OK...we all know that Eurorack enclosures are expensive AF, as a rule. But do they HAVE to be?
See here: https://www.newark.com/schroff/24563-191/19-inch-subrack-europacpro-kit/dp/59M5127
Looks familiar, donnit? Yep, it's a "Europac" enclosure, the thing that Dieter Doepfer based the whole standard around.
Now look at the price tag: $70-ish for just one, and bulk discounts for more than one.
But it doesn't have a backplane! Well, it doesn't in THAT state, no, but Newark carries those as well...in fact, they appear to carry much of the Schroff Europac hardware, so a little more searching and some time with a drill with a carbide bit to put your busboard mounting holes in, and there you go!
It's not got tops or bottoms, you say? Sure...many Eurorack systems don't, either. But the perfect solution would be to mount three of these into a road case...maybe 10U so you can add a power conditioner and lights via a Furman M-8lx. Road cases too expensive? Naaaaaah...Newark's got those, too, WITH rear rails if needed, and for buttloads less than SKB or Gator. See here: https://www.newark.com/mcm-custom-audio/555-15637/stackable-abs-19-rack-flight-case/dp/48Y8196 for a whopping $117. Cheapest thing you're gonna find like this via Sweetwater is Gator's G-Pro 10U...at $260.
The other nice thing about using an ABS case like this is that you can easily mount a better (linear, if you can swing it) power supply in the case itself. So instead of using things like uZeuses and flying busses, you could put in a substantial tripolar supply, switch it via the M-8lx, and then distro the ONE power supply for the entire rig. This has the benefit of putting ALL modules on the same source, which eliminates the potential of groundlooping behavior between power supplies.
Anyway, hopefully those of you who're locked-in on assembling larger and/or expandable systems will have a look at the above and related things, as these really do fix the cost issue of housing/powering a system when they get beyond the size of off-the-shelf cabs.
