[Beowulf] case (de)construction question

[David Mathog]

Many rack cases have threaded standoff's directly attached to the case
metal.  On the outside of the case one sees a hexagonal nut, and on the
inside the cylindrical standoff - with no sign of the hexagonal nut.  We
even have one type of case with a removable motherboard tray, which is
quite thin, and even here this type of standoff is employed.

The question is, how are these things put together, and more
specifically, how are they to be taken apart?  Some of the standoffs are
in the way of a larger power supply that needs to go into one of these
cases. Is there a more elegant way of removing these than by grinding
them off or drilling them out?  I have already tried unscrewing one, on
the theory the standoff might be threaded into the hex nut, but it
wouldn't budge.

Thanks,
 
David Mathog
mathog at caltech.edu
Manager, Sequence Analysis Facility, Biology Division, Caltech