A cage nut is a square shaped nut in a spring cage that is wrapped around the actual nut. The cage that wraps around the nut is made of steel. Cage nuts are used for the mounting of equipment. These nuts come in a variety of different sizes from 10/32 to 12/24, which can be fitted to many standard sized racks.

The way that a cage nut operates is that it has two sides that when squeezed will permit the forged steel cage to be placed into a square hole in an equipment rack. Once the cage nut its cage have been let loose the cage nut will be able to hold the rack.