Flightcase construction

[musht]

The drawing and the photo are VERY clearly different components.

[MarkPAman]

The drawing and the photo are VERY clearly different components.

 

They look the same to me. What is different about them?

[paulears]

This is going around in circles, drawings are being done, people are copying and pasting generally avaialble info - all dimensions appear to exactly as expected. Is there something we are all missing?

 

The OP appears to be making this horrifically complicated, when it really isn't - honestly!

 

It seems to me that what we're all saying is this.

 

If you want to use cathes that are deeper than the front extrusion, then yes, they will protrude ionto the case. They will get in the way of 'loading' the rack. There are two solutions.

1. Use less deep catches, that macth the extrusion depth, and

2. Insert spacers - as in the photo. Strips of ply, by the looks of this one.

 

Problems with strips are that you are limited to the ply thickness commonly available - and this may, or may not be what you want. The strips will need fixing to the sides properly - but will solve the problem. The extra deep catches do look a bit cak, however (in my opinion). Ideally using the correct catch, to match the extrusion seems the best solution.

 

width and depth are just words applied to the strip. To be honest, they can be interchanged, it depends on the viewpoint. The 15.2mm dimension is the surface where the rack nuts fit into the square holes, the 71mm dimension is the distance from this face to the opposite side. Call the 15.2mm width or depth - makes no difference.

 

So - are we sorted? I really hope so. This thread has kind of stalled, and is in danger of stagnating.

 

oolong - is there any specific info you now need? As far as I can see, you have enough to buy the parts, and make the box!

 

 

There seems little need for more diagrams. We all seem to be saying the same things, over and over again.

[musht]

Ooops ,can feel my old technicial drawing teacher whacking my knuckles with the wooden t-square Sorry Mr Gibson, Oolong and MarkPaMan, always drink second coffee before interpreting drawings. They are of course the same. Doh!

[peternewman]

I've had another look at the Penn R0880/R0883 rack strip drawings (from the Penn website) but it still doesn't make sense to me.

 

I'm concentrating on the front of the rack strip (the side where the 19" synth/effect modules mount) and not the sideways "support" sides.

Now, the drawing says that the full width is 15.2mm, and 12mm from the rightmost side of the strip to the centre of the square holes.

That should leave only 3.2mm from the centre to the left hand side of the strip.

 

But that doesn't make sense, because the screws are 6mm in diameter (M6) meaning 3mm to each side, resulting in only 0.2 left over, which absolutely doesn't make sense!

And the square holes must surely be bigger than 6mm as those nuts (and fasteners) are supposed to go there.

I can't believe I am writing this, but here it goes.

These are the dimensions you posted earlier:

http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/9099/r0883dwgew6.jpg

The 15.2mm you refer to is the depth of the strip, not the width.

I think Oolong has a point, unless I'm misreading the drawings. If you look carefully, the 15.2mm is the distance the side support is from the wall of the rack case, rather than the width of the angle at the front with the front cage nuts on. The two appear to be different sizes, hence the confusion. Although interestingly Penn don't seem to have given dimensions for the square cage nut holes or the front rack strip explicitly, only the distance to the hole centre, which I guess is all that really matters.

 

Hope I've not misread them too and that clears things up.

[Oolong]

I'm not going to repeat any of my questions ;)

But I could need some pointers on another issue: the section on the top of the rack that tilts. In other words, where the mixer should go.

 

I've found a flight case manufacturer who has a nice solution I want to adapt:

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/7491/adustable1mp2.jpg

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/6590/adustable2sg7.jpg

 

Does anyone know what kind of drawer slides they've used? I know they use Penn hardware, but I haven't figured out the exact slides (Penn makes several, among them the R2010-2028 series and the R2410Z/R2414Z)

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/51/r2014kg0.jpghttp://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3215/r2860dwgdy5.jpg

 

From the photos (of the tilt mechanism inside the flightcase above) and from what I've been told, it's really quite a simple solution with just the two drawer slides (with a built-in locking mechanism of course) and the "double" rack rails:

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/6461/r0883detailmj5.jpg

 

If I'm going to use the same rack rails in the front (and rear) of the rack flightcase I don't have to worry about any different widths between the two which might have become an issue if I was to use the 2860-SET in addition to wasting what looks like a 1U rack space at the top front (which I could otherwise use if I'm not to place anything at the top anyway):

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/835/r2860hd6.jpghttp://img59.imageshack.us/img59/4692/r2860dwglv5.jpg

 

and the fact that you MUST have a proper pop-rivet gun. The cheap ones are truly a waste of time. I have 3 semi-duff ones in the workshop. They seem to last about half a box of rivets! If your labour really is free, then go for it - it isn't worth paying anyone to help you - that's how close the cost comparison is.

 

Talking about rivets, I see that Penn has several different types and sizes. I'll be using 9mm plywood.

Which rivets would be best suited for my project?

[colinmonk]

I know we got to the all helpful bit, and sorry to jump back several thousand posts, but I must add 5Star are more like the Rover of flightcases compared to Amptown, the true masters of cases!

 

5Star cases have always seemed overly heavy(IMO), and often when having custom cases they arrive wrong, they break easily, catches, pop rivets, etc...

[ben.suffolk]

Amptown, the true masters of cases!

 

I have had several custom made cases from Amptown (I just sent them a rough photoshop type sketch, and some dimensions), and they have been great, and actually a really good price as well. I would never consider making one given what these guys can do!

 

Ben