I saw a glowing endorsement of the RadioRax avionics tray mounting system on the Aeroelectric List today. I had never heard of RadioRax, so I did some Googling. Aircraft Spruce has provided a better overview than the one on the RadioRax site.

The RadioRax system uses beefy aluminum extrusions to secure the avionics tray to the instrument panel. The extrusions are slotted, so the trays can be moved vertically to facilitate avionics upgrades. I'm already pondering future avionics upgrades, so I may eventually wish I had used the RadioRax system. The means of securing the trays to the extrusions is supposedly strong enough that no supports are needed on the other end of the trays. RadioRax did a torture test with an avionics rack complete with avionics boxes mounted in a paint shaker. They had to use tape to hold the avionics boxes in the trays, as the shaking destroyed the avionics manufacturer's tray-to-unit fasteners. But the tray mounting system supposedly stood up to the paint shaker abuse without any movement between the rails and the trays.

I don't know whether I would have used the RadioRax system or not, if I had been aware of it. But, if I ever do an avionics upgrade, I'll probably wish I had used it.