooks in small quantities. It's $9.99 20 tie downs. That's 40 S hooks. They usually have coupons to get that even lower.
Update #2 - 8/21/2020
I bought a few more Quick plug slats so I needed to make a few more slat mounts. The previous HDPE attempt was ok, but a bit problematic since my cuts were not precise and clean (since I didn't use any special saw blade designed for plastics/HDPE). Since they weren't exactly perfectly shaped, when I tried to use jig for drilling the holes, my holes weren't as perfectly aligned as I wanted or slightly crooked.
This time, I bought the material pre-cut from https://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/cut_to_size_plastic
I bought some 1/8" Dark Grey PVC 3" x 4" for the 6S Quick Plug Slats.
https://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/cut_to_size_plastic/pvc_sheets/531
I also bought a sample 1/8" Natural (white) HDPE sheet 4" x 4" for the 18S Quick Plug Slat.
https://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/cut_to_size_plastic/hdpe_sheets/529
Both materials are rigid (very little flex). Both materials drill easy as well. The HDPE might be a bit more durable. I wanted black initially, but now that I think about it the white might make them easier to see at night. The HDPE might also be more resistant to burning than the PVC.
I was happy with the cuts they did. They were very precise. Shipping is a little expensive if you want to just get a sample, but not too bad for a larger order.
Once you buy 10 units, they are $1 each before shipping. A 4"x4" sample is $2 each otherwise anything under 10 units is $10.
I used similar parts as before from eBay. The M3 black screws. Since this material is 1/8" thick, I could use the shorter M3x12mm long screws (rather than 16mm). The 16 are fine, they just stick out a little extra. The 12mm barely stick out. I believe I'm using the "3mm" spacers rather than "4mm" as well which makes those shorter 12mm work.
All the mounting hardware can be ordered from ebay from one seller, luckcheng1990
(Reminder, these sizes are for the QuickPlug slats. Normal slats need 7mm spacers and longer bolts.)
There are a few that sell the same stuff, but if you use one seller, you can get a tiny discount and save on some shipping if you purchase multiple items.
They are fairly cheap per piece. About .08 for the screw/nut, .02 for the washer and .03 for the spacer. So that's about .13 x 4 = .52 before shipping. But you have to buy them in qtys of 50 or 100 and shipping is $1.99 per package. If you buy several packages, shipping will cap at $5.79. It could take up to a MONTH to get to you.
You can also get them from Amazon much faster. If you have Prime, they aren't too much more than Ebay. Packing sizes vary between the 2 as well.
Washers - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N99WRP8
Nuts - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0854KPB5P
Screws - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F33TR9O
Spacers - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZER4TP (These are about .10 each vs .03 from Ebay)
I created a quick little template to mark where the holes should be drilled. Instead of using fancy CAD software, I just did it in OpenOffice Draw. It lets you draw rectangles that you can specify the size and you can select to locate them in a specific spot. I just drill on the corners of the rectangles.
I've attached the PDF templates below.
I glued some old boards together to make a jig for drilling the holes. It basically just holds the slat mount in place so the drill press will drill the hole in the same spot everytime. After I got the drill press lined up where I wanted the holes, I used a C-Clamp to attach the jig to the drill press.
I'll likely order another batch for the 18S Quick Plug Slats. I'm not sure if I'll do the 4"x4" or match what I did with my 6S speaker terminal slats. I did those the same size as CD. That way I could use totes/storage stuff designed to hold CDs to hold the slats.
Update #3 - 11/10/2020
I bought a batch of the 1/8" Dark Grey PVC 142mm x 125mm (the same size as a CD Jewel Case). The extra space allows a little more room to screw the slat down if you wanted where the 4"x4" has the holes a bit close to the actual slat.
Here's a picture of how I use the templates on the drill press. I cut out on the outer line and tape it to the PVC or HDPE material. I made a drill template holder/jig by glueing 3 boards around the slat holder. I align the jig on the drill press so that the drill is exactly centered on the cross points of the squares. The inner holes attach to the slat and need to be very precise. The outer holes are just for mounting/hanging/tieing down the slat, so they probably don't have to be as exact. Once it's lined up, I use C-Clamps to keep it from moving. I can then just rotate/flip the slat holder material to drill all 4 holes. I then repeat the process of aligning the drill press on the outer square.
I only use the template to align/drill the first slat holder, then I can just use the jig to hold all the others in the same place. This saves a ton of time and works well if you have precise cuts of your material.
Here's the completed slat/slat holder:
Here's another view showing the screw/spacer/washer/nut and the S clips that can be used to hang it off a rack.
Update #4 - 1/20/2025
I made some new slat mounts today for some Muxxbrd 6 Cue QuickLever Slats. I used the same 3" x 4" HDPE mounts. I centered the holes (See below for the Templates). This actually has the board slightly off center as the holes are not centered on the slat. But centering the holes allowed me to easily use one setting on the drill press to drill all 4 holes.
I used m3 x 12mm screws with m3 x 3mm spacers, m3 washer and nuts. You could use slightly larger but I already had these around from previous projects.
I ordered the 3" x 4" HDPE boards from https://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/cut_to_size_plastic/hdpe_sheets/529
Here's a few pictures:
